Law enforcement officers gather after a shooting at a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. president Donald Trump, in Butler, Pa., on July 13.Evan Vucci/The Associated Press
After three days, an enigmatic portrait emerged of the 20-year-old man who came close to killing former U.S. president Donald Trump with a high-velocity bullet: He was an intelligent loner with few friends, an apparently thin social-media footprint and no hints of strong political beliefs that would suggest a motive for an attempted assassination.
Even after the FBI cracked into Thomas Matthew Crooks’s cellphone, scoured his computer, home and car, and interviewed more than 100 people, the mystery of why he opened fire on Mr. Trump’s rally Saturday, wounding the GOP nominee, remained as elusive as the moment it happened.
“He sat by himself, didn’t talk to anyone, didn’t even try to make conversation,” said 17-year-old Liam Campbell, echoing the comments of classmates who remembered the shooter in this quiet community outside of Pittsburgh. “He was an odd kid,” but nothing about him seemed dangerous, he added. “Just a normal person who seemed like he didn’t like talking to people.”
So far, there has been no public disclosure the shooter left any writings, suicide note, social-media screed or any other indicator explaining his reasons for targeting Mr. Trump. A law enforcement official briefed on the continuing investigation told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity that Mr. Crooks’s phone had not immediately yielded any meaningful clues related to motive, or whether he acted alone or with others.
Mr. Crooks’s political leanings were also hazy. Mr. Crooks was registered as a Republican in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave US$15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day Democratic President Joe Biden was sworn into office.
The absence of a satisfactory explanation has led Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to recount the lengthy federal investigation into the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, the deadliest such attack in the nation’s history. That probe closed after 17 months without finding any motive for what drove the 64-year-old gunman to spray more than 1,000 rounds into a crowd of concertgoers other than to “attain a certain degree of infamy.”
Mr. Crooks, with a slight build and wire-rimmed glasses, went by “Tom.” He was described by classmates at Bethel Park High School as smart but standoffish, often seen wearing headphones and preferring to sit alone at lunch looking at his phone. Some said he was often mocked by other students for the clothes he wore, which included hunting outfits, and for continuing to wear a mask after the COVID pandemic was over.
“He was bullied almost every day,” classmate Jason Kohler said. “He was just an outcast.”
After graduating from high school in 2022, Mr. Crooks went on to the Community College of Allegheny County, earning an associate’s degree with honours in engineering science in May. He also worked at a nursing home as a dietary aide.
A 1997 Secret Service study into those who had attempted assassinations since 1949 found there was no single indicator that a person might seek to take the life of a public figure. However, two-thirds of all attackers were described as “social isolates.”
Like Mr. Crooks, few had any history of violent crime or criminal records. Most attackers also had histories of handling weapons, but no formal weapons or military training, according to the study.
As a freshman, Mr. Crooks had tried out for his high-school rifle team but was rejected for poor marksmanship, the AP previously reported. Through his family, he was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a shooting range about 17 kilometres east of Bethel Park.
“We know very little about him,” club president Bill Sellitto told the AP. “That was a terrible, terrible thing that happened Saturday – that’s not what we’re about by any means.”
The club has an outdoor range for high-powered rifles with targets set at distances of up to 170 metres.
Mr. Crooks was well within that range when he opened fire on Mr. Trump Saturday from about 135 metres from where Mr. Trump was speaking, unleashing two quick volleys of rounds at the former president with an AR-15 style rifle.
His father, Matthew Crooks, bought the gun in West Mifflin, Pa., in 2013 from Gander Mountain, a retail outdoors chain.
The day before the shooting, Thomas Crooks went to the sportsman’s club and practised on the rifle range, according to a federal intelligence briefing obtained by the AP. On the day of the attack, he purchased 50 rounds of 5.56 mm ammo for his rifle from a local gun shop and drove alone to Butler, Pa., the site of the Trump rally.
He parked at a gas station lot about a third of a mile from the event. He wore a grey T-shirt with the logo of a popular YouTube channel dedicated to firearms, camo shorts and a black belt.
Witnesses and law enforcement officials say Mr. Crooks walked around for at least a half-hour before climbing onto the roof of a building adjacent to the Butler Farm Show grounds, where Mr. Trump was speaking. As spectators screamed for police to respond, Mr. Crooks opened fire, letting loose two quick bursts. A Secret Service counter sniper fired back within about 15 seconds, killing Mr. Crooks with a shot to the head.
Mr. Trump said this week that one bullet clipped his right ear, and that only a last-second turn of his head kept him from potentially being mortally wounded. One of the bullets aimed toward Mr. Trump killed 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore, a spectator who was in the bleachers. Two others were seriously wounded.
Without clear insight into what drove Mr. Crooks, many on both sides of the American political divide tried to fill the void with their own partisan assumptions, evidence-free speculations and conspiracy theories in the days since the shooting.
Some Republicans have pointed at Democrats for labelling Mr. Trump a threat to democracy. Democrats, in turn, pointed to Mr. Crooks’s GOP registration and to Mr. Trump’s own long history of provocative rhetoric, including his continued praise of the Jan. 6 rioters.
Access to the Crooks home remained blocked by yellow police tape, with officers keeping watch and preventing reporters from approaching.
Melanie Maxwell, who lives in the neighbourhood, was dropping off “Trump 2024″ lawn signs at another neighbour’s home.
Like the others, she didn’t know the Crooks family well. She said she was appalled by the assault and said any security lapses should be fully investigated.
“The hand of God protected President Trump,” she said.
This video contains graphic content. The FBI said on July 15 it has gained access to the phone of the Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspect in the shooting of former President Donald Trump, as it continues to investigate his motive for the crime.
Reuters