Law enforcement officials called it an AR-15. ATF agents called it “nothing special.” But the rifle that’s been at the center of countless controversies is now at the center of a plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
An AR-15 style rifle was found next to the body of Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, the suspect who wounded Trump and others, killing one man, in Butler, Pennsylvania, officials said.
An FBI official said Sunday that the bureau believes the rifle, chambered in 5.56 caliber ammunition, was purchased legally by Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, but said in a conference call with reporters that it was unclear whether Crooks had permission to use the gun.
The Crooks family has a small digital footprint, but some of their few online traces point to ties to internet marketplaces that buy and sell guns.
According to website intrusion data reviewed by USA Today, Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, purchased items in 2020 from Botac, a website that describes itself as one of the leading retailers of tactical supplies used by law enforcement, the military and home defense.
The leaked data does not provide specific items purchased or the value of the transactions, so it is unclear whether Matthew Crooks purchased firearms. The Botak website advertises a variety of semi-automatic rifles, as well as many other items.
The data was hacked from Eye4Fraud.com, a company that screens online purchases for potential fraud on behalf of e-commerce merchants, said Megan Squire, vice president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which provided excerpts showing the purchases to USA Today. The company’s data was hacked in February 2023 and posted on the dark web earlier this year.
Squire said it’s unclear who hacked or posted the data, which lists only one purchase made by Matthew Crooks.
Matthew Crooks could not be reached despite multiple phone calls on Saturday and Sunday.
About the shoot:The FBI says the shooter acted alone and used a gun purchased by his father
The Associated Press, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the rifle was purchased by Matthew Crooks at least six months ago.
Seven months ago, a Gmail account using the name Matthew Crooks posted a review of CashMyGuns.com, a Nevada-licensed firearms reseller. The reviewer praised the business as “the easiest way to get rid of unwanted firearms” and recommended it to others.
Data brokers linked the Gmail account to a person named Matthew B. Crooks. Information in the Google profile matched Matthew Crooks’ geographic location and showed other reviews of Pittsburgh-area businesses, including in Bethel Park, where the Crooks family lives, according to public records and interviews with neighbors.
Botach and CashMyGuns.com did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and company officials authorized to answer questions could not immediately be reached.
The purchasing records and online posts indicate “there was a gun culture in the home,” Squire said. “When we see this at SPLC, the same symptoms start to pile up that we see every day with the people and groups we study.”
Who was the shooter?What we know about Thomas Crookes
The gun used in the shooting
AR-15 rifles are relatively common in the United States, owned by roughly 1 in 20 adults nationwide, according to The Washington Post.
An AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle that fires one bullet with each pull of the trigger and then automatically reloads the gun, whereas automatic rifles, which are illegal in many states, can fire bullets continuously as long as the trigger is pulled.
According to Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, suspect Thomas Crooks opened fire on former President Trump from a rooftop at a crowded rally where the former president was speaking, and is believed to have fired multiple shots before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
ATF Special Agent in Charge Joseph Price in Pittsburgh said there was “nothing unusual” about the weapon used by the shooter.
In an interview Sunday morning in the parking lot of Butler Township City Hall, Price said investigators are still determining how many shots were fired.
Crooks’ next of kin could not be reached as of Sunday afternoon, but CNN reported that his father told the outlet on Saturday that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but would speak with police before making any further statements.
The Crooks’ home address is listed as a three-bedroom brick house in Bethel Park that has been owned since 1998 by Matthew and Mary Crooks. Calls to the couple were not returned overnight. Matthew Crooks is registered as a Libertarian and Thomas Crooks is registered as a Republican, according to county voter records.
Pennsylvania Gun Laws
Pennsylvania has stricter gun laws than many other states, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a national nonprofit that advocates for gun control in the U.S. In a statement late on Saturday, the group called Saturday’s shooting “an unacceptable, tragic reminder of our nation’s gun violence crisis.”
Background checks, including mental health records, are required before anyone can purchase a handgun, a concealed carry permit is required (more than 1.6 million have been issued), guns are not allowed in some public buildings, and people convicted of hate crimes, violent misdemeanors, domestic violence or stalking cannot own guns.
Still, the Everytown nonprofit said Pennsylvania “lacks some fundamental gun control laws.” For example, the state doesn’t require background checks for privately sold rifles, according to the Giffords Law Center, a gun violence prevention nonprofit.
Unlike neighboring Delaware, Maryland, New York and New Jersey, Pennsylvania is not one of just nine states that have passed laws banning the possession of assault weapons such as AR-15s and AK-47 rifles. There are no training or waiting periods required before purchasing a gun, and there are no mandates for high-capacity magazines or reporting lost or stolen firearms.
Gun Safety at Trump Rallies
President Trump has positioned gun owners as a key part of the electorate he wants to win in November’s presidential election.
He has the support of the gun advocacy group the National Rifle Association, which in a May statement called the former president “a strong defender in the White House who has always fought for the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. And at an NRA forum this spring, he vowed to protect access to guns if he were to return to the presidency.
Gun control measures have been implemented at his public meetings.
What went wrong?How did the Secret Service allow a shooter to get so close to President Trump?
Attendees at Saturday’s event were required to pass through metal detectors and have their bags checked, which is standard at Trump events. Guns were banned, along with fireworks, noise-making devices and laser pointers, according to a list of prohibited items handed out to rally-goers by The Philadelphia Inquirer. A similar measure was taken during a gun scare at a Trump rally in Nevada in 2016. The then-candidate was hastily removed from the stage that night, but returned to continue speaking a few minutes later.
Still, the gates’ gun control measures wouldn’t have prevented Saturday’s shooting, because Crooks was on a rooftop just outside the rally site — about 150 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking, according to a USA Today analysis.
Security experts told USA Today that the investigation into the deadly shooting must focus on whether security protocols were breached, noting that the gunman had plenty of access within sniper range.
Authorities identified the attendee killed in Saturday’s shooting as Corey Comperatore, a firefighter from Pennsylvania.
Trump was wounded in the shooting but was released from a local hospital late Saturday night and is scheduled to attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week.
Online photos of Thomas Crooks at Saturday’s rally show him wearing a shirt from a popular YouTube channel called Demolition Ranch, whose Facebook page reads, “Dedicated to making you smile with guns.”
“It’s very common for frustrated 20-somethings with easy access to guns and a lot of free time to spend their time on gun channels on YouTube,” Squire said, “and unfortunately that leads to the violence we’ve seen.”
Contributors: Will Carless, Stephanie Warsmith, Aisha Bagchi