More than two years after a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park opened fire at a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Butler, newly unclassified documents offer new insight into who Thomas Crooks was and what happened after the shooting.
Investigators said Crooks was trying to assassinate Trump when he opened fire, injuring two men attending the rally and killing a third. Snipers then shot and killed Crooks.
Then candidate Trump was injured and rushed off the stage.
PHOTOS: Former President Donald Trump rushed off stage after shots fired at rally
The FBI released hundreds of documents to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley as part of his ongoing inquiry into the assassination attempt.
The New York Post first reported new insight from those documents: that Crooks had developed an obsession with guns and long-distance shooting and that Matthew Crooks told investigators he was a Republican, but his son was not drawn to one party or the other.
The documents also reveal an anonymous donor paid for the cremation of Crooks’ body days after the assassination attempt. A note on a summary of an interview of Crooks’ father, conducted by federal investigators, read “anonymous donor paid for cremation.” The documents note Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, was retired or unemployed at the time of the shooting and his wife was on leave, suggesting they could not pay for funeral arrangements.
According to NBC News, the newly unclassified documents offer new insight from Matthew Crooks, saying that his son was very smart but very isolated. He said his son rarely expressed strong emotions for his entire life and that he was difficult to read.
President Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday, saying new information about Crooks was “just found” and questioning why it was not seen before.
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