New details emerge on 2024 Butler rally shooting and shooter’s family background
Recent disclosures show that Thomas Matthew Crooks’ father tried to block his son’s gun access months before Crooks fired at Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, and that federal investigators had spoken with the family without the task force’s knowledge.
During a July 2024 campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Donald Trump, wounding the candidate’s ear and causing the death of a rally-goer who tried to protect his relatives. Police responded quickly, killing Crooks on the rooftop from which he fired. A task force report released in December 2024 relied mainly on local input and omitted federal involvement.
New revelations indicate that Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, had sought to stop his son from acquiring firearms two months earlier, in May 2024. Additionally, federal officials had already conducted interviews with the Crooks family, a detail the task force was unaware of. These findings raise questions about information sharing between local, state, and federal agencies in preventing political violence.
Why it matters
The disclosures highlight gaps in threat assessment and inter-agency communication surrounding a high-profile political shooting.
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