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National News See other National News Articles Title: What We Know—and Don’t Know—So Far About the Trump Rally Gunman What We Know—and Don’t Know—So Far About the Trump Rally Gunman Follow to Donald Trump Rally Shooting- Bethel Park, PA Bethel Park High School 2020 yearbook photo of Thomas Crooks. BY CHAD DE GUZMAN UPDATED: JULY 19, 2024 11:30 PM EDT | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: JULY 15, 2024 8:00 AM EDT Twenty-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was identified by the FBI on Sunday as the shooter behind the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday evening that left one bystander dead and two others injured. WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT THE TRUMP RALLY SHOOTING > Eyewitness Accounts Crooks was killed at the scene by a Secret Service sniper, and investigations continue into his motives, which remain unclear. Here’s what we know so far. ‘No indication of any mental health issues’ The FBI says that Crooks was not known to the agency prior to the incident. In a call with reporters Sunday night, the FBI special agent in charge, Kevin Rojek, said there was “no indication of any mental health issues” regarding the shooter. During a private congressional briefing on Wednesday, the New York Times reported, the FBI revealed that the gunman’s online search history included a query on “major depressive disorder.” Limited social media presence Rojek also said authorities “have not yet identified an ideology” associated with Crooks. The agency has interviewed more than 100 people, including Crooks’ family and friends, and cracked into his two phones using the Israeli technology Cellebrite, according to the Washington Post, but has yet to find evidence of his motivations. President Joe Biden on Sunday urged people to refrain from making assumptions. “Let the FBI do their job, and their partner agencies do their job,” he said. Crooks reportedly had a limited social media presence, though a spokesperson for the platform Discord said in a statement shared with TIME that the company “identified” a “rarely utilized” account that appears to be linked to Crooks. The spokesperson said that the company is cooperating with law enforcement but that it “found no evidence” the account was used “to plan this incident, promote violence, or discuss his political views.” Fox News reported that the FBI told Senators on Wednesday that Crooks had written on gaming platform Steam: “July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds.” Registered Republican, donor to progressives State public voting records show that Crooks was a registered Republican, while Federal Election Commision documents show that a donor with the same name and address gave $15 to ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising apparatus, on Jan. 20, 2021—the date of President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project. A spokesperson for the Progressive Turnout Project told CNN that “the email address associated with the contribution only made the one contribution and was unsubscribed from our lists 2 years ago.” They added: “We unequivocally condemn political violence in all of its forms, and we denounce anyone who chooses violence over peaceful political action.” During the Wednesday congressional briefing, the FBI said it found no indication Crooks had any strong partisan political views and that he had searched images of public figures including Trump and Biden as well as FBI director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, according to the New York Times. Crooks reportedly also looked up dates of Trump’s public appearances and the upcoming Democratic National Convention. From an affluent Pittsburgh suburb The FBI identified Crooks’ hometown as Bethel Park, a suburb of Pittsburgh about an hour south of where the Trump rally was held. Dan Gryzbek, a county council member representing the area, described the neighborhood where Crooks’ family lived as “pretty firmly middle class, maybe upper-middle class” to the New York Times. According to the Census Bureau, Bethel Park’s population is 93% white with a 1.3 times higher per capita income than the rest of Pennsylvania. The address of Crooks’ family home was in a district that Biden won in 2020 with 52% of the vote to Trump’s 46%. Crooks’ father is a registered Libertarian and his mother is a registered Democrat, according to voter records, CNN and the Times reported. Both parents are licensed professional counselors, according to state records. Sources told the Washington Post that both Crooks’ parents have health issues and appeared to investigators as loving parents who may not have been closely attuned to their son’s activities. Seems to have acted alone “While the investigation to date indicates the shooter acted alone,” the FBI said Sunday, “the FBI continues to conduct logical investigative activity to determine if there were any co-conspirators associated with this attack. At this time, there are no current public safety concerns.” The FBI repeated that Crooks appeared to act alone during the agency’s briefing to Congress on Wednesday. Director Wray also said there’s no known foreign nexus, in response to a question from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in reference to recent reporting about an unrelated Iranian assassination plot targeting Trump, PunchBowl News reported. Used an AR-15-style rifle purchased legally by his father Multiple law enforcement officials have said that the firearm used by Crooks in the shooting was an AR-style rifle that was legally purchased by Crooks’ father. Crooks’ family is cooperating with investigators, Rojek has said. NBC News reported Monday that more than a dozen other guns were found in a search of the Crooks’ family home. A law enforcement official told CNN Monday that on the morning of the Trump campaign rally, Crooks purchased a five-foot ladder and 50 rounds of ammunition before driving to Butler. It’s unclear if Crooks used these in the assassination attempt. A rifle enthusiast since he was a teen According to photos and videos of the scene of the shooting, Crooks was wearing a shirt associated with Demolition Ranch, a popular gun channel on YouTube. (Matt Carriker, the host of the channel, said in a video statement on Monday that he was “shocked and confused” and offered condolences to the victims of the shooting. “This channel was never meant to incite violence or hate—it never has, it isn’t, and it never will be a channel that does that,” he said.) Crooks had tried out for his high school’s junior varsity rifle team when he was a freshman, CBS reported, but classmate Jameson Myers said Crooks didn’t make the team and never tried out again. Jameson Murphy, another former classmate, told the New York Post that Crooks “was such a comically bad shot he was unable to make the team and left after the first day.” Another classmate also told the Post that the rifle team coach had concerns about Crooks based on “some crass jokes” Crooks made and how he interacted with others. “Our old coach was a stickler, he trained Navy marksmen, so he knew people. He knew when someone’s not the greatest person,” the classmate said. Crooks did, however, belong to a local gun club, the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, which has a 200-yard rifle range among its facilities. The club confirmed Crooks’ membership in a statement provided to multiple media outlets that admonished the violence and offered condolences to the victims but said it couldn’t offer any more details as investigations remain ongoing. The day before the shooting, Crooks visited a shooting range to practice firing, according to a law enforcement official speaking to CNN. Amid speculation that Crooks may have had a military background, the Pentagon told the Associated Press that “there is no military service affiliation for the suspect with that name or date of birth” in their databases across military branches. Left behind explosive materials The FBI said that, when it searched Crooks’ home and vehicle to collect additional evidence, suspicious devices were found and have been “rendered safe” by bomb technicians. According to the Washington Post, officials said a “rudimentary” explosive device was found in his vehicle and has since been rendered safe and is being analyzed. The car, the Wall Street Journal reported, was parked near the rally. Sources told Fox News that law enforcement found bomb-making materials in Crooks’ home. A nursing home aid with an engineering science degree Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
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