The FBI said in a statement on Monday that agents had accessed data from Crooks’ cell phone and that technology experts were “continuing to analyze his electronic devices.”
Authorities are trying to determine why Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding the former president and leaving one protester dead and two others seriously injured. Investigators have little information to suggest a motive despite having access to the suspect’s family, friends, cellphones and those of his correspondents, according to people familiar with the investigation. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
FBI officials have said they have no significant evidence to support Crooks’ motives for carrying out the act. The suspect appears to have acted alone, authorities said, and they cautioned that the investigation is in its early stages and that their position could change as more evidence becomes available.
President Biden and Vice President Harris were briefed in the Situation Room on Monday by senior law enforcement and security officials, including FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle also participated. The Secret Service is facing questions about how Crooks was able to climb to the roof of a building outside the rally’s security perimeter and open fire. Video taken shortly before the attack showed crowd members trying to alert police to the presence of a shooter.
FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek said Crooks used a 5.56mm AR-style rifle, a common caliber for that type of weapon. Authorities said the gun was identified and tracked using records from a gun dealer that is no longer in business.
The morning of the shooting, Crooks bought 50 rounds of ammunition at a local gun store called Allegheny Arms, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The store’s owner and employees declined to comment when contacted by a Washington Post reporter on Monday morning. They issued a statement saying they were “preferred to cooperate with law enforcement in any way possible.”
“We are grateful that President Trump was not assassinated and our hearts and prayers go out to all of the victims of this horrific incident,” the statement said.
Crooks lived with his parents in Bethel Park, a quiet Pittsburgh suburb about 50 miles south of where Saturday’s rally was held. He worked in a nursing home and graduated in May with an associate’s degree in engineering science from Allegheny County Community College in western Pennsylvania, a college spokesman said.
“Like all Americans, we are shocked and saddened by the horrific events that have occurred,” the community college said in a statement. The school expressed relief that Trump is safe and offered its condolences to the family of Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old engineer. A deceased firefighter and father of two.
Crooks was planning to attend Robert Morris University. Pittsburgh It is expected to take place this fall, according to a university spokesperson.
At community college, Ms. Crooks joined a proof-based math book club that met weekly, according to a former classmate who asked not to be identified to protect her privacy. She was interested in math but preferred physics, classmates said.
According to classmates, Crooks was a reserved man who rarely discussed politics at school and was politically center-to-right. When the classmates found out Crooks was the shooter, they sent him an email saying they were sorry someone was trying to impersonate him. They never received a reply. Later, the classmates saw a photo of Crooks shot to death on the roof of a building.
“If I had to guess, I’d say this was suicide by cop,” said a classmate who considered Crooks a friend. “Tom was a good guy and I thought he was going to have a good life. I don’t know why he would do this. I worry about our democracy, I worry about his family, I worry about the Crooks family. I feel really bad for the firefighter’s family.”
In Crooks’ hometown of Bethel Park, Residents were fed up with journalists descending on their communities on Monday. Seeking answers about the potential assassin.
American flags flew at half-staff outside a Sheetz convenience store, and next to a shuttered heating and cooling company, someone had placed a sign that read “Trump Lives!” next to a photo of the former president with blood coming from his ear and his fist raised.
Some store owners had pre-printed statements to give to visiting reporters. At the library, someone had cut out a photo of Crooks from his high school yearbook. Residents largely refused to talk about Crooks, but defended Bethel Park as home to kind-hearted, community-minded people, even as the shooting put their hometown at the center of American history.
Police and volunteer firefighters barred access to the area where the gunman lived on Sunday but were allowed back in on Monday. Crooks lived in a small, one-story brick home with his parents, Matthew and Mary, who have so far declined to comment publicly about the attack.
The Crooks have owned the 1,000-square-foot ranch-style home since 1998, the year they married and five years before their son, Thomas, was born.
According to Pennsylvania state records, Matthew and Mary Crooks have both been licensed counselors for more than 20 years, which requires a master’s degree or higher. Matthew Crooks’ LinkedIn profile states that he has worked as a counselor for 10 years. The company, which is listed as an employer and provides mental health care, did not respond to requests for comment. Records show Matthew Crooks also owns a company called C&F Professional Disability Services, which is based out of his mother-in-law’s Pittsburgh home. The company has a minimal online presence.
Around the block where the Crooks lived, many neighbors would not open their doors or They declined to comment.
Liam Campbell, who lives across the street, said he and his family were woken from their beds at about midnight on Saturday by police who were evacuating neighbours over fears there might be explosives inside Crooks’ house.
“We were told there was equipment next door that needed to be removed and we all needed to leave the house and find shelter somewhere,” Campbell, 17, said, adding that he wasn’t allowed to return home until 10pm on Sunday.
Campbell said she rode the school bus with Crooks during her freshman year of high school, but that Crooks seemed “isolated” and didn’t seem to have much interaction with people at school or in the neighborhood.
“He would walk around the neighborhood by himself,” Campbell said. “He was a quiet kid, a little strange. He would sit by himself. He wouldn’t talk to anybody. … But he seemed like a normal guy who didn’t like talking to people.”
The shooter was a member of the Clairton Sportsman’s Club, a shooting club in Clairton, Pennsylvania, an attorney for the club confirmed Monday.
The club “unapologises for the senseless act of violence that took place on Saturday,” said Robert S. Boothe III, adding that the club “expresses its deepest condolences to Mr. Comperatore’s family and offers its prayers to all those injured, including our former president.”
Barrett and Hilton reported from Washington. Bailey reported from Atlanta. Sean Boberg, Alice Crites, Monica Masser, Razan Nakhlawi, Maria Luisa Paul, Aaron Shaffer, Perry Stein and Matt Beiser in Washington contributed to this report.
