Tracking the movements of the shooter at a Trump rally in the run-up to his attack

CNN
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In the 48 hours before he opened fire on former President Donald Trump, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks made a series of stops in and around his hometown, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

On Friday, he went to a gun range where he was a member and practiced shooting, a law enforcement official told CNN. The next morning, Crooks went to a Home Depot, where he bought a 5-foot ladder, and to a gun store, where he bought 50 rounds of ammunition, the official said.

Crooks then drove his Hyundai Sonata about an hour north and joined thousands of people from across the region who flocked to Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He parked the car outside the rally, with an improvised explosive device in the trunk connected to a transmitter he was carrying, the official said. Then, investigators believe, he climbed a nearby building using his newly purchased ladder and opened fire on the former president.

As investigators continue to search for a motive for the attempted murder, they are examining Crooks’ movements prior to the attack and attempting to piece together a chronology of his actions leading up to the attack.

Yet nearly 48 hours after the shooting, investigators are shocked by the lack of clues they can find about Crooks’ state of mind and possible motives. Even after successfully breaking into his phone, searching his computer, scouring his search history and bedroom, and interviewing his family and friends, agents still have not found any evidence that would point to a political or ideological motivation for the shooting, law enforcement sources told CNN.

Instead, the evidence found appeared to point to typical online activities, including an interest in computer programming and gaming, the sources said – and that raises further questions.

In a sign that his attack could have been even more devastating, the crooks carried a remote-controlled detonator and in the trunk of his car was a metal box containing explosives connected by wires to a receiver, the law enforcement source said.

This suggests that the shooter may have intended to set off an explosion from a distance. Investigators are considering the theory that he may have been planning a diversionary tactic during the shooting.

It is unclear how Crooks assembled the explosive devices found in his car. Investigators who reviewed his online search history could find no evidence that he had researched how to make explosives himself, law enforcement officials said.

The AR-style rifle Crooks used to shoot Trump was legally purchased by his father, Matthew Crooks. It was one of more than 20 firearms registered to the elder Crooks and kept in the family home, according to Pennsylvania State Police records reviewed by investigators, the official said. All of the weapons were legally purchased.

The shooter and his father were members of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a gun club about a 25-minute drive from his home, and enjoyed shooting together there, according to law enforcement officials. Rob Bootay, an attorney for the club, confirmed in a statement that the younger Crooks was a member.

The club, which has about 2,000 members, has a rifle range that is about 600 feet long, according to a CNN analysis of satellite imagery – longer than the distance between Crooks and Trump when he shot the former president from a nearby rooftop. The range is nestled in 180 acres of woods in the hills south of Pittsburgh.

“The club condemns in the strongest possible terms this senseless act of violence,” Bootay said, adding that he “cannot comment further on this matter given the ongoing police investigation.”

The crooks bought the 50 rounds of ammunition the morning of the attack at Allegheny Arms and Gun Works, a gun shop in his hometown of Bethel Park, a senior law enforcement official told CNN. Bruce Piendl, the owner of the shop, said in a statement: “We are grateful that President Trump was not assassinated, and our condolences and prayers go out to all the victims of this horrific incident.”

A spokesman for Home Depot, where Crooks bought the ladder, said in a statement: “We condemn the violence against former President Trump and our thoughts are with him, the other victims of Saturday’s horrific events and their families.”

It is unclear whether Crooks used the ammunition or the ladder he purchased on Saturday in his attack later that day.

Matthew Crooks did not respond to CNN requests for comment on Sunday and Monday. On Saturday night, before authorities publicly confirmed his son’s role in the attack, he told CNN he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but would “wait until I’ve spoken to law enforcement” before speaking about his son.

FBI investigators managed to access the younger Crooks’ cellphone, the agency said Monday afternoon. Investigators had hoped the breakthrough would help them understand what drove him to assassinate Trump, but they are still struggling to make sense of it, law enforcement officials said.

The shooter’s parents, who have been cooperating with law enforcement since the shooting, have told investigators that Crooks appeared to have no friends and no political leanings, a law enforcement official told CNN. But they did not appear to know much about what was going on in his life recently, law enforcement sources said.

CNN’s Isabelle Chapman, Majlie de Puy Kamp, Curt Devine, Kyung Lah, Jamiel Lynch, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Anna-Maja Rappard contributed to reporting.