Trump’s shooting: What we know so far and the unanswered questions

A day after the alleged assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, who is running for the top job once again as a Republican candidate, investigators struggled to answer more questions than the ones they have answered.

Several things about the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot dead by Secret Service agents after his alleged crime, remained a mystery, including his motive. The FBI is investigating the shooting as a potential act of domestic terrorism. Here is a round-up of what we know so far from the ongoing probe:

Failure of Secret Service?

• Crooks was perched atop the roof of a manufacturing plant less than 150 metres (less than 500 feet) from the stage on which Trump was speaking, armed with his father’s AR-style rifle.
• Even before he could climb on to the roof to shoot at Trump, some rallygoers pointed him out to local law enforcement officials.
• He was apparently acting strangely outside the campaign event. But a frantic search did not yield any result until he was spotted on the roof.
• A local law enforcement officer reportedly climbed to the roof even before he fired, but had to retreat down the ladder as he found Crooks pointing the rifle at him.
• Crooks allegedly fired towards Trump at once. Reporters on the spot heard five or six shots.
• Shortly after that, US Secret Service gunmen took him down, news agency AP reported.
• Kevin Rojek, agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said it was “surprising” that Crooks could open fire before the Secret Service could act even though he was detected. Some senators have now called for an investigation of Secret Service.
• The roof had reportedly been surveyed during security preparations for the event. It was empty then but what remains a mystery is why the Secret Service or local law enforcement did not post someone at the building to prevent anyone from accessing the roof.
• Bomb-making materials — described by the FBI as “rudimentary” — were also found inside Crooks’ car (which was parked close to the rally venue) and at his home.

What we know about Crooks

• Crooks lived in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about 80 km from the scene of the shooting.
• He graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022.
• In a video of the graduation ceremony, Crooks, slight of build and wearing glasses, can be seen receiving his diploma. He was reportedly among several students in his senior year to have received an award for math and science.
• His former school mates have been quoted by media reports as saying that Crooks was bullied at school “almost every day” and sat alone at lunch time. He was an “outcast” and other students mocked him for the clothes he wore, which included hunting outfits.
• His school counsellor Jim Knapp described him as “respectful” and said Crooks had always been as “quiet as a church mouse” and he kept to himself though he did have a few friends. He said Crooks was not “a needy type of kid”.
• Crooks reportedly liked playing video games.
• The chatting app Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games, said Crooks had an account but rarely used it and did not log in over the past several months.
• In recent times, Crooks was working at a nursing home as a dietary aide, which involved preparing food for patients. The administrator of Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation has said Crooks had a clean background check when he was hired.
• Images of Crooks’ body reviewed by AP show him wearing a T-shirt from Demolition Ranch, a popular YouTube channel that regularly posts videos of its creator firing off handguns and assault rifles at targets that include human mannequins.
• Matt Carriker, the Texas-based creator of Demolition Ranch, posted a photo of Crooks’ body wearing his brand’s T-shirt on social media with the comment “What the hell.”
• Crooks used an AR-style rifle legally bought by his father in 2013. Investigators do not yet know if he took the gun without his father’s permission.
• He had no recorded history of mental illness.
• Federal investigators have not found any links between Crooks and any international terrorist group. They are still looking into whether he had any ties to domestic terrorist groups.
• He had no US military affiliation, according to the Pentagon.

• The youth’s motive remains unclear and he is believed to have acted alone. Investigators are reportedly going through his cell phone to determine a motive.
• Crooks was not on the FBI’s radar and investigators have found no immediate threatening posts or any ideological motive from his social media accounts.
• Though it was initially reported that Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, his political leanings were not as clear after it emerged from federal campaign finance reports that he donated $15 to a progressive political action committee on January 20, 2021 — the day President Joe Biden was sworn in.
• Crooks was less than 150 meters away from Trump, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. US Army recruits must hit a human-sized target from that distance to qualify with the M-16 rifle. But Crooks is said to have been a terrible shot.
• His former school mates have told the media that Crooks tried out for the school’s rifle team but was turned away and asked never to return.
• A former fellow student at Bethel Park High School told The Washington Post that Crooks missed his target by close to 20 feet. His performance was considered “dangerous,” a former classmate told the media. Therefore, it is surprising how he managed to hit Trump in the ear from a distance of 400-odd feet though he was reportedly a member of a local shooting club named Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.

What FBI is doing

The FBI reportedly said in a statement: “We are working to determine the sequence of events and the shooter’s movements prior to the shooting, collecting and reviewing evidence, conducting interviews, and following up on all leads. We have also obtained the shooter’s telephone for examination.”

Crooks’ gun and cell phone have been sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, to be analysed. His family is reportedly cooperating with the investigation and the FBI has received more than 2,000 tips on the shooting.

The shooting resulted in the death of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter, who took a bullet while trying to protect his family.

The two wounded bystanders are reportedly stable.