From Crime Scene to Newsroom: How Physical Evidence in the Butler, PA Assassination Attempt on Crooks Got Lost
Republished with permission from AbleChild.
The New York Times has produced an investigative article on the alleged would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks that seems so contrived that it leaves the reader wondering what has happened to the talent at the once respected “Gray Lady.”
First, contrary to what the Times has written, the public has not been provided with a final report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which, if handled correctly, would include Crooks’ autopsy, ballistics reports, Fingerprint and DNA information. Throughout the article, the Times repeatedly states that Crooks was the shooter. The Times has no physical evidence to support that statement…or has not provided that physical evidence in the article.
The “investigative” piece is chock full of he-said she-said anecdotes that seem contradictory at best. For example, the article explains that “much of the world has forgotten about the 20-year-old who set out to murder him.” No. That’s an inaccurate assumption. Many are interested in the Butler shooting incident. It’s the FBI that has seemingly decided to put its investigation into the assassination attempt on the back burner.
Without the FBI’s report, it becomes difficult to write about an investigation that has never been completed. And, those investigations that have been completed, like the Pennsylvania State Police report, are classified. Even the Congressional Task Force refused to release important physical evidence, making its investigation irrelevant.
People are interested in knowing whether Crooks is the shooter and that can only be verified by the release of physical evidence. In the meantime, the Times has provided some known and unknown anecdotes about Crooks’s short life. Of Crooks’s mental health the Times writes “all while showing hints of a mental illness that may have caused his mind to unravel to an extent not previously reported.” It continues, “the New York Times examination of the last years of the young man’s life found that he went through a gradual and largely hidden transformation.” Really? What’s the evidence?
Well, the Times reports “his father noticed his mental health declining in the year before the shooting, and particularly in the months after graduation. He later told investigators that he had seen his son talking to himself and dancing around his bedroom late at night, and his family had a history of mental health and addiction…”
So, the father, who is a mental health specialist, had access to his son’s room, apparently the door was open and noticed his son’s odd behavior and said and did nothing? The father noticed this odd behavior in the same bedroom where Crooks was allegedly building homemade bombs? The father noticed odd behavior but still had no problem giving his son an AR-15? C’mon, what part of these reflections don’t pass the smell test? And this information was provided to the Times by the Pennsylvania State police. Why is this State Police investigation not made public but, rather, providing “parts” to select news organizations?
However, as if to give the mental health problem more credence, the Times quotes Congressman Clay Higgins of the Congressional Task Force, explaining “he learned worrisome information about Mr. Crook’s mental health while investigating the case on a trip to Pennsylvania.” Apparently, Higgins was told Crooks “Was having conversations with someone that wasn’t there,” adding “many questions remained unanswered.” According to Higgins “there was a mysteriousness to Thomas Crooks’s descent into madness.” The Times doesn’t tell the readers what was mysterious. Did the reporters even bother to ask the Congressman?
But Crooks reportedly was close to his family. According to the Times Crooks made a 2022 video for a class at school where he described preparing Thanksgiving turkey with his father and baking Christmas cookies with his mother saying, “I don’t think there’s any better way to spend time with family than cooking meals together.” This doesn’t sound like there’s a mental health issue but, a year later, Crooks is reported to have spent Christmas morning at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club. Where’d Crooks get the gun to shoot at the club? Did dad give Thomas the gun? Did anyone bother to ask? The Times makes no mention.
Even more odd is the Times reporting that Crooks spent time on the internet searching “seven gun sites, including one focused on the AR-15, similar to the rifle he would use in the attack.” Really? Crooks had apparently been shooting that weapon at the gun club for months. Why would he be focused on it on the internet? In fact, Crooks’s father sold him that weapon months before the shooting. Given the amount of time Crooks had practicing with the AR-15 it seems odd that he’d need to research anything about gun.
Apparently, the father, who reportedly gave the AR-15-like gun to his son on the day of the shooting, was concerned about his whereabouts. According to the Times, “shortly before 11p.m. on the night of the shooting, Mr. Crook’s father called 911, saying he had not seen his son since that afternoon.” The 911 call is recounted: “we’ve gotten no contact from him, no text messages, nothing’s been returned, and he’s not home yet,” Crooks tells the operator. Crooks further explains “that’s totally not like him…so we’re kind of worried, not really sure what we should do.”
Does anyone find this contact bizarre? First, Thomas Matthew Crooks is 22 years old, a man that attends college, has a job and has been shooting at the gun range every week for a year, including Christmas day. But on this day, dad is suddenly concerned? What is concerning is the way this conversation is happening. Did dad call the gun range to find out what time his son made it to the range? Did dad try calling the son’s mobile phone and how many times? Why isn’t this information part of the 911 call? Something along the lines of “hey, we’ve repeatedly called and texted our son on his mobile and he’s not responding.” Instead, it’s this weird “we’ve gotten no contact from him” and “nothing’s been returned.” Does the father mean the gun hasn’t been returned or his phone calls and texts to his son haven’t been returned? Did the 911 operator just decide not to ask if the family had tried to call or text their son’s mobile? Something along the lines of “when did you try to contact your son?” Better still, why isn’t the Times asking for proof the father tried calling his son that day? You know something along the lines of getting the father’s phone record for that day. Crickets.
But one must wonder what exactly the relationship was between the son and his family. According to the Times, the parents advised that Crooks “loved building things, like computers, and visiting the gun range.” And we know that Crooks loved cooking with his family, but when asked, the father said he “didn’t know anything” about his son. Of course this isn’t true. After all, father Crooks knew his son well enough to reportedly sell him an AR-15 like weapon.
It’s interesting that while Americans still await the release of the FBI’s completed investigation into the Butler, PA shooting, respected news organizations put out articles making unsubstantiated statements like Crooks “mounted a roof at a presidential campaign rally in western Pennsylvania and tried to assassinate Donald J. Trump.”
To date, no physical evidence (DNA or fingerprints on alleged weapon, autopsy, ballistics report) has been made public that confirms that statement. The wife of Corey Comperatore, who was killed by the would-be assassin, is not satisfied with the investigation reportedly saying, “I am praying the president gets to the bottom of it and keeps working on this case for me – and him.”
Many Americans want this incident closed based on physical evidence, not confusing anecdotes and wishful thinking. But, given the recent statements from the FBI’s second in command, Dan Bongino, one cannot help but wonder if there will ever be an investigation made public. Bongino suggested during a Fox news segment that there was no “big, explosive there there.” And he added, “if it was there, we would have told you.” To Bongino, most Americans might respond “just make the investigation, with all the physical evidence, public and we’ll decide if there is a “there there.”
AbleChild is a 501(3) C nonprofit organization and has recently co-written landmark legislation in Tennessee, setting a national precedent for transparency and accountability in the intersection of mental health, pharmaceutical practices, and public safety.
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The post ABLECHILD: From Crime Scene to Newsroom – How Physical Evidence in the Butler, PA Assassination Attempt on Crooks Got Lost first appeared on Joe Hoft.
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