Last week, Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to kill Donald Trump, a former US president in Pennsylvania during a rally. Reports have recently emerged indicating that the father of the shooter phoned the police prior to the incident because he was worried about where his son was.
Details of that conversation remain fuzzy, but Mary and Matthew Crooks had expressed their concerns and their son’s unexplained disappearance to officers, Fox News said.
The motive behind the 20-year-old gunman’s actions is still being investigated. Some media reports claim that he looked up major depressive disorder and the imminent Democratic National Convention. He also had various images saved on his phone from political figures as well as one from a British royal personnel.
A few minutes before shooting began, an alert counter-sniper informed US Secret Service agents about a suspicious person using a rangefinder. An hour before this happened (the attack), local policemen saw him behaving strangely with a bag pack strapped onto his back but lost sight of him in the crowd.
They examined nearby area where Crooks mounted his rifle on top of roof. One officer thrown over by other colleague onto roof came across suspect holding guns towards him. Because he could not protect himself against this position like “this”, he let go of it and fell down to tell others that there was another person with gun nearby. A few moments afterwards, shots were heard.
Investigators are looking into several theories on how Crooks managed to smuggle his AR-style rifle undetected to the area where it was used. They are trying to retrace his movements in hours leading up to assault stage for better clarity on what rolled out earlier on. The semi-automatic rifle used by Crooks’ was legally purchased by his father in 2013 according to authorities.
Law enforcement sources indicated that when apprehended, there were explosives inside his car while he had brought along a remote detonator. Investigations are still ongoing with no clear link established between the suspect and any political ideology yet as to why the incident took place.
