Law enforcement officials say bomb-making materials found in vehicle, home of Trump shooter

Law enforcement officers have found bomb-making material in the vehicle and home of Donald Trump's rally shooting suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks. 

The 20-year-old Pennsylvania resident, who allegedly fired several shots towards Trump, grazing the upper part of his right ear while he was speaking at a Republican election campaign rally on Saturday, almost getting him before the snipers shot him dead, had kept bomb-making materials inside his vehicle and home, according to law enforcement officials on Sunday.

The suspected shooter was not carrying any sort of identification on him, so the FBI used DNA testing and other methods to confirm his identity by early Sunday morning, just hours after the shooting.

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Bomb-making materials were found inside the vehicle of the man suspected in the Trump rally shooting, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. They added, bomb-making materials were also found at his home.

According to another person familiar with the matter, who also spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, an AR-style rifle was found at the shooting scene next to the dead body of the suspected shooter.

The rifle was owned by Crooks’ father, who bought the weapon at least six months ago, the two law enforcement officials told AP. The officials said federal agents were still working to determine when and how the son got possession of it.

Crooks' relatives didn’t immediately respond to AP messages in regard to the news. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN late Saturday that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on”. He said he wouldn’t speak about his son until after he had talked to law enforcement officials about the shooting.

An AP analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the shooting scene, as well as satellite imagery of the Trump rally site, showed the shooter was able to get close to the stage where the former president was speaking.

Images showed a motionless body of a person wearing gray camouflage lying on the roof of a building at AGR International Inc., a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump’s rally was being held.

The rooftop where the person lay is about 120 meters from where Trump was standing. According to experts, a decent marksman could have easily hit a human-sized target at that distance.

Meanwhile, police have cordoned off the premises of the Crooks' residence in Bethel Park, Pa., setting up blockades and preventing traffic near the house.

The Crooks' residence is located in an enclave of modest brick houses in the hills outside Pittsburgh, one of America's traditional blue-collar centers.

The suspected shooter had graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, the school district said in a statement to KDKA-TV. Crooks was one of several students that year who had received an award for excellence in maths and science, according to a Tribune-Review story at that time.

In regard to Crooks' political leanings, it's not clear. Records showed Crooks was registered as a Republican in Pennsylvania. However, federal campaign finance reports show he paid $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn into office. Also, on an online video, which has gone viral, Crooks apparently says he hates both Republicans and Trump.

However, in the end, he says, “you got the wrong guy”. This has sparked divided opinions about the person in the video. Some people believe it’s the suspected shooter Crooks while some are calling it fake, claiming the person is a lookalike.

Pennsylvania’s public court records show Crooks’ past has been clean, and he had no criminal history, or known conviction.

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