The FBI said they were able to access the suspect’s phone, but inside they found no major clue that could give them answers as to why the 20 year old began shooting at former President Trump. NBC New York’s Jonathan Dienst reports.
Two days after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, a motive for the 20-year-old shooter's actions has not been identified, the FBI said — but authorities are learning more about the suspected gunman, as well as the days and moments leading up to the shots being fired.
More than a dozen guns were found in a search of the family home where Thomas Crooks lived, four senior officials told NBC News. After Crooks opened fire, his father called police to say he was worried that his son and his AR rifle were missing, three senior officials said. Police went to the home after the call.
On Monday, a relative of Crooks spoke about the shooting, saying that what happened was unforgivable while extending sympathies for the victims.
“You know what, you can’t forgive what he did,” said Mark Crooks, the uncle of Thomas Crooks. “Look at what he did. He shot at everybody. He killed one guy and wounded a couple more.”
Mark Crooks said he hasn’t spoken to his nephew, who was killed by authorities, or brother since his father died in 2019.
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“I haven’t seen him and don’t know anything about him,” he said, adding that he didn't know why his nephew would have fired shots at Trump.
“I don’t have an answer,” he said.
The FBI was looking into whether some ammunition was bought in the days before the shooting, according to a senior law enforcement official. The agency is investigating whether some of the ammunition had been picked up and taken to the Crooks family home or whether it was delivered there. The semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting was purchased legally, the FBI said, though it wasn't made clear to whom the weapon was registered.
As part of their investigation, law enforcement officials were looking into if Allegheny Arms and Gun Works in Bethel Park, a gun shop that is a six-minute drive from Crooks' home, was where the ammunition may have been purchased. The gun shop is said to be cooperating with the investigation.
In terms of what occurred at the rally itself, two senior officials said some of those in attendance alerted local police to a suspicious person at the event near the security screening area. Police tried to search for him but could not find him in the crowd. A short time later, he was on the roof, the officials said.
Two municipal officers tried to approach the suspect shortly before he opened fire, two senior officials said. New video also showed some of the rallygoers spotting the gunman before the shooting.
Investigators found a receipt on Crooks had on him at the time of the shooting, for a ladder purchased at Home Depot. Officials are looking to see if that ladder was brought to the site, and whether it was used by Crooks to get access to the roof.
The shooter acted alone, but investigators are still working to determine "if there were any co-conspirators associated with this attack," the bureau said in a statement. "At this time, there are no current public safety concerns," it added. There were no current indications that Crooks had mental health issues, officials said.
Little is known about Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and neither investigators nor journalists have found an online presence that would point to why the young man, two years out of high school, would have targeted the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Crooks was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club in Pittsburgh, which has a number of shooting ranges. He was a registered Republican who also appeared to have donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project in 2021.
As part of their investigation into what could have motivated Thomas Crooks to carry out the shooting, the FBI accessed his cellphone — but a preliminary analysis found the information was not helpful for investigators, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said.
He graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022 and former classmates described him as a loner. Jason Kohler, 21, said he was “bullied” in high school, sometimes for wearing hunting outfits, which he donned regularly. Michael Dudjak, 20, who also went to school with Crooks, said he was quiet and couldn’t remember him being vocal about politics or active on social media.
Crooks fired several shots from a nearby rooftop during a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, narrowly missing the former president, killing one rally attendee and injuring two more before he was killed by at least one Secret Service sharpshooter.
Corey Comperatore, 50, a former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, was identified as the person killed. The two other victims — 74-year-old James Copenhaver and 57-year-old David Dutch — were critically injured, though an Allegheny Health Network spokesperson described their condition as "stable."
Trump, who ducked and surfaced with a bloodied face, said he was shot in the ear and described feeling a "bullet ripping through the skin."
The shooting is being investigated "as an assassination attempt and potential domestic terrorism," the FBI statement said. There is no sign at the moment that the shooting at the Trump rally had any link to a foreign actor, according to a U.S. official.
Shaquille Brewster, Raquel Coronell Uribe, Emily Berk, Ryan J. Reilly and Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News contributed to this report.
