Initial police sighting of suspicious person was not Thomas Crooks, senator says

A suspicious person noticed by a local counter-sniper sitting at a picnic table near the American Glass Research complex at 4:26 p.m. July 13 was not would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks but rather someone with “similar visual appearance,” U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said.

A text message sent by the counter-sniper to other local SWAT operators inside the AGR complex in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, referred to a suspicious person seated at a picnic table who apparently saw the sniper leaving for the day with his weapon. That person was not Crooks, Grassley said in a statement.

“I'm just letting you know because you see me go out with my rifle and put it in my car so he knows you guys are up there,” the SWAT operator texted to the other local counter-snipers at 4:26 p.m. “He’s sitting to the direct right on a picnic table about 50 yards from the exit.”

'The subject was only on the roof for approximately 6 minutes prior to the shooting.'

The July 13 timeline correction was prompted by the posting of new cellphone video on social media showing would-be assassin Crooks walking along vendor tables in an area outside the security perimeter south of the Butler Farm Show Inc. grandstands.

The change is significant because it means local police did not see Crooks and identify him as a suspicious person until 5:10 p.m., when he was spotted on the west end of AGR Building 3, north of the security perimeter for the Donald J. Trump rally.

The earlier alleged sighting was mistakenly identified as Crooks.

“Additional findings and subsequent source interviews indicate this was an unknown individual who was considered suspicious by Beaver County law enforcement,” a Grassley spokeswoman said in an email to news media.

Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, fired eight shots from his AR-15-style rifle into the Trump rally crowd at 6:11 p.m. July 13, wounding Trump in the right ear, killing volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, and wounding bystanders David Dutch and James Copenhaver.

The attempted assassination sparked at least 10 federal and state investigations by the FBI, the Pennsylvania State Police, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, plus an independent probe led by Republican U.S. Reps. Eli Crane of Arizona and Cory Mills of Florida.

Grassley’s update confirms video posted on social media by clothing vendor Joe Tomko of Iron Clad USA, showing Crooks walking along a line of merchandise vendors outside the secure area for the Trump event at 4:26 p.m. Crooks was wearing the same light shorts, gray T-shirt, and black socks as the dead body on the roof after the shooting.

Tomko’s video appears to be the first showing Crooks on July 13 after the would-be assassin arrived at the venue at 3:45 p.m. Tomko’s video shows his phone’s metadata including its precise location when it captured the footage of Crooks.

In a conference call with news media on Aug. 28, the FBI confirmed the sighting of Crooks among merchant tables south of the grandstands.

Local counter-sniper Greg Nicol of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit SWAT first spotted Crooks as a suspicious person at 5:10 p.m. Nicol snapped two photographs of Crooks leaning against a retaining wall of AGR Building 3 at 5:14 p.m. Nicol was identified as the counter-sniper who took the photos by a fellow Beaver County SWAT operator filmed on police bodycam footage after the shooting.

A local police sniper took photos of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks at a retaining wall near the building he used as a perch to shoot former President Donald J. Trump on July 13. Photos via U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)

According to an updated timeline released Aug. 29 by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Nicol (identified as "AGR Sniper1") observed Crooks at 5:32 p.m. looking at his phone and operating a range finder — a device used in shooting and sports to estimate distance to a target.

Rifle damaged but functional

In other case developments, photos released by the FBI show the stock of Crooks’ AR-15-style rifle was damaged, likely by a bullet fired by a Butler Emergency Services Unit SWAT operator just as Crooks fired his eighth shot into the rally crowd.

The FBI evidence photo of Crooks’ rifle shows a missing section along the top of the collapsible stock, with ragged edges where the polymer material appears to be blown away.

In a preliminary report to the bipartisan Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) reported that Crooks was “fragged” in the face, neck, and shoulder when the SWAT bullet hit the rifle stock. Crooks stopped firing at that point and was killed by a counter-sniper before he could fire another shot.

FBI evidence photo shows damage to the stock of the AR-15-style rifle used by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks in Butler Township, Pa., on July 13, 2024. FBI photo; detail enlarged by Blaze News

Lab tests done by the FBI found the rifle was still fully functional.

Higgins earlier said he thought the SWAT bullet might have disabled Crooks’ rifle by damaging its buffer tube. Higgins wrote, “If his AR buffer tube was damaged, Crooks’ rifle would not fire after his eighth shot.”

In an Aug. 28 media call, the FBI said Crooks accessed the roof of the AGR complex at 6:05 p.m. by climbing on an air-conditioning unit between Building 9 and Building 2, well north of where he eventually perched for the shooting.

“Our overall finding is the subject was only on the roof for approximately 6 minutes prior to the shooting, between 6:05 and 6:11 p.m.,” said Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office.

Rojek said the toxicology tests done as part of Crooks’ autopsy “revealed negative results, quote, ‘for alcohol and drugs of abuse.’” He did not indicate whether prescription medications were found in toxicology tests.

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