In the 48 hours before attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks made a chilling series of stops around Pittsburgh, including a shooting range, Home Depot for a ladder, and a gun store for ammunition. He attended Trump’s rally with a car rigged with explosives and used a ladder to gain a vantage point to open fire. Despite exhaustive investigations into his phone, computer, and personal life, authorities remain baffled by his motives, finding no clear political or ideological reasons behind his actions. The mystery deepens as Crooks’ family and friends reveal no signs of his sinister plans.
Before he shot and killed former President Donald Trump, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, made many trips to and from his suburban Pittsburgh birthplace in the 48 hours prior.
He practiced fire on Friday at a shooting range where he was a member, a law enforcement officer told CNN. According to the official, Crooks made purchases of a five-foot ladder from a Home Depot and fifty rounds of ammo from a gun store the following morning reports CNN on MSN.
After that, Crooks drove his Hyundai Sonata almost an hour north to Butler, Pennsylvania, where he joined thousands of other attendees from the surrounding area for Trump’s rally. According to the official, he parked the car outside the rally and concealed an IED in the trunk, which was connected to a transmitter he was carrying. Then, according to authorities, he scaled a nearby building with his just-purchased ladder and started shooting at the former president.
Investigators are examining Crooks’ pre-attack activities and attempting to put together a timeline of his activities to piece together the purpose behind the attempted assassination.
However, investigators are surprised by the paucity of information they are uncovering regarding Crooks’ motivations and state of mind even 48 hours after the shooting. According to law enforcement sources who spoke with CNN, despite getting into the man’s phone and computer, checking his bedroom and search history, and speaking with his family and friends, investigators have not yet discovered any evidence that would point to a political or ideological motivation for the shooting.
Rather, the information they have seen seems to demonstrate commonplace internet habits, such as a fascination with computer coding and gaming, the sources said, and that has led to deeper inquiries.
According to the law enforcement source, Crooks carried a remote control detonator on his person and had a metal box of explosives in the trunk of his car that was wired to a receiver, suggesting that his attack may have been considerably more lethal.
Given that this raises the possibility that the gunman was preparing to remotely detonate an explosive, authorities are considering this idea.
How Crooks put the explosive devices in his car together is a mystery. Law enforcement officials claimed that after going through his internet search history, investigators have not discovered any evidence that he looked into making homemade bombs.
Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, lawfully bought the AR-style gun that he used to shoot Trump. According to Pennsylvania State Police records examined by investigators, it was one of more than 20 weapons registered to the elder Crooks that were stored in the family’s residence, the official stated. Every gun was acquired legally.
The gunman liked going shooting with his father at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, which is a firearms club around 25 minutes away from his home, law enforcement officials said. The younger Crooks was a member, according to a statement from the club’s attorney, Rob Bootay.
According to a CNN study of satellite pictures, the club, which has approximately 2,000 members, includes a rifle shooting range that is about 200 yards long. That is longer than the distance that separated Crooks and Trump when Crooks fired at the former president while he was positioned on a neighboring rooftop. The range is nestled in the hills south of Pittsburgh, with 180 acres of forests.
Bootay stated, “The Club fully admonishes the senseless act of violence that occurred,” but he was unable to provide any further comments because of the ongoing investigations by law police.
According to a senior law enforcement official who spoke with CNN, Crooks bought the fifty rounds of ammo at Allegheny Arms and Gun Works, a nearby gun shop in his hometown of Bethel Park, the morning of the attack. “We are thankful that President Trump was not assassinated and our hearts and prayers go out to all victims of this horrible incident,” the store’s owner, Bruce Piendl, said in a statement.
“We condemn the violence against former President Trump, and our thoughts are with him, the other victims of Saturday’s horrific events, and their families,” a spokeswoman for Home Depot, the store where Crooks purchased the ladder, said in a statement.
It’s unclear if Crooks used the ladder or the ammunition he purchased on Saturday during his attack later that day.
CNN contacted Matthew Crooks on Sunday and Monday for comments, but he did not reply. He told CNN on Saturday night that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but that he would “wait until I talk to law enforcement” before speaking about his son, even before officials had officially verified his son’s involvement in the incident.
The younger Crooks’ cell phone was successfully accessed by FBI agents, the bureau announced on Monday afternoon. Law enforcement authorities stated that although investigators had anticipated that the breakthrough would help them comprehend what motivated him to try to kill Trump, they are still having difficulty understanding it.
Crooks didn’t seem to have any friends or political inclinations, according to the shooter’s parents, who have been assisting law police since the shooting, a law enforcement official told CNN. However, law enforcement sources claimed that they appeared to be unaware of much of what had recently been happening in his life.
Explore exclusive GGI coverage of Donald Trump’s assassination attempt.
