Visiting a shooting range, a gun shop and buying a ladder — that’s what Thomas Matthew Crooks did just hours before heading to Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Butler.
Then he lay on a roof with his father’s rifle in his hands and shot the former President of the United States.
During the two days leading up to the shooting, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks made several stops in and around his hometown in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, writes CNN.
On Friday, he visited a shooting range, where both he and his father were members, to practice shooting. The following morning, he went to a Home Depot store to buy a ladder. Finally, he went to a gun store, where he bought 50 cartridges.
He then took his father’s rifle and drove an hour north in his Hyundai Sonata to Donald Trump’s rally in Butler.
Had homemade explosives in the car
Crooks left the car in the parking lot, with a home-made explosive device in the trunk connected to a transmitter he carried with him. Investigators then suspect he used his newly purchased ladder to climb onto the roof, from where he fired at Trump.
But the search for the 20-year-old’s motive for the attack has not yet led to any discovery. After a search of Crook’s bedroom as well as his mobile phone and computer, the police find no signs that he had political or ideological motivations. Nor have any searches been found on how to make the homemade bomb that was in Crook’s car.
Crook’s father: “What the hell is going on”
After interviews with family and friends, a picture emerges of a lonely 20-year-old, who seems to have been interested in programming and computer games.
Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN Saturday night that he was trying to understand “what the hell is going on” and that he would “wait until I talk to the police” before speaking to the media. Matthew Crooks allegedly owns over 20 guns, all purchased legally and kept in the family home.
According to investigators, Crook’s parents don’t seem to know much about what was going on in their son’s life, but have said he didn’t seem to have any friends or clear political views.