Seven unanswered questions about Donald Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks – including ‘explosives’ riddle
MOMENTS after unleashing a hail of bullets towards Donald Trump, lone gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents.
But a series of serious questions remain about what drove the 20-year-old to carry out the shocking assassination attempt at Saturday’s rally in Pennsylvania, and how he was allowed to get close enough to the former president.
Shocking video captured the moment Crooks fired five gunshots at the former president, wounding him, killing former fire chief Corey Comperatore, and seriously injuring two others.
The shooter was reportedly registered as a Republican voter but made a $15 donation on President Joe Biden’s Inauguration Day in 2021 to the liberal ActBlue political action committee.
According to his former classmates, he had been bullied in school and often wore “hunting” clothes to lessons.
Jameson Myers, another classmate, told CBS News that Crooks had tried out for the rifle team freshman year but didn’t make the junior varsity roster.
Former MI6 intelligence officer Matthew Dunn tells The Sun that the the gunman’s mysterious motives must still be established as a matter of urgency.
He also says that he “questions the tactics” of Secret Service agents in the moments before and immediately after the shots were fired.
He says: “My comments in no way take away the bravery attached to the job that these men and women do, and they would have been prepared to take another bullet to protect Donald Trump, who happens to be the VIP on this occasion.
“So that’s not in question, but I do question the tactics.”
Here, the former spook turned best-selling spy novelist discusses seven key questions about Thomas Matthew Crooks and the assassination attempt.
What were ‘explosive devices’ for?
Officers recovered an AR-style rifle by 20-year-old Crooks’ – believed to have belonged to his dad.
Reports have also emerged that explosives including an IED were found inside his car near the rally.
Matthew says: “It wouldn’t surprise me if the sniper did have back-up options, a secondary weapon, for example, or explosives.
“One of the uses of explosives is to create fear and panic. The more fear and panic you create, the more difficult the job becomes for security people, including Secret Service.
“Not only are they trying to protect the VIP, they’re also then trying to protect all the civilians in the venue.
“So the possibility the sniper had explosives either to create that panic, that fear and uncertainty or if in any way they were to be used by projectiles against Donald Trump himself, that’s information that’s clearly just coming out at the moment.”
How did shooter get within sniping distance?
A video posted to social media and geolocated by the Associated Press reveals the body of a man wearing grey camouflage lying on the roof of a manufacturing plant, less than 150 metres from where Trump was speaking.
Shockingly, that is the distance at which US Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M16 assault rifle in basic training.
The Secret Service is now investigating how the man who shot Trump got as close as he did.
Matthew says: “We now have some information about the actual layout of events, where the sniper was in relation to Donald Trump and these Secret Service protection details, giving a pretty good schematic map of where the players were.
“It is extremely surprising that the sniper managed to get anywhere near as close as he actually did.
“It beggars belief that this could have happened in what would have otherwise been, or should have been, a top security event.”
He adds: “A basic rule of thumb for security experts like the Secret Service will be to ensure that nobody could get within sniper range of a VIP target.
“A sniper range can be up to even a mile away, so they would have that, or at least should have had that, firmly in mind.
“Every single building, every window, every slight contour in the ground, anywhere that the sniper could conceal him or herself, they’d have ensured that, or should have ensured that wasn’t possible for an individual to get this close up onto the roof of a building that directly oversaw the stage area where Trump was giving his address.
“That is remarkable that that was allowed to happen.”
Why did Crooks do it?
Matthew says: “The FBI specifically will be taking the lead in terms of the investigation, and be working in very close collaboration, with relevant police units in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
“There’s already quite a bit of information coming out about the young man, but they will be continuing that investigation to really get a thorough understanding as to why he did this.
“Why he took those shots against Donald Trump, and to get that, you need to understand the motivation behind the actions.
“Now, why is that important? Because it’s after the event, the assassin’s been killed. It’s important because they want to know if he had any support and if he was affiliated with any organisation that essentially put him up to this.
“So if that is the case, they really need to open up the investigation and find out if there are other people that need to be held to account for the assassination attempt.
“But if it does transpire he was purely a lone wolf operating through his own volition, the motivation is still very important.
“If not least, law enforcement across the United States will want to reassure the public that this is not part of a bigger plan of thought, and people should be scared and people should lock their doors and stay home.
“So these things are important. The FBI, if nothing else, wants to give closure to the voting public in the United States.”
Were warnings missed during crucial minutes?
One witness claimed he saw a man with a rifle on a rooftop just minutes before shots were fired, raising concerns that the Secret Service missed warning signs in the vital minutes before the attack.
Greg Smith told the BBC he saw a man had crawled on top of a building just outside the event in Butler County and pointed him out to police.
He said: “We noticed the guy bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50ft away. He had a rifle, we could clearly see a rifle.
“We’re pointing at him, the police are down there running around on the ground, we’re like ‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle’… and the police did not know what was going on.”
He added, “I’m thinking to myself, ‘ Why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?’ The next thing you know, five shots ring out.”
Matthew says: “Obviously, those witness comments are anecdotal, and the police and the FBI will be judging the credibility of those accounts, but if they’re to be believed, then that is remarkable.”
“There do seem to be these accounts coming out that there were reports of a shooter that made his way onto the roof of that building, and the reaction time, accordingly, was very slow/non-existent.”
The former spook says every individual on the ground should be aware of the security protocol.
Matthew says: “Whether they’re police officers, military, or private contractors they are or supposed to be trained to the nth degree, as to what to do precisely in these types of situations.”
He suggests they could have been caught off guard or felt it was unlikely anything would happen.
But Matthew says: “One of the other things that security experts do prior to events like we saw is that they look for advanced intelligence.
“Any information that suggests that the there could be something that’s going to happen, or there’s a perceived threat that requires them to put extra bodies, extra personnel on the ground, or take preventive measures.
“So whether they felt nothing was going to happen, and therefore they could take it easy…. But, of course, one should never take it easy.
“If you’re in that profession, you should always look out for the potential for something unexpected to happen.”
Why was Trump not dragged OFF stage?
The author, whose books include the Spycatcher and Ben Sign spy series of novels, says: “The biggest priority is always getting the VIP out of danger.
“And it seems there was a sort of kerfuffle. Secret Service agents sort of shouting at each other, and then some of them gathered around Trump.
“And then Trump – and this is the big question – being allowed to stay on stage for at least several seconds, it seems, after shots were fired.
“What should have happened is that he would be dragged, even if it was kicking and screaming, off the stage within seconds and taken to safety, away from the danger zone.”
He says this is what happened when King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, was giving an Australia Day speech at Tumbalong Park in Sydney in 1994.
A then 23-year-old student, David Kang, fired a shot at the royal.
Donald Trump Rally Shooting Timeline
Donald Trump was shot at his Pennsylvania rally on July 13.
1pm: Doors open at the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump was expected to speak at 5pm.
4:11pm: Sean Parnell gave the opening speech.
4:35pm: David McCormick rallied the crowd.
5:30pm: Crowds were still waiting for Trump.
6:03pm: Trump takes the stage.
6:11pm: Gunshots were fired as Trump delivered remarks.
6:12pm: Trump was ushered off stage by Secret Service agents.
6:42pm: Secret Service confirmed Trump is safe.
7:24pm: The shooter and one rally attendee are confirmed dead by law enforcement officials.
8:42pm: Trump confirms he was shot in the ear, sharing a statement on Truth Social.
8:49pm: The Secret Service confirms the shooter and a rally attendee are dead. Two others remain critically injured.
Matthew says: “I remember many years ago a shot fired out while Prince Charles was on stage and a Metropolitan Police security protection individual very roughly pushed the Prince aside, which you would never dare to do in other circumstances, but it was done in nanoseconds.
“It was that quick.”
He adds: “From a spectator perspective, it can look actually very hostile towards the target VIP.
“The security men or women will have no qualms about forcing that VIP down to the ground or dragging them backwards, or doing whatever’s necessary to get them away from danger and ultimately protecting their life.
“This did not seem to be the case from what we’ve seen with the attempted assassination on Trump. It did seem to have an air of uncertainty as to what needed to be done by the Secret Service.”
Why was ex president kept still?
Footage of the incident shows security agents forming a shield around Trump in the wake of the gunshots.
But Matthew says: “That really surprised me. The bear hug of the Secret Service men and women surrounding Donald Trump is a very, very surprising tactic that I’ve never seen before, and I question it for many reasons.
“Firstly, the obvious thing to do is to get Trump off stage because then he’s a rapidly moving target. Now, even if you’re an expert sniper trying to hit a moving target, it’s always very difficult.
“So they would have automatically made the job of a second or third shot that much harder by moving Trump at speed.
“Keeping him in a static position, therefore, enables the sniper to reload and take aim again.”
“The other thought is, of course, at this stage, they have no idea what kind of weapon the sniper has.
“Even with hidden bulletproof vests underneath the garments of the Secret Service, there are high-velocity weapons that could still go through and still hit the target, or indeed, if the sniper is expert enough, go for a headshot because their bear hug did not conceal Donald Trump’s head.”
What did cops’ ‘rule book’ get wrong?
Matthew worked as a field officer for MI6 for six years, including coordinating and participating in special operations overseas.
He says of the rally: “There would have typically been a huge amount of organisation for planning something like this, and within which it would have been all the ‘what ifs’.
“Every possible angle and potential eventuality would have been considered.
“These types of events are a nightmare to construct, but organisations like the Secret Service do have the expertise to conduct that.
“And one would imagine that prior to Trump taking the stage, they have thought through everything.
“Whether that actually happened or not is a different issue. But these things can be done. They can be organised, and they can be prepared for.”
The former spook, who received a rare personal commendation from the secretary of state for his work on one top-secret mission, says the Secret Service would be expected to follow a rule book.
He explains: “Security experts like the Secret Service do have a vast amount of prior experience to draw upon, including dossiers, manuals, rule books, etc.
“But they’re constantly updating that body of knowledge, subject to new events, new occurrences, new information or latest techniques or whatever. These are supposedly the professionals.
“They’re supposed to be top of their game in terms of understanding everything that could potentially happen, and then have obviously the ability to react to that accordingly.”
