Released Texts Raise More Questions About Donald Trump's Assassination Attempt

Though Thomas Crooks' bullets narrowly missed their target on July 13, 2024, when he attempted to assassinate Donald Trump during a presidential campaign rally in Pennsylvania, recently released texts from local law enforcement show something like a game of cat and mouse between Crooks and counter snipers who failed to stop Crooks before he fired eight shots at the presidential candidate. The assassination attempt dominated headlines along with photos of Trump holding his fist up triumphantly as blood streaked across his face. Crook's bullet came close enough to graze Trump's ear and left everyone wondering how the 20-year-old managed to get into position and fire at the American politician. 

In the weeks since, investigations have uncovered many aspects of Crook's planning, but there are still plenty of unanswered questions at the time of this writing, including fresh ones stemming from reports compiled by Beaver and Butler Counties documenting the events of the day that were made public by Sen. Chuck Grassley. The report shows that for about an hour and a half before the shooting, law enforcement was aware and suspicious of Crooks, but he seemed to elude them in the last half hour or so before the shooting. 

From what is known about Thomas Crooks assassination attempt on Donald Trump, it's clear he did plenty of planning ahead of time. While his exact motivation has not been made public, if even known, The New York Times reported how Crooks already owned an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle that he'd bought legally from his father. Online, he'd searched "major depressive disorder" and the names of high-profile leaders, including Trump and President Joe Biden. 

On July 3, the Trump campaign announced they were holding a rally in Butler in 10 days, about an hour and 20 minutes drive from where he lived in Bethel Park, and on July 6 Crooks looked up information online about how far JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was from the president when he shot him. He'd built amateur bombs and drove to the site of the rally about a week ahead of time to get a lay of the land. He registered to be in attendance at the rally. Crooks went to the shooting range the day before the assassination attempt and bought a ladder the day of. He was a man with a plan. 

Meanwhile, local law enforcement and the Secret Service were making plans too. On July 8, the mixed agencies toured the area, with the Secret Service asking for more backup from Beaver County, a big ask as it was looking for volunteers for 12-hour shifts, which reportedly was a strain on the staff. It was also the Secret Service who decided that the AGR building Crooks shot from did not warrant coverage, and the would-be assassin slipped past counter snipers to the rooftop to try to kill Donald Trump.

Thomas Crooks showed up to the grounds of the rally at 10 a.m., according to The New York Times, where he lingered for just over an hour as counter snipers were showing up. He left and drove back to Bethel Park and bought 50 rounds of ammunition before going back to the rally at 3:35 p.m. According to Sen. Grassley's Oversight Summary, Crooks was first seen by a Beaver County sniper and deemed suspicious at 4:26 p.m. Crooks was sitting at a picnic table near the AGR building as the sniper left. He texted his team to warn them that someone had parked in the law enforcement parking area and said, "I'm just letting you know because you see me go out with my rifle and put it in my car so he knows you guys are up there ... ." A bike and backpack were also spotted and being monitored. 

At 5:38 p.m. a Beaver County sniper sent photos of Crooks to the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit and described him as hanging around the AGR building with a range finder facing the stage. The sniper wrote, "If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out. I lost sight of him." At 5:45 p.m. the photos and alert were sent to command who wanted to know Crooks "direction of travel." The responder wasn't sure. According to NPR, an officer was boosted to the roof but before he could climb up Crooks pointed his gun at him so he dropped down. About a half minute later, Crooks fired at Donald Trump. Snipers immediately shot back killing Crooks on the spot.