New details reveal Thomas Matthew Crooks’ parents reported him missing just before the shooting. Crooks, 20, had been seen suspiciously at the event hours earlier, carrying a rangefinder used by hunters. Despite being flagged by the Secret Service, he managed to access a nearby rooftop, where he fired shots at Trump and fatally wounded a retired fire chief. Investigators later found his car stocked with explosives, ammunition, and a bulletproof vest. The incident has sparked intense scrutiny of security lapses and raised questions about Crooks’ motives, despite no clear ideological ties found so far.
According to a shocking new story, Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin for Donald Trump, went missing before the shooting and his parents called the police to report it.
It comes after another startling revelation: three hours before starting to shoot, the 20-year-old gunman attended the former president’s rally and raised the suspicions of the Secret Service since he was carrying a rangefinder, which hunters use to take long shots reports Dailymail.
According to Fox News, Crooks’s parents phoned Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, police to express their worries about their son’s location.
At the Butler rally, which was 50 miles from his home, he ascended to a roof, shot Trump, and killed former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore.
Crooks sent a final, terrifying message to his coworkers on Saturday, informing them that he needed the day off from work and that he would return on Sunday.
According to CNN, his father informed police enforcement that he believed his son had gone to the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club shooting range to practice with his rifle and would return by 1 pm on Saturday.
But as time passed, he became increasingly worried and called the local police.
Crooks attempted to use the rangefinder—a tool used by shooters to judge distance—to get past metal detectors at the rally’s security checkpoint at around 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Though it would not have stopped him from entering the Butler, Pennsylvania rally, the device—which resembles a tiny pair of binoculars—did put him on the radar of law authorities.
Crooks was observed by the Secret Service, but they lost sight of him once he departed the perimeter.
After that, he is thought to have taken the weapon out of Trump’s car, which also included two explosive devices and a bulletproof vest, and used it to shoot Trump, murder a rally participant, and injure other people.
Then, just forty minutes before the shooting, Crooks was once again under the Secret Service’s notice.
At 5:30 p.m., a suspicious sighting was reported to law authorities based on an image that appeared to show the sniper crawling on the ground while searching the area.
At 6:11 p.m., Crooks positioned himself on a sloping roof and fired at Trump from a distance of approximately 165 yards, causing him to sustain an ear wound and taking the life of Mr. Comperatore, a former fire chief.
Witnesses saw Crooks clambering up onto the American Glass Research building’s roof.
He was also observed by a ‘Hawkeye’ counter-sniper unit of the Secret Service examining their location using the rangefinder.
On its website, the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, where Crooks’ father thought he was going, boasts that its high-power rifle range ‘features 10 fire benches with targets at 50, 100, and 187 yards.’
It is thought that Crooks was firing from a distance of approximately 165 yards when he fired a bullet that impacted Trump’s right ear as he turned to read data on a computer panel.
The most recent shocking revelations sparked additional concerns about the severe security lapses that allowed the former president to be assassinated.
Club president Bill Sellitto, 77, was visibly upset and upset when DailyMail.com confronted him earlier this week about his organization’s connection to an act he called “appalling.”
‘This isn’t us,’ he said. ‘We are a community. We are having a youth day very soon, more than 100 kids. Members of five different police forces train with us, we support them, and they are part of our community.’
An hour before the shooting, law enforcement snapped a picture of Crooks, adding to the growing body of evidence indicating they were aware of his whereabouts well before he fired.
Two other recently published photos also feature a remote detonator that was found next to Crooks’s dead body and a bicycle that belonged to the man that was found nearby.
Later on, it came to light that the detonator was linked to explosives discovered in his vehicle.
The metal detectors that guests had to pass through to reach the event grounds were another area where the gunman was acting abnormally. According to witnesses, Crooks was using a hunting range finder and furiously checking his phone.
Around this time, he tried to enter, set off the detector, and was sent away, according to sources.
At approximately 5:30 p.m., when complaints of Crooks’ odd behavior were made to security, a photo of him was distributed to other Secret Service agents.
Crooks may be seen in the photo sporting a t-shirt bearing the emblem of the well-known YouTube channel Demolition Ranch.
Officers eventually lost sight of Crooks. The last time we saw him, he was scaling the roof of the American Glass Research structure. After about seven minutes, he started shooting at Donald Trump.
An hour later than planned, at 6:03 p.m., Trump took the stage. The shooting started at the location at around 6:11 p.m.
Investigators were looking for any information regarding what would have motivated Crooks, a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, to carry a gun after the shooting that claimed the life of one spectator.
Conspiracy theories took off when the guy killed by the Secret Service lacked a clear ideological motivation, despite the FBI’s declaration that they were looking into the incident as a possible act of domestic terrorism.
Investigators have verified that no social media presence would suggest Crooks’ action was politically motivated, and they think he acted alone.
According to Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe, who spoke with the AP, Crooks noticed the local cop as he ascended to the roof and turned to face him just before the officer descended to safety.
Slupe claimed that given the situation, the officer was unable to use his firearm.
As the officer moved back down the ladder, Crooks fired a short shot at Trump, at which point he was shot by Secret Service snipers, according to two officials who talked to the AP about an ongoing inquiry on condition of anonymity.
Before being approached by a Butler Township police officer, Crooks was on the roof with a gun for less than seven minutes, according to several sources, which WPXI reported on Tuesday.
Authorities claimed that they think Crooks’ father bought the AR-style firearm he used.
The distance between Crooks’ location and Trump’s speaking position was less than 150 meters (164 yards), which is within the range at which a proficient marksman might hit a human-sized target.
To be eligible to use the M-16 rifle recruits for the United States Army must hit a scaled human silhouette at that distance.
In addition to the explosives found in his car, detectives also found hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a bulletproof vest that had been bought the same day of the shooting.
Later on, at the home he and his parents shared, a third remote-controlled bomb and another bulletproof vest were found.
Concerns have been raised by the most recent discovery that Crooks was carrying a transmitter, suggesting that if he had managed to flee the roof alive, he would have been prepared to carry out his murderous rampage with the assistance of a second person.
Before leaving for the event on Saturday, Crooks had asked his boss for the day off a few hours earlier, telling him he had “something to do.”
The would-be assassin informed coworkers that he would meet them on Sunday at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
However, graphic video has shown that as Crooks locked eyes with the murderer before shooting him dead, a Secret Service member at the Butler rally made sure he would be the last person he saw.
On camera, spectators can be heard screaming from the base of the structure as Crooks fires towards the rally while staring closely through the sights of his father’s AR-style rifle.
Immediately after, there is another burst of gunfire, and Crooks is seen dead on the roof, while others below gasp in shock.
One says, ‘The Secret Service don’t f* around man. ‘Holy s*.’
After scaling the building’s air conditioning system, he ascended to the roof, where MAGA supporters witnessed him “bear-crawling” with his rifle across the sloping surface and alerted the authorities to the potential threat.
One witness told the BBC, “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why is Trump still speaking, why have they not pulled him off the stage?'” “Five shots ring out the next thing you know.”
At the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Crooks worked as a dietary assistant, giving post-hospital sick and elderly patients food and attention.
Administrator Marcie Grimm released a statement saying, “We are shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement as Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his job without concern and his background check was clean.”
According to a facility coworker, Crooks wasn’t a “radical” and never voiced political opinions at work.
‘It’s hard seeing everything that’s going on online because he was a really, really good person that did a really bad thing, and I just wish I knew why,’ he added.
The potential assassin had graduated from high school in 2022 and was a registered Republican. Documents reveal that he gave money to a leftist organization that supported President Joe Biden on the day of the 2020 inauguration.
He received an associate degree in engineering science from Allegheny County Community College in May, according to school officials, who were ‘ shocked and saddened by the horrific turn of events’.
For the first time since the shooting, Crooks’ father Matthew was spotted on Tuesday morning welcoming FBI agents inside the family home.
Katie, the sister of Crooks, was described as a “hardworking” woman who worked as a waitress at a restaurant and as a janitor at a neighboring high school by a neighbor who said her brother assisted her in moving into her apartment three years ago.
Behavioral therapist by profession, Crooks’ father expressed his confusion at his son’s behavior.
Senators are scheduled to hear briefings from the Justice Department, the FBI, and the Secret Service regarding the inquiry on Wednesday. Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, disclosed on Tuesday night that the Secret Service is under close examination for how it handled rally security.
Explore exclusive GGI coverage of Donald Trump’s assassination attempt.
