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The author of the assassination of former President Trump, an enigma for the authorities

2024-07-17 20:42:32, Kosova & Bota CNA
The author of the assassination of former President Trump, an enigma for the
Thomas Matthew Crooks, source AP

A few days after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the author of the assassination, Thomas Mathew Crooks, remains an enigma for the authorities investigating the case. Those who knew the twenty-year-old describe him as an intelligent individual who did not have many friends. Very few publications have been found on him on social networks and the authorities investigating the case have not been able to clearly understand his political beliefs, making it difficult to understand the motive for the assassination.

The FBI managed to analyze the author's cell phone and computer. Authorities have already raided his car and home and interviewed more than 100 people, but why he decided to attack the former president during an election rally on Saturday remains an unsolved mystery.

"He sat by himself, didn't talk to anyone, didn't make any effort to even start a conversation," said 17-year-old Liam Campbell, echoing what Thomas Mathew Crooks' classmates have said.

"He was a strange boy, but there was nothing about him that seemed dangerous," added Laim Campbell.

So far, it has not been said whether the perpetrator of the attack left any written message that would clarify the motive for the attack.

A law enforcement official who spoke to the Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity said what they found on Crooks' phone did not reveal anything relevant to the investigation or whether the perpetrator carried out the attack alone or with others.

Crooks' political beliefs are also murky. He was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but campaign finance reports also show he made a $15 payment to a left-leaning policy committee on January 20, 2021, the day Mr. Joe Biden was sworn in as President.

Thomas Mathew Crooks is described by his classmates at Bethel Park High School as bright but a loner. He often wore headphones and preferred to sit alone during his lunch break looking at his phone.

"He was bullied almost every day," says classmate Jason Kohler.

After graduating high school in 2022, Crooks began his studies at the public university in Allegheny County, receiving his bachelor's degree in engineering science in May.

A 1997 study by the Secret Service that analyzed what motivated people who had carried out assassinations since 1949 found no overriding motive for why a person would attempt to take the life of a public figure. However, two-thirds of the perpetrators are described as lonely people with a poor social life.

Like Crooks, most of the other perpetrators of the assassination had no criminal record in their past. Most of the perpetrators of such attacks are trained in the use of weapons but have had no formal military training, according to the study.

Crooks had previously tried to be accepted into a school shooting team, but his membership was rejected because he was not accurate at the target.

He did, however, manage through his family to become a member of the Clairton Sports Club, a shooting range about 10 miles east of Bethel Park.

"We know very little about him," says the president of this club, Bill Sellito.

"What happened on Saturday was terrible, that's not why we exist as a club."

The club has a shooting range with targets up to 170 meters away. Crooks was about 135 yards away when he fired at former President Trump on Saturday with an automatic rifle.

The day before he carried out the attack, Thomas Crooks visited the club where he was a member and fired shots, according to detective records. On the day of the attack, he had bought 50 rounds of ammunition for his rifle at a local store and then traveled alone to Butler, Pennsylvania, where Mr Trump was holding a campaign rally.

Witnesses and law enforcement officials say Crooks walked near the campaign rally for at least half an hour before climbing onto the roof of a building near where Mr. Trump was speaking.

As those attending the rally began to shout to attract the attention of the police, Crooks managed to carry out the attack. A Secret Service sniper fired within 15 seconds, killing Crooks with a single shot to the head.

One of the bullets hit former President Trump in the ear, and he said moving his head within seconds saved his life from a second shot that could have been fatal.

One of the bullets with which Mr. Trump was shot took the life of 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore, who had gone to hear the former President's speech. Two other people received serious injuries.

With no clear indication of what motivated Crooks to carry out the attack, many representatives from both political camps have tried to offer explanations in the absence of a clear motive, making partisan assessments, unsubstantiated speculation and theories conspiracy.

Some Republicans have blamed Democrats after they described the former President as a threat to democracy. Democrats, on the other hand, have pointed to the fact that Crooks was registered as a Republican and to Mr. Trump's own provocative rhetoric, including his defense of those who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The home of the perpetrator of the attack continues to be surrounded by yellow police tapes while police officers patrol to prevent journalists from approaching.

Melanie Maxwell, who lives in the same neighborhood, is a supporter of former President Trump.

Like the others she didn't know the Crooks family well either. She says she was shocked by the attack and that the failure of security authorities should be investigated.

"The hand of God protected President Trump," she said./ VOA





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