A photo released by the FBI Wednesday revealed just how easy it was for would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks to reach his rooftop perch within firing distance of Donald Trump on July 13.
Investigators said Crooks, 20, made his way atop of a building in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month by climbing from a large air conditioning unit onto the roof of an adjacent building.
The FBI said Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to reach the rooftop by using the air conditioning unit pictured above right.
FBIThe AC unit backed up to a single-story brick building—once atop it, it appears only a small jump and pull-up would have been needed to reach its roof. From there, Crooks could have climbed again to make it onto the higher rooftop he ultimately opened fire from, just 150 yards from Trump.
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The benign—but all too consequential—photo was among the few new tidbits of information the FBI provided in its latest update.
Investigators conceded they still don’t have a “definitive motive” into what drove Crooks, a nursing home worker who lived with his parents, to want to kill a former president.
Kevin Rojek, a special agent in charge of the bureau’s Pittsburgh field office, told reporters Wednesday that investigators aren’t even sure Crooks had partisan political views.
“We’ve seen no definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaning,” he said.
An aerial view shows the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump was speaking when Thomas Matthew Crooks fired from atop one of the tan buildings in the background.
Brendan McDermid/ReutersThe biggest clues into Crooks’ mindset perhaps still lie in Google searches he made before the assassination attempt. The FBI said he sought information about John F. Kennedy’s assassin, an unnamed school shooter and for the schedules of prominent politicians like Trump, Joe Biden and more.
Other searches suggested Crooks may have suffered from major depressive disorder, the FBI said previously.
Rojek said Wednesday that Crooks’ assassination plot entailed “detailed attack planning” in advance of Trump’s rally. He said Crooks first searched for political events in Pennsylvania in Sept. 2023—nearly a year before Trump announced his rally in Butler, about 65 miles from Crooks’ home.
Crooks also made searches for information about where this summer’s Republican and Democratic conventions were to be held, Rojek said. But once the Butler rally was announced, Rojeck said that Crooks became “hyper-focused” on it and viewed it as “a target of opportunity.”
The rifle and backpack used by Thomas Matthew Crooks.
FBIWhile the FBI’s update was short on bombshell information, investigators did release new photos of the AR-15 style rifle used by Crooks. He used the weapon, which he had purchased from his father, to fire off at least eight shots at Trump. Two other rally-goers were seriously injured and a third, volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore, was fatally struck.
Other images released Wednesday showed Crooks’ Swissgear backpack and the trunk of his car, which contained improvised explosive devices.
The FBI said Crooks was killed within seconds of opening fire, with a shot from a Secret Service sniper to the head. He had no traces of alcohol or drugs in his system.
Rojek said investigators will continue to dig into Crooks’ potential motive.
