Thomas Matthew Crooks: More shock gunman footage emerges
New chilling footage shows how bystanders tried to alert police after they saw the Trump rally gunman crawling into his deadly position. See the shocking video.
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More disturbing video has emerged showing how bystanders tried to alert police after they saw Trump rally gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks crawling onto the rooftop where he carried out his deadly shooting.
The footage, widely shared on social media, shows shocked attendees at the rally in Bulter, Pennsylvania, pointing at Crooks as he made his way slowly along the roof.
The chilling video shows the eerie moments of bewilderment among the crowd before Crooks carried out his horrific attack from his elevated position.
“He’s right there on the roof,” one woman yells out as Trump is heard speaking in the background.
One person can be heard calling out “officer” while another says “there he is” as he points to Crooks.
A man in a white cap appears to be stunned as he gets closer to have a look as 20-year-old Crooks crawls along the roof in plain sight of the crowd.
A social media user captioned the video on X: “Trump assassin video shows him crawling on the roof while multiple people point him out to police.
“They yelled about him for *almost an entire minute*
“It’s insane how Secret Service allowed this amateur to almost kill Trump.”
STUNNING CLAIM ABOUT TRUMP GUNMAN
A former classmate has revealed that the gunman who fired shots at former President Donald Trump during his campaign rally in Pennsylvania was rejected from his high school’s rifle team.
The FBI identified the shooter in the assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Pennsylvania, who worked as an aid in a nursing home.
Former students have since come out and said Crooks was denied entry to Bethel Park High School’s rifle team, with classmate Jameson Myers bluntly stating, “He was a bad shot.”
“He never returned to tryouts for the remainder of high school,” the former member of the student team, who graduated high school with Crooks, told CBS.
“He tried out … and was such a comically bad shot he was unable to make the team and left after the first day.
“I never have thought him capable of anything I’ve seen him do in the last few days.“
A second classmate told The New York Post Crookes “couldn’t shoot at all. He was a terrible shot”.
It’s also emerged that Crooks had been a member of a Pennsylvania gun club for the past year.
“We can confirm that Mr Crooks was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club,” the club’s president Bill Sellitto told CBS.
“Beyond that, the club is unable to make any additional commentary in relation to this matter in light of pending law enforcement investigations. Obviously, the Club fully admonishes the senseless act of violence that occurred yesterday.”
Photos had emerged showing Crooks wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the American flag and the founding fathers on Mount Rushmore.
Another image shows him in cap and gown graduating high school.
#BREAKING: Two of my contacts in Bethel Park just sent me two recent yearbook photos of the gunman, Thomas Crooks.
— MEGHAN SCHILLER (@MeghanKDKA) July 14, 2024
We are LIVE outside the street where he lived, as law enforcement swarms his neighborhood after evacuating those who live nearby. @KDKApic.twitter.com/lFi1OtW5Yu
One former classmate, who confirmed photos of Crooks to the New York Post, said “He didn’t seem like really weird or anything.”
The classmate added: “He was more of a loner. He probably had a friend group, but not many friends.”
Crooks several fired shots — one of which grazed Trump in the ear leaving blood streaked across the former president’s face — at an outdoor rally in Butler, just outside Pittsburgh on Saturday evening, local time.
Sources said Crooks was on a roof of a manufacturing plant more than 100 metres away from the stage at Butler Farm Show grounds.
He was killed by Secret Service snipers after firing multiple shots. An AR-style rifle was later recovered.
Bystander footage captured in the aftermath of the gunfire shows what appears to be a dead man in light-coloured military fatigues splayed out on a rooftop a few hundred feet from the rally stage.
An audience member was also killed. Two other spectators were critically injured. All three were adult men, police said, but have not been identified yet.
GUNMAN'S SCHOOL MAKES STATEMENT
Bethel Park School District has confirmed that Thomas Matthew Crooks is a graduate of Bethel Park High School.
In a statement, the school district said it “will co-operate fully with the active law enforcement investigation surrounding this case”.
It added: “Moving forward, we will work closely with law enforcement investigators and share information as appropriate regarding school district policies, the active investigation, and law enforcement protocols.”
The school district sent “sincere wishes for a speedy and complete recovery for Mr Trump” and offered condolences to the victim.
EXPLOSIVES FOUND IN SUSPECT’S HOME, CAR
Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that materials used for making bombs had been found inside the vehicle of Thomas Crooks, as well as at his home. This information was relayed on condition of anonymity.
GUNMAN WAS REGISTERED REPUBLICAN, NO CRIMINAL RECORD
A search by Fox News Digital revealed that Crooks would have turned 21 years old this September. He had no reported criminal or traffic citations and no reported bankruptcies, liens or foreclosures.
The Post reported Crooks was a registered Republican, but also donated US$15 to the Progressive Turnout Project in 2021, which aims to encourage Democrats to vote.
At the time of the shooting Crooks was employed as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, according to Marcie Grimm, the administrator at the facility. Grimm said employees were shocked as Crooks had “performed his job without concern, and his background check was clean.”
SNIPER WAS ‘RELENTLESSLY BULLIED’
Crooks was described by former classmates as a bullied loner with a penchant for hunting outfits and video games.
Thomas Matthew Crooks was killed by the Secret Service on Saturday evening after he opened fire at the Butler Farm Show grounds, grazing Trump and killing another attendee.
Crooks was a loner who was “relentlessly” bullied, former classmate Jason Kohler told local affiliate KDKA.
He was known for wearing “‘hunting’” outfits to class, Kohler added.
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE WHO WON AWARD
Crooks was a member of the 2022 graduating class at Bethel Park High School, the school district confirmed.
The New York Times cited video which showed him walking across a stage to accept his diploma to minimal applause and posing briefly with a school official.
Crooks was one of several students to receive a $US500 National Math and Science Initiative Star Award during his graduating year.
MOTIVE UNCLEAR
The FBI has formally confirmed the incident as an assassination attempt.
Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh field office, said the grounds remained an “active crime scene”.
“We have a number of agents on scene. We do not currently have an identified motive, although our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was,” he said.
“We’re looking at photographs right now, and we’re trying to run his DNA and get biometric confirmation,” he said.
Bethel Park is a village 60km south of where the Butler rally was held.
The motivation behind the attack is unclear.
GUN BELONGED TO SUSPECT’S FATHER
Investigators said the AR-style rifle used in the assassination attempt had been purchased by Crooks’s father at least six months prior to the attack. Federal agents are still working on how Thomas Crooks obtained his father’s gun.
TRUMP SUPPORTERS SPOTTED GUNMAN BEFORE SECURITY
BBC News interviewed several Trump supporters outside the event who described seeing a suspicious person “bear crawling” up the roof of a nearby building ahead of the shooting.
He said after the shooting, he saw the man shot dead by Secret Service personnel.
“We noticed a guy crawling … bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us,” he said.
“He had a rifle. You could clearly see him with a rifle.
“We’re pointing at him, the police are running around on the ground.”
The man claimed he attempted to alert police several times but they were slow to act.
“I’m thinking why is Trump still speaking? Why haven’t they pulled him off the stage?” he said.
“Next thing you know, five shots ring out.”
Asked if he was certain that was where the shots came from he replied: “100 per cent”.
“Why is there not Secret Service on all of these roofs here? I mean this is not a big place.”
The man said he saw the Secret Service shoot the man: “They blew his head off.”
“They crawled up on the roof, made sure they had their guns on him, made sure he was dead – he was dead. And it was over,” he said.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi released a statement confirming the shooter had been killed and said the Secret Service would lead the investigation into the shooting.
“A suspected shooter fired multiple toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue. US Secret Service personnel neutralised the shooter, who is now dead.”
“The Secret Service has implemented protective measures and the former President is safe.
“This is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when available.”
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Originally published as Thomas Matthew Crooks: More shock gunman footage emerges
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