BUTLER, Pennsylvania – The 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate former President Trump at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, “carefully planned” and scouted the rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania, the FBI revealed Monday.
“We believe the subject made significant efforts to conceal his activities,” FBI officials said during a conference call.
The FBI said Crooks engaged in “careful pre-campaign planning” ahead of Trump's fateful rally that left one dead and three injured, including the former president.
Crooks' meticulous planning included visits to the rally site, the Butler County Fairgrounds, a week before the shooting.
The 20-year-old also went to a shooting range the day before the attack to practice with the same gun he used in the attack, authorities said.
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Thomas Matthew Crooks is believed to have been the shooter in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
The FBI revealed that Crooks' father, Matthew Brian Crooks, legally transferred a DPMS AR-15-style firearm with a folding stock to his son, the same firearm the 20-year-old used in the shooting.
It was legally purchased by the shooter's father in 2013, according to the FBI.
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The federal agency also revealed that Crooks stored weapons and components to create explosive devices.
The FBI said that in the spring of 2023, more than a year before the shooting, Crooks made 25 gun purchases using online aliases.
A photograph of evidence of a cell phone and streaming device found next to Thomas Crooks after his attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Provided by Senator Chuck Grassley)
Thomas Crooks' parents, Matthew and Mary Crooks, return to their home in Bethel Park, Pa., Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Mary Crooks has not been seen in public since her son attempted to assassinate former President Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pa. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
In the first half of 2024, the FBI said, it made six purchases involving precursor chemicals used to create explosive devices.
Crooks' parents said their son had a keen interest in science and had always done experiments, so they were not alarmed when the packages began piling up in their modest home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Law enforcement officers stand over the body of would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Todd the Driller)
Kevin Rojek, FBI special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh field office, said officials are still investigating Crooks' motive after conducting more than 450 interviews and examining more than 2,100 tips from the public.
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The agency said it had requested information from 86 companies linked to Crooks. The FBI did not specify what it requested from the linked companies.
A map detailing locations of interest related to the investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump by Thomas Crooks in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Provided by Senator Chuck Grassley)
The FBI described Crooks as “highly intelligent, had attended college and was steadily employed.” They said they believe the 20-year-old was a loner.
They said there has been no evidence of mental institutions or drugs used by Crooks.
About a few weeks after the shooting, the Butler Fairgrounds was preparing to launch its countywide fair. (Sarah Rumpf-Whitten/Fox News Digital)
Nearly three weeks after the shooting that rocked the western Pennsylvania county, the fairgrounds have begun preparing for its annual Big Butler Fair.
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There were no FBI agents on the scene, but Fox News Digital spotted vendors entering and exiting the fairgrounds that were open to fairgoers to prepare for the party that would spread across the county.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI for comment.
