Trump assassination plot motive remains unclear

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally is empty and littered with debris in Butler, Pa., Saturday, July 13, 2024. AP

WASHINGTON — The 20-year-old man who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump first came to the attention of law enforcement at a rally on Saturday when spectators noticed him acting strangely outside a campaign event. The tip set off a frantic search, but police were unable to find him because he managed to climb onto a rooftop and open fire.

After the shooting left a spectator dead, investigators have been searching for clues as to what motivated Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., to carry out the shocking attack. The FBI said it was investigating the incident as a potential act of domestic terrorism, but the lack of a clear ideological motivation for the man shot dead by the Secret Service has led to conspiracy theories thriving.

“I urge everyone – please do not jump to conclusions about his motives or his connections. Let the FBI and its partners do their job. I have directed that the investigation must be thorough and expeditious,” President Joe Biden said in remarks at the White House on Sunday.

read: Trump shooting suspect is a ‘quiet,’ ‘lonely’ 20-year-old man

The FBI said they believed Crooks acted alone and had bomb-making materials in his car when he arrived at the rally. Investigators did not find any threatening statements or ideological positions on social media accounts that could help explain what led Crooks to target Trump before the Secret Service removed the Republican presidential candidate from the stage with blood on his face.

Trump said on social media that the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting, but advisers said he was in “good spirits” before arriving in Milwaukee on Sunday for the Republican National Convention. Two spectators were seriously injured and former local fire chief Corey Compratore was killed. Pennsylvania’s governor said Compratore, 50, died heroically while protecting his family.

Relatives of Crooks did not respond to multiple messages from The Associated Press. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN late Saturday that he was trying to figure out “what exactly happened” but would not talk about his son until he spoke to law enforcement. An FBI official told reporters that Crooks’ family was cooperating with investigators.

read: Alleged Trump gunman shooting with rifle on rooftop – TMZ video

Several rally attendees reported to local police that Crooks was acting suspiciously and walking around near the magnetometer, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. The officer was then told Crooks was climbing a ladder, the official said. The officer searched for him but was unable to find him before he climbed to the roof, the official added.

Butler County Sheriff Michael Throop told the Associated Press that a local officer climbed onto the roof and encountered Crooks, who turned and shot the officer after seeing him. The officer then jumped off the roof and evacuated safely. Throop said it was impossible for the officer to brandish his gun in this situation. According to two officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, the officer retreated down the ladder and Crooks quickly shot Trump, who was then shot by a Secret Service sniper.

FBI officials said Sunday they were scrutinizing Crooks’ background and social media activity while trying to gain access to his phone. Chat app Discord, a social media platform popular with online gamers, said Crooks appeared to have an account but rarely used it and hadn’t used it in the past few months. A Discord spokesperson said there was no evidence he used his account to promote violence or discuss his political views.

Crooks’ political leanings are unclear. Records show Crooks is registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he donated $15 to a progressive political action committee on January 20, 2021, the day Biden was sworn in.

read: Trump tells New York Post after assassination attempt: ‘I should be dead’

Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. In a video of the school’s graduation ceremony posted online, Crooks, a thin man wearing glasses, can be seen walking across the stage to receive his diploma. The school district said it would fully cooperate with investigators. Crooks was one of several students who received math and science awards during his senior year, according to a Tribune-Review report at the time.

Crooks tried to join the school’s rifle team but was rejected because he was not a good shooter, said Frederick Mach, the team’s current captain who was a few grades younger than Crooks at school.

This June 3, 2022, still image from a video provided by the Bethel Park School District shows student Thomas Matthew Crooks as he attends the 2022 graduation ceremony at Bethel Park High School in Bethel Park, Pa. (Courtesy of the Bethel Park School District via The Associated Press)

Jason Kohler said he and Crooks went to the same high school but did not take classes together. He said Crooks was bullied at school and sat alone during lunch. Kohler said other students laughed at the clothes he wore, including safari clothing.

“He was bullied almost every day,” Khloe told reporters. “He was just an outcast, and you know how kids are these days.”

Crooks worked as a dietary assistant at a nursing home, a job that often involves food preparation. Marcy Green, an administrator at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, said in a statement that she was “shocked and saddened by his involvement.” Green added that Crooks had a clean background check when he was hired.

On Sunday, roadblocks were set up to block traffic near Crooks’ home, a neighborhood of modest brick houses in the hills outside Pittsburgh, about an hour’s drive from the Trump rally. Police cars were parked at an intersection near Crooks’ home and officers patrolled the area.

Crooks was using an AR-style rifle that authorities said they believed his father had purchased. Kevin Rojek, the FBI agent in charge of the Pittsburgh investigation, said investigators don’t yet know if Crooks took the gun without his father’s permission.

A video posted on social media and located by The Associated Press showed Crokes, wearing a gray T-shirt and a black American flag pinned to his right arm, lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Fairgrounds, where the Trump rally was held.

The rooftop where Crooks lay was less than 150 meters (164 yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance at which a good marksman could reasonably hit a life-size target. U.S. Army recruits must hit a reduced life-size silhouette at this distance to qualify to shoot with an M-16 rifle.

The Associated Press reviewed images of Crooks’ body and found that he appeared to be wearing a T-shirt from Demolition Ranch, a popular YouTube channel that regularly posts videos of its creator shooting targets, including mannequins, with pistols and assault rifles.

Matt Carriker, founder of Demolition Ranch in Texas, did not respond to phone messages or emails Sunday but posted a photo of Crockers’ bloody body wearing one of his branded T-shirts on social media with the comment “What the f*ck is this.”