Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin of Donald Trump, was reported missing by his parents to the police hours before the shooting, a bombshell new report claims. This revelation follows the stunning development that the 20-year-old shooter was at the former president's rally three hours before opening fire.
Crooks' presence at the rally hours before the assassination attempt raised suspicion of the Secret Service because he was carrying a rangefinder used by hunters for long-distance shots. He was also photographed by the Secret Service at least an hour before the attack but cops failed to stop him in a major security breach that could have cost the life of Trump.
Chilling New Details Emerge
Crooks' parents contacted law enforcement in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, to express their concern over their son's whereabouts hours before the attack, according to Fox News. They had no idea where he was.
Law enforcement also failed to trace him, while he was already at the rally by that time.
He climbed onto a roof at the rally in Butler, 50 miles from his home, where he shot Trump and killed retired volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore.
Crooks told his boss that he needed Saturday off from work and gave his colleagues a chilling message: he would be back on Sunday.
Crooks' father told law enforcement that he believed his son had gone to the Clairton Sportsmen's Club to practice shooting with his rifle and expected him to return by 1 p.m. on Saturday, according to CNN.
However, as time passed, his concern grew, and he contacted local authorities.
Around 3 p.m. on Saturday, Crooks was seen at the rally's security screening area trying to pass through metal detectors with a rangefinder, a device used by shooters to measure distance.
Although the rangefinder, resembling a small pair of binoculars, would not have prevented him from entering the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, it did attract the attention of law enforcement.
The Secret Service monitored him but lost track when Crooks left the secure area.
It is believed that he then went to his car to take the rifle he used to shoot Trump, kill a rally attendee, and injure others, along with a bulletproof vest and two explosive devices from his car.
Secret Service Watched Crooks but Failed to Stop Him
About 40 minutes before the shooting, Crooks was back on the Secret Service's radar. A photograph showing Crooks crawling on the ground while surveying the area was circulated among law enforcement as a suspicious sighting at 5:30 p.m.
At around 6:11 p.m., Crooks positioned himself on a slanted roof and fired at Trump from about 165 yards away, injuring him in the ear and killing retired fire chief Corey Comperatore.
Witnesses saw Crooks climbing onto the roof of the American Glass Research building. A Secret Service counter-sniper team, codenamed "Hawkeye," also saw him using the rangefinder to look at their position.
These latest revelations raise further questions about the Secret Service's handling of the situation, especially after their embattled chief, Kimberly Cheatle, bizarrely said that officials deemed the roof too risky a position to place an agent.
Law enforcement took a photo of Crooks an hour before the shooting, adding to the growing evidence that they were aware of his presence long before he fired the shots.
Just moments before Crooks aimed at Trump, a local police officer confronted him. Crooks pointed the rifle at the officer, who then dropped and fell eight feet down.
Although the bullet only grazed Trump's right ear, Crooks fatally shot firefighter and father Corey Comperatore, who was attending the rally with his wife and daughters.
The 50-year-old father shouted, "Get down!" and used his body to shield his family from the gunfire before being fatally shot, his grieving wife told The New York Post from her Sarver, Pennsylvania home on Monday.
Authorities have not yet disclosed a potential motive for the shooting, which also left two other rally attendees injured.
