The would-be assassin of former President Trump reportedly went to work on Saturday but told his boss he needed the day off because he had “things to do,” according to a report.
Suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after firing five shots, grazing President Trump’s ear, killing firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounding two others.
However, law enforcement sources He told CNN The 20-year-old told his boss he would be returning to work on Sunday.
Crooks reported being unemployed in 2020 but most recently worked as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a state-licensed transitional facility.
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Undated photograph of Thomas Matthew Crookes (Courtesy of AFP)
Marcy Grimm, the center’s administrator, said in a statement Sunday that Crooks “performed his duties without any concerns” and that a background check had passed.
The nursing home where Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks worked. (Michael Lewis/Fox News Digital)
Photos show Crooks’ “new model” mobile phone and a grey 12-button remote control were recovered next to his body after he was shot. Retrieved by WPXI.
The transmitter was connected to an explosive device that was in Crooks’ car, investigators suggested in police interviews. New York Post He may have had a plan to create a distraction during the shooting.
A blurry cellphone video shows, from a rally-goer’s perspective, Thomas Matthew Crooks crawling across a rooftop moments before attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump. (DJ Lafley)
Investigators have yet to determine a motive for the assassination attempt, though they were able to access Crooks’ cellphone and laptop, but they are beginning to get a clearer picture of Crooks’ actions leading up to the shooting that day.
About three hours before the shooting, Crooks aroused suspicion when he passed through a magnetometer at the rally’s security checkpoint carrying a rangefinder — similar to small binoculars that shooters and hunters use to gauge distances when preparing to shoot a long-range shot.
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Thomas Matthew Crooks was the perpetrator of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Fox News Digital Law Enforcement Source)
A law enforcement source told Fox News Digital that a local police officer saw a suspicious man with a distance measuring device “inside or just outside” the venue before Trump took to the stage.
Sources said the sighting was reported to state police, who said there was a debate about whether the man had binoculars to get a better view of the rally.
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Reporters line the yard of a home across from one believed to be linked to the gunman in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, Monday, July 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean J. Puskar)
Crooks climbed onto an air conditioner and gained access to the roof of the building. ABC News reported.
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Fox News Digital’s Michael Lewis and Sarah Rumpf Whitten contributed to this report.
