The father of Donald Trump’s would-be assassin spoke publicly for the first time since his son’s attack, speaking tersely with reporters who appeared to ambush him outside a grocery store.
The Fox News reporters approached Matthew Crooks, 51, and shouted questions about his son, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, as he pushed a grocery cart full of bagged items, Crush soda, and water to his vehicle Monday.
“Matthew, why would your son want to kill the president?” a reporter during the interaction, which was recorded.
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The elder Crooks responded, “No comment.” Simultaneously, a woman wearing a medical mask next to him yelled, “Back off!” and “no comment.”
The reporters continued to question the two, asking if there were any “warning signs” before the younger Crooks’ attack July 13 and if his mother, Mary Crooks, was “holding up.” The duo shot back again that they had “no comment.”
As the pair reached a red SUV to load their groceries, however, the elder Crooks said an official statement from the family may come eventually.
“We’re going to release a statement when our legal counsel advises us to do so—until then, we have no comment,” he said. “We just want to try to take care of ourselves right now. So please, just give us our space.”
A man believed to be Matthew Crooks was photographed speaking to federal investigators at his home after the shooting.
Aaron Josefczyk/ReutersNothing else was said by the duo in a video published by Fox News on Tuesday.
Thomas Crooks still lived with his parents in a middle-class suburb of Pittsburgh at the time of his rally attack in Butler, Pennsylvania. His internet searches suggested he may have been depressed and was looking for a prominent person to assassinate, with Trump’s rally less than an hour from his home being his closest opportunity.
His parents are licensed as professional counselors, records show, with his dad a registered Libertarian and his mom a registered Democrat. An official motive for the shooting has not been released by federal investigators.
