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Authorities identified the shooter as a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a city about an hour’s drive from the scene of the shooting.
By Campbell Robertson, Jack Healy, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, and Glenn Thrush
He was interested in chess and coding and had recently earned an associate’s degree in engineering science. His classmates at his high school remembered him as a wise student who had few friends, but who never showed any apparent warning signs. The nursing home where he worked as a meal preparation assistant said his assignment gave no reason to “worry. “
And at a time when other people his age were posting tons of non-public data online, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks left few clues about who he was, what he believed, or why he attended a Trump rally out west. from Pennsylvania on Saturday. . He attempted to assassinate the former president.
On Sunday, federal investigators said a gunman named Mr. Crooks had used an AR-15 rifle purchased through his father to open fire from a rooftop outside the rally where former President Donald J. was speaking. In new detail, FBI officials said they were investigating the incident as an imaginable case of domestic terrorism and that the shooter left explosive cloths in the vehicle leading to the event.
But many other important points about Mr Crooks were still unclear. The federal government said he had no obvious history of mental aptitude problems or past threats, and was not on the radar of federal authorities.
Investigators tracked his online presence and attempted to access his phone, but so far have uncovered no indications of strong political beliefs. In fact, the clues he left were confusing: he was a registered Republican but had also donated to a progressive cause in 2021; His parents were registered as Democrats and Libertarians.
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