By Nathan Layne, Gabriella Borter, Tyler Clifford
BETHEL PARK, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -Federal law enforcement authorities scrutinized the background of Thomas Matthew Crooks on Sunday in a search for what drove the 20-year-old gunman to open fire on former U.S. President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.
Crooks, identified by the FBI as the suspected gunman in the assassination attempt, was shot and killed by the Secret Service seconds after he allegedly fired shots toward a stage where Trump was speaking on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. One rally attendee, a 50-year-old man identified as Corey Comperatore, died and two other spectators were critically injured. Trump was shot in the right ear.
A resident of Bethel Park, about an hour away from where the shooting occurred, Crooks was a registered Republican who would have been eligible to cast his first presidential vote in the Nov. 5 election in which Trump is challenging President Joe Biden. Public records show his father is a registered Republican and mother a registered Democrat.
Federal Election Commission filings show Crooks appears to have made a small $15 donation several years ago to a political action committee called ActBlue that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians. The donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project, a national group that rallies Democrats to vote. The groups did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Crooks’ parents could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters. His father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN that he was trying to figure out what happened and would wait until he talked to law enforcement before speaking about his son.
Secret Service agents fatally shot the suspect, the agency said, after he opened fire from the roof of a building about 150 yards (140 meters) from the stage where Trump was addressing supporters. An AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting was recovered near his body, according to sources.
The firearm was legally purchased by the suspect’s father, ABC and the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. Bomb-making materials were found in the suspect’s car, U.S. media outlets reported, citing sources.
‘SUPER SMART’
In the family’s hometown, one of Thomas Crooks’s former classmates at Bethel Park High School said the suspect did not show any particular interest in politics. Rather, his interests centered on building computers and playing games, the 20-year-old classmate, who asked not to be identified, said in an interview.
Crooks often kept to himself, the classmate said, and politics never came up. Their conversations revolved around school, the classmate said.
“He was super smart. That’s what really kind of threw me off was, this was, like, a really, really smart kid, like he excelled,” the classmate said. “Nothing crazy ever came up in any conversation.”
The classmate added that he had not seen or heard from Crooks since the suspect graduated in 2022.
While in school, Crooks received a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper.
Bethel Park School District is cooperating with the law enforcement investigation, local media reported.
As law enforcement dug into his background, the streets around the Crooks home were blocked off by a heavy police presence on Sunday.
Residents who live nearby described feeling shocked and unsettled that an assassination attempt has been linked to a person from the sedate city of 33,000 people.
“Bethel Park is a pretty blue-collar type of area, and to think that somebody was that close is a little insane,” said Wes Morgan, a 42-year-old who works at an investment management company and bikes with his children on the same street as the Crooks’ residence.
A couple standing on the porch of their nearby brick ranch-style home was left processing the events and spotlight on their neighborhood
“There’s never been a gun issue. There’s never been the police being called,” Mary Priselac, 67, said alongside her husband. “You kind of have to wonder what didn’t he get in life? What led to this extreme?”
Bruce Piendl, owner of Allegheny Arms and Gunworks in Bethel Park, said that after learning about the shooting he checked his records.
“We did not sell any firearms to the shooter,” Piendl said. “We did not sell a firearm that was used in the shooting to the family.”
When asked whether he had sold any firearms to Crooks family members, he declined to provide a direct answer.
“That’s between me and God,” Piendl said.
“You have to understand in western Pennsylvania we have a rich tradition of hunting and fishing and outdoor stuff,” Piendl said when asked about the number of gun shops in the region. “Within 10 miles (16 km) of here, there are a ton of gun clubs.”
While Reuters could not immediately identify social media accounts or other online postings by Crooks, Discord said on Sunday that he had an account on the instant messaging platform.
“We have identified an account that appears to be linked to the suspect; it was rarely utilized and we have found no evidence that it was used to plan this incident or discuss his political views,” Discord said in a statement.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, did not immediately respond to questions on whether the platforms had removed any accounts related to the suspect.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne and Gabriella Borter in Bethel Park, Jasper Ward and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Additional reporting by Aaron Josefczyk in Bethel Park, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago and Tyler Clifford in New York;Editing by Paul Thomasch)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.