Sick final search Trump shooter Thomas Crooks made on his phone as FBI breaks into encrypted data during motive probe
THE shooter behind the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump searched for disturbing images on his phone before he opened fire at the Republican candidate’s rally last week.
Thomas Crooks, 20, was killed by Secret Service snipers just seconds after taking a shot at Trump while he spoke at a political rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The bullet grazed the former President’s ear before he ducked for cover, as more bullets hit three other people in the audience — killing 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, and seriously wounding David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74.
The attempted assassination is the closest any president has come to being killed while in office since President Ronald Reagan survived an attack in 1981.
Since the shocking event shook the nation last week, officials have been investigating why a young man without any obvious political motives or known mental illnesses would try to kill the former president.
Now they may have a clue — after Crooks’ phone and a detonator, seen in a photo from WPIX, were found at the scene.
After facing a multitude of technological hurdles, police have finally gained access to Crooks’ Android phone that he used up until his death.
His last online query was for pornography, a senior law enforcement official told The Daily Beast on Friday.
The FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, Virginia, made the discovery when it cracked open Crooks’ encrypted Samsung phone, the source said.
“It’s not unusual,” the source explained, adding that the Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooter and numerous al Qaeda terrorist suspects also had violent and sexual images on their tech.
Pennsylvania officials were initially unable to gain access to Crooks’ phone’s content, so the device had to be flown to Quantico for further processing.
LITTLE TO GO ON
There was only one other tranche of information that investigators found of interest on Crooks’ phone, the source said.
In the hours leading up to Saturday’s rally and the shooter’s death, the 20-year-old received multiple text messages on his phone from his parents asking where he was.
His parents appear to have believed their son had taken the family’s AR-style rifle to practice at a nearby shooting range that he sometimes frequented.
Who was Thomas Matthew Crooks?
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was identified as the would-be assassin who tried to kill Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, during a campaign rally in Butler Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
Who is Thomas Matthew Crooks?
- Thomas Matthew Crooks left few clues about his identity, and investigators said he did not have a social media presence.
- What is known is Crooks was from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a small suburb about 30 minutes south of Pittsburgh.
- He lived with his parents, Mary Elizabeth Crooks and Matthew Brian Crooks.
- The Crooks have been licensed professional counselors since 2002, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State Licensing System Verification service.
- Thomas Matthew Crooks attended and graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022.
- In May 2024, Crooks graduated from the Community College of Allegheny County with an associate degree in engineering science, the school revealed.
- Crooks was previously employed as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
- He was a registered Republican but made a small $15 donation to a progressive political group in January 2021.
- Crooks did not have a criminal history in Pennsylvania.
How did Thomas Crooks obtain the rifle used in the shooting?
- Federal investigators believe the AR-15-style rifle Thomas Crooks used in the shooting on July 13 was legally purchased and registered to his father.
- Matthew Brian Crooks purchased the weapon at least six months before the Trump rally shooting, according to AP News.
- It’s unknown how the younger Crooks took possession of the firearm.
- The Crooks family is cooperating with federal investigators.
- Thomas Crooks also had a membership at the local shooting club, the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, for at least a year, according to BBC.
What were Thomas Matthew Crooks’ final moments?
- On July 12, federal investigators learned Thomas Crooks visited the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.
- On July 13, the day of the Trump rally in Butler, Crooks went to a Home Depot and purchased a five-foot ladder that investigators believe he used to scale a rooftop about 430 feet outside the Secret Service’s perimeter.
- That same day, investigators said Crooks purchased 50 rounds of ammunition at a gun store and drove his Hyundai Sonata an hour north to Butler.
- Crooks fired at least eight shots at Donald Trump and rally-goers at 6:11 pm, less than 10 minutes after the presidential candidate took the stage.
- A Secret Service counter-sniper positioned near the stage where Trump was delivering his remarks returned fire within seconds, killing Crooks.
What was his motive behind the shooting?
- The FBI is still working on determining a motive behind the shooting.
- The federal agency is viewing the act as domestic terrorism.
- Crooks is believed to have acted alone.
- Federal officials have been able to gain access to Crooks’ cell phone, but it has yielded no clues about a motive, according to the New York Post.
- Crooks’ cell phone and laptop have been sent to the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Virginia, for further analysis.
The messages began around 1 pm and continued throughout the afternoon.
“By 6 pm he was dead,” the source said.
Crooks reportedly searched for information about both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in the days before the shooting, along with news about Ethan Crumbley, according to CNN.
Crumbley is a mass shooter in prison for killing four students at his Michigan high school in 2021.
His parents were convicted of failing to secure a gun which led to a mass shooting — resulting in minimum 10-year prison sentences for both of them.
Princess Kate was another public figure Crooks looked into while planning the shooting, according to NPR.
POLITICAL VIOLENCE AT A NEW LEVEL
Both Democratic and Republican leaders have called on voters to unite and take a step back from the violence that seems to have permeated American politics.
But for Corey Comperatore, the victim who was killed in the crossfire on Saturday, it is already too late.
Comperatore had worked as a chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, about 15 miles away from Butler, where the shooting took place.
He has been lauded as a “hero” by PA Governor Josh Shapiro, who revealed the victim’s identity on Sunday.
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.
The 50-year-old victim was an “avid supporter of the former president and was so excited to be there last night with him in the community,” the governor said.
Hundreds of people attended Competore’s funeral at a local church on Friday, according to the New York Times.
A long procession of police cruisers, fire trucks, and motorcycles could be seen outside the funeral, along with Comperatore’s coffin covered in an American flag.
The father of two is survived by his wife Helen and two daughters, Allyson, 27, and Kaylee, 24.