Butler, Pennsylvania – The 20-year-old man who plotted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 “carefully planned” and scouted the Butler, Pennsylvania rally location, the FBI said Monday.
“The suspect appears to have gone to great lengths to conceal his actions,” an FBI official said in a conference call.
The FBI said Crooks had “carefully planned the rally” ahead of the tragic rally that left one person dead, including former President Trump, and three injured.
Crooks’ meticulous planning included visiting the rally’s site, the Butler County Fairgrounds, a week before the shooting.
Authorities said the 20-year-old man had also gone to a shooting range the day before the attack and practiced with the same weapon used in the attack.
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Thomas Matthew Crooks is the alleged perpetrator of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Source: Fox News Digital)
The FBI said Crooks’ father, Matthew Brian Crooks, had legally transferred to his son a DPMS AR-15-style handgun with a folding stock, the same gun that the 20-year-old Crooks used in the shooting.
The FBI said the gun was legally purchased by the shooter’s father in 2013.
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Federal authorities also said Crooks had a stockpile of guns as well as parts to make explosive devices.
The FBI said Crooks used a false online name to purchase 25 guns in the spring of 2023, more than a year before the shootings.
A photo of the cell phone and transmitter found next to suspect Thomas Crooks after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Courtesy of Senator Chuck Grassley)
Thomas Crooks’ parents, Matthew and Mary Crooks, return to their home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Mary Crooks has not been seen in public since her son attempted to assassinate former President Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
According to the FBI, in the first half of 2024, the suspect made six purchases of materials related to chemical precursors used to make explosive devices.
Crooks’ parents said their son had a strong interest in science and was always conducting experiments, so they weren’t surprised when belongings started piling up in their modest home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Police officers stand near the body of Thomas Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate President Trump, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Todd the Driller)
Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh office, said investigators were still investigating Crooks’ motive after conducting more than 450 interviews and investigating more than 2,100 tips from the public.
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The FBI said it had requested information from 86 companies linked to Crooks. The bureau did not disclose what it had requested from the companies.
A map detailing points of interest related to the investigation into the attempt by Thomas Crooks to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Courtesy of Senator Chuck Grassley)
The FBI described Crooks as “highly intelligent, had attended college and had a stable job,” adding that the 20-year-old appeared to be a loner.
There is no evidence that Crooks had been in a psychiatric hospital or was using drugs, police said.
The Butler Fair Grounds was preparing to host a countywide fair roughly weeks after the shooting. (Sarah Rumpf-Whitten/Fox News Digital)
Nearly three weeks after the shooting that rocked western Pennsylvania, fairgrounds are starting to prepare for the annual Big Butler Fair.
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No FBI agents were on scene, but Fox News Digital saw vendors entering and exiting the fairgrounds, which were open to fairgoers in preparation for the countywide festivities.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI for comment.
