(DailyChive.com) – New details about the alleged shooter who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump have emerged and reveal that 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks practiced shooting at a local gun club the day before the attempted assassination.
On Thursday, Aug. 8, Fox News reported on court records obtained from the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley about Crooks. The records reveal that on Aug. 10, 2023, Crooks joined the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club and was there practicing the day before he tried to kill Trump at a rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Within seconds of opening fire on the former president from a nearby rooftop, a US Secret Service sniper took Crooks out with a single bullet. Trump was struck at the top of his ear before hitting the ground for cover, while one attendee died and two others were injured.
Over the period of almost a year, Crooks made 43 visits to the shooting range, almost half of which took place in the first four months of membership. The records show that Crooks even went shooting on holidays, including Halloween, Christmas, and the following Valentine’s Day, and the records also showed a focus on the rifle range over use of the pistol range.
The FBI visited the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club shortly after the failed assassination attempt, during which Crook was killed. Members of the range said they saw him attending regularly, including on some occasions with his father, but that he was mostly unknown amongst them and kept to himself.
Throughout 2024 leading up to the shooting, Crooks practiced an average of three to six times a month. Oddly enough, one of those sessions was on May 23, 2024, which was the same day the Department of Homeland Security used the facility for “police training.” His final visit to the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club was the day before the failed plot to kill Trump.
The entire situation left many Americans with several unanswered questions about the failure of security that day, and how Crooks was able to sneak a rifle onto the grounds, climb onto a nearby structure, and open fire. Americans also want to know why the Secret Service did not cover that area properly, why law enforcement failed to stop Crooks after being alerted by attendees a few minutes before he opened fire, and about the true motivation behind the plot.
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