Donald Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks would practise his sharpshooting in the southern hills of Pittsburgh, where he was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.
The club features a 200-metre rifle range, roughly the same distance that the 20-year-old Crooks had to shoot with accuracy if he was to assassinate Donald Trump.
Crooks loved guns so much that he was wearing a shirt promoting guns when he was killed by a Secret Service sniper on a roof after firing eight shots at the former president. Crooks’ father owned the high-powered AR-15 rifle that he used in the attack.
So yes, Crooks loved guns. And yes, he was something of a loner, but he was not friendless. The great mystery about Trump’s would-be-assassin is that almost two days after the attack, the FBI is struggling to understand his motive because Crooks did not leave the usual trail of clues.
So was he a political extremist? His murderous actions certainly suggest so. But the FBI’s initial investigation has failed to uncover the usual diatribe of online political extremism that so often accompanies these sorts of acts.
In fact Crooks, unusually for his age group, appears to have had little more than the most minimal online presence. No wild political manifestos have surfaced. He does not appear to have left behind a letter or a written explanation for his actions.
Crooks’ former classmates say they have no recollection of him even talking about politics, much less holding such a passionate view that he might one day want to kill a former president. In fact they say he was quiet, but polite and likeable.
Former classmate Sarah D’Angelo said: “There were a few people that were more violent in school. He was not one of those kids.”
So did he have mental health problems? The FBI went looking but no evidence of this has emerged. Had he ever threatened someone or fallen on the wrong side of the law? The records say no.
Did he come from a family that was politically extreme? No. His parents, who are both counsellors, are registered as a Democrat and Libertarian. Crooks' own political views are hard to discern because he was a registered Republican but had also donated to a progressive cause in 2021.
Was he desperately poor or disadvantaged? No. Crooks was the quintessential middle class kid, well educated and functional. He had an engineering degree from a community college close to his home in the outskirts of Pittsburgh. He liked to play chess and video games and was learning how to code.
At a graduation ceremony just two years ago, a smiling Crooks looks anything like a would-be presidential assassin as he wears glasses and an academic cap and gown to collect his diploma.
But he was also bullied at school according to former classmate Jason Kohler, who said Crooks was “bullied almost every day. He was bullied so much, so much; it was honestly kind of sad. He would sit alone at lunch.”
Yet another former classmate said: “He didn’t seem like really weird or anything. He was more of a loner. He probably had a friend group, but not many friends.”
Was Crooks a part of a broader plot to kill Trump? No. The FBI believes that he acted alone.
The FBI is working overtime to try to puncture the mystery of Thomas Crooks, but without the usual clues, it cannot yet tell Americans with confidence what motivated Crooks.
Crooks must have known that his decision to take a shot at Trump at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, just an hour from his home, was effectively a suicide mission. Whether or not he hit Trump, it was all but certain that the Secret Service would kill him within seconds of him being discovered.
Authorities say they found ‘rudimentary’ explosive devices in Crooks' car and at his residence. But there are so far no clues as to how or when he was planning to use these.
“We are investigating this as an assassination attempt but also looking at it as a potential domestic terrorism attack,” senior FBI official Robert Wells said.
The gunman worked as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the Pittsburgh suburb.
There he “performed his job without concern, and his background check was clean,” the administrator of the facility said.
The FBI has sent Crooks' phone to technical experts at FBI labs in Virginia.
Something will no doubt emerge from the FBI’s investigation that will shed light on what was driving this 20-year-old to commit such a heinous act. But for now, Thomas Crooks is a would-be assassin who remains a mystery.
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