Mystery around Donald Trump shooter deepens
The FBI has analysed Thomas Matthew Crooks’s phone and found nothing to explain why he tried to assassinate the former president.
The mobile phone of Donald Trump’ would-be assassin has offered investigators no clear explanations about why the 20-year-old from suburban Pittsburgh tried to assassinate the former president.
Law enforcement sources said investigators had now turned their attention to Thomas Matthew Crooks’ laptop in the hopes of uncovering clues about his motive – a question that has proven elusive two days after the shooting that rocked the nation.
The FBI had analysed Crooks’ phone and found nothing to explain why he climbed onto a roof and shot at Mr Trump, grazing his ear, law-enforcement officials said.
Crooks’ parents spoke to law enforcement, but they also seemed to have little insight, telling authorities he didn’t appear to have any strong political leanings and had few, if any, friends.
His most recent employer, a nursing home called Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre, said that he had performed his job without concern and that his background check was clean.
A neighbour in the Crooks family’s Bethel Park neighbourhood on Monday said he remembered Crooks as a polite child who would come over to play with his children in his backyard when they were younger.
“He was quiet, maybe a little bit different,” the neighbour said, adding that many children were.
Crooks had been a member at a shooting range a half-hour drive from Bethel Park.
He was a member for about a year, an official for the Clairton Sportmen’s Club said, adding that he too had no inkling of what was to come.
“We knew very little about him,” he said. “It was a terrible thing that happened Saturday.”
Crooks on Saturday fired at least six rounds from a rooftop about 130m away from where Mr Trump spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, about an hour north of Bethel Park, killing one spectator, critically injuring two others and leaving the former president bloodied and defiant.
Crooks’ father told authorities he assumed his son was at the gun range on Saturday, but became concerned when he couldn’t reach him and called police after news of the shooting.
The AR-15 rifle Crooks used was one of about 20 registered to and legally bought by his father, with whom he often went to the shooting range, law-enforcement officials said. He is believed to have bought 50 rounds of ammunition in the hours before the shooting
Investigators said they had found a transmitter on the shooter’s body. In Crooks’ sedan parked near the rally, authorities found two explosives and a ballistic carrier, or vest, with three, 30-round magazines in it, the officials said, an indication that he might have wanted to cause greater carnage. He had also hidden another bomb in his bedroom in his family’s home.
He also bought a metal ladder from Home Depot, which he used to climb to the roof of a factory with a clear sightline to Mr Trump’s podium, sources said.
The working assumption is that Crooks operated alone.
The discoveries suggest he had a plan, but early indications are that he kept it to himself.
Investigators said they were turning to his computer and other devices in hopes of finding any clues about his ideology.
For a young man who had just finished his teenage years, Crooks left a surprisingly limited record online. Three cyberintelligence analysts asked by The Wall Street Journal to search for Crooks’ online footprint found little.
A chess profile, an account for online coding classes and a few gaming accounts were some of the only leads they could uncover. None discovered public social-media postings, photos, or obvious ties to peer groups or organisations.
The shooter’s parents, Matthew and Mary Crooks, have been licensed professional counsellors for more than two decades with no noted disciplinary actions, according to licensing information maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of State.
After he was killed on the roof, photos show Crooks wearing a grey T-shirt from Demolition Ranch, a popular YouTube channel with videos about firearms, demolition and other topics.
The Journal examined a shirt sold by Demolition Ranch and was able to identify the same American flag silhouette and partial logo on Crooks’ clothing.
Matt Carriker, a Texas-based YouTube influencer who runs Demolition Ranch, said in a video that he was “shocked and confused” to find out Crooks was wearing a Demolition Ranch shirt.
“To see my name next to the shooter’s name, it sucks,” Mr Carriker said.
He said he did not vet people who bought their shirts and never had contact with Crooks.
“He bought a shirt online and unfortunately wore it that day,” Mr Carriker said.
James V. Grimaldi, Tawnell D. Hobbs, Kristina Peterson and Jack Gillum contributed to this article.
The Wall Street Journal
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