Was Thomas Crooks Part of a Larger Network Behind the Trump Assassination Attempt in Butler Pennsylvania
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Was Thomas Crooks Part of a Larger Network Behind the Trump Assassination Attempt in Butler Pennsylvania
Eight months after Thomas Crooks shot Donald Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally, the motive remains a mystery. Those who knew Crooks—teachers, friends, and neighbors—insist the public narrative painting him as a bullied loner is false. A private investigator claims geo-fencing revealed eight to nine electronic devices linking Crooks to others at his home, old high school, gun club, and the rally itself, suggesting he may not have acted alone. Meanwhile, Crooks' family remains silent, his body was quickly cremated, and investigators continue searching for answers about what transformed a gifted, friendly student into someone who nearly altered the course of history.
On July 13th, 2024, a seemingly mild-mannered college kid almost altered the course of human history when he shot Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Thomas Crooks killed one rally goer, Corey Comperatore, and seriously injured two others while grazing Trump's right ear. But to friends, neighbors, former teachers, and investigators, why Thomas Crooks did what he did is just as much of a mystery now as it was back then.
Almost eight months later, videographer Matt McGruder and the investigation team spent a week in Butler, Pennsylvania and nearby Bethel Park in a sometimes wild journey to find out what really happened. What they found shocked them.
Private Investigator Claims Crooks Wasn't Alone
Private investigator Doug Hagman had a team of seven working on this mystery after being hired by a secret client shortly after the event. He says his team used a technique called geo-fencing. Hagman told investigators they located eight or nine devices, probably cell phones, that belong to other people but were pinpointed to being with Crooks at his home, at his old high school, at his gun club, and even at the rally.
Hagman said he doesn't believe Crooks acted alone and that he was part of a criminal network that's still out there and still wants to kill President Trump. "I'm going to say that there is sufficient evidence to support the conclusion that there were others in helping assisting Thomas Matthew Crooks based on the presence of electronic devices at his home as well as at the Butler Fairgrounds," Hagman stated.
Neighbors Say Public Narrative Is All Lies
To all his neighbors, Thomas Crooks seemed like a regular teenager. "I mean he seemed like a normal kid, he seemed nice. He'd wave and smile. Every day he'd be out walking around so it's not like he was a shut-in or anything like that. He seemed like a very normal teen," one neighbor recalled.
Everyone spoken to pushed back on the narrative at the time that painted Crooks as a Columbine-type loner who wore camo to school, was bullied, and even supposedly threatened to shoot up his school once. They told investigators that was all false.
Teachers Remember a Gifted, Kind Student
Crooks' former guidance counselor Jim Knapp knew Crooks and his parents and older sister since he was in ninth grade. "Do you remember where you were when you heard the news that Thomas Crooks had tried to kill the person who would become the president of the United States?" Knapp was asked. "Sure did and it was like are you kidding me. I said this kid I would have never ever thought would have attempted this or never would have done this."
Crooks' former computer technology teacher Xavier Harmon was one of many who told investigators Crooks was not only a very gifted student but a nice kid. Harmon said he called Crooks his "little buddy." "I didn't believe it. I know the individual I taught and this individual, this picture being presented of him, is somebody who was a total 180 of who he was in my classroom," Harmon explained.
His Bethel Park High School friend said you can never really know anyone but still said he was shocked at learning what his old economics classmate did. "This kid that I played football with sent me a message. He was like do you know Matthew Crooks and I was like uh no and he was like oh wait Thomas Matthew Crooks you graduated with him right. I was like yeah what about him and he was like that's who tried to assassinate Trump. I was like get the heck out of here dude. It still baffles me now."
The Gun Range Visits
Crooks went to the gun range 43 times in the year prior to shooting Donald Trump. 43 times to the Clairton range. His friend was asked if Crooks ever talked about that kind of hobby before. "No, I would have never taken Tom for a gun person to be honest. He seems more of like the hang out and play video games type of person."
Investigators visited the gun club where Crooks practiced an astonishing 43 times between August 2023 and the Trump rally in July 2024. The Clairton gun range is a gun club and shooting range about half an hour from Thomas Crooks' house. He went once in May, two months before the attempted assassination of President Trump. Oddly enough, the day after, there were officers and agents from the Department of Homeland Security that were at the range shooting as well.
A Family in Hiding
Thomas's parents still live in the very small ranch home in Bethel Park but have never given interviews. His parents Matthew and Mary are inside. According to a number of neighbors, they never come out of their house except at 3:00 a.m. to go get groceries.
Crooks' older sister Katie lives in an apartment complex nearby but good luck getting to her. She's about 23 years old and works as a janitor nearby. When investigators went to see if they could talk to her, they were met by two men in her apartment building complex that came to the door and told them in no uncertain terms that they had to go. They were polite but they said, "This story is dead and you need to know that."
Congressional Investigation Continues
Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins investigated the incident for months as part of a bipartisan Congressional committee. However, he's pretty sure Crooks acted alone, though he admitted that he still hasn't found a motive. Higgins hopes the new FBI director Kash Patel will help him find out more about Crooks in the coming months.
But the people interviewed said they don't believe the mystery of why Thomas Crooks did what he did will ever be solved.
Was It Evil?
When asked why he did it, Jim Knapp offered his theory: "I thought and I really to this day believe it, evil. From the time he left high school to two years later, something happened to that young man during that time. I'm a firm believer, as we talked earlier about my current job into religion, I believe evil is in the world. The devil is in the world, has always been in the world. But I think the devil had really inflicted him, caused him to snap, and that's why he did it."
His teacher Xavier Harmon wants to remember his old student, not the scary young man he read about in the media after the shooting. "I just want everybody to understand who Thomas really was and the individual that I knew. The monster that's being created isn't the individual that sat in for two years in my classroom. So I'm going to focus in my heart and my mind to always remember that young man and not who was created."
