Everything We Know About Donald Trump Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks

he's take a look at what [Music] happened it is a horrifying and tragic crime that will go down in American history the apparent attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump that left one dead two injured what we know about this reported shooter and how on Earth could this have happened we bring on law enforcement expert and former Sheriff's deputy and SWAT team member Chad airs welcome to sidebar presented by law on crime I'm Jesse Weber this shouldn't come as a surprise but we don't cover political stories here on sidebar we get enough of that on the news right we here we talk about crime stories that are capturing the nation's attention those you might not know about but you should know about those that have important legal angles however when you have a crime a violent crime a violent act that intersects with politics how could we not discuss it here on sidebar what am I talking about that on Saturday July 13th 2024 a day that we will all ask ourselves in the years to come where were you where were you when you found out and watched on TV the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump it's terrifying it was terrifying to watch it is an image a moment that will be emblazoned in everybody's memory and authorities now say 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks open fire during a trump rally in Butler Pennsylvania take a look at that so that arrow is the lowest amount of illegal immigration ever in recorded history into our country and then and then the worst president in the history of our country took over and look what happened to our country probably 20 million people and you know that's a little bit old that chart that chart's a couple of months old and if you want to really see something that said take a look what happened over [Applause] are you ready on you [Applause] me get my SHO [Applause] he on up of the roof don't go over there he's on the roof buddy he's dead I just seen his hair they sh [Music] head USA USA USA and you could see Donald Trump recognized his ear had been hit in photos and videos afterwards you definitely see the damaged blood streaming down his face him being covered by Secret Service agents he gets up fist to the crowd mounting fight as he's escorted off the stage and into a car just an incredible sight to see honestly I had chills in the back of my neck watching this um unfold in real time Crooks the identified shooter was shot and killed instantly by Secret Service sniper teams at the scene Donald Trump told the New York Post that he's supposed to be dead and that a piece of his ear had been torn off there's been a lot of talk about how close that bullet had come to his head now as you might have heard on the audio of that incident where Trump says let me get my shoes he said Secret Service agents had hit him so hard that his shoes had fallen off and he even said his shoes are tight and aside by the way from the ominous visual of someone trying to kill a former president of the United States this shooting had devastating consequences 50-year-old firefighter Cory compur lost his life reporting indicates he was shielding his family when the gunfire erupted he was trying to protect them he was killed an absolute true hero to the end Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said Corey was a girl dad Cory was a firefighter Cory went to church every Sunday Corey loved his community most especially Corey loved his family there were also two people who sustained critical injuries in this 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James copenhaver although police indicated they are now in stable condition thank goodness the GoFundMe Page by the way was set up for the victims and I want you to hear this originally they set a goal of a million almost $4 million has been reached with over 52,000 donations unbelievable the FBI is currently investigating this shooting and what we know is that the shooter used an AR style 556 rifle reporting indicating that the firearm was purchased legally by Crook's father it's unclear how he actually was able to obtain the gun though he was positioned about 130 to 150 yards away on a nearby roof this seemingly outside of the perimeter of where this rally was taking place the shooting by the way happened about six minutes into Donald Trump's speech and after the shooting law enforcement discovered quote rudimentary explosives in Crook's car as car was parked near the rally and this included an apparent IED and also authorities found bomb making materials at his home as well as for Crooks authorities are still looking into his background what his apparent motive was for this Crook's High School classmate Jason Kohler 21 years old told media that Kooks was a loner who was bullied so much in high school he would wear hunting outfits he would sit alone at lunch he was just an outcast and Coler even said it's just honestly kind of sad hey we're going to get back to this historic story in just a minute but I want to thank one of our sponsors who helps make this show possible so we can analyze these stories for you Morgan and Morgan America's largest injury Law Firm look if you should find yourself in that position where you're hurt and you need legal representation Morgan and Morgan may be who you want in your corner because they are specialists in this area and they're so big because they win a lot verdicts and settlements and the multi-millions they also make the process so easy for their clients because from starting your claim to uploading documents to talking to your legal team it can all be done from your smartphone also this is a firm where there's no upfront fee you only pay them if you win so if you're injured you can easily start a claim at forthepeople.com LC sidebar there's also reporting that he played chess video games was learning computer programming and coding but here's something interesting another apparent classmate of crooks Jameson Meyers came out and told media that Crooks had tried out for the school's Rifle Team but apparently didn't make the team because of how bad a shot he was wow now there were a lot of odd things that are surrounding this shooting in terms of whether law enforcement or people at that rally had saw the suspected shooter before he opened fire how that roof wasn't secured why the shooter wasn't neutralized earlier was there a miscommunication between local law enforcement and the Secret Service before we get into any of that President Joe Biden delivered some remarks on Sunday regarding this shooting as well yesterday's shooting at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back take stock of where we are how we go forward from here thankfully former Trump is not seriously lingered I spoke to him last night I'm grateful he's doing well and Jill and I keep him and his family in our prayers we also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victims who was killed Corey was a husband a father a volunteer firefighter a hero Sheltering his family from those bullets we should all hold his family and all those injured in our prayers a former president was shot an American citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing we cannot we must not go down this road in America there is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence for that matter an assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for isn't it as a nation everything it's not who we are as a nation it's not America and we cannot allow this to happen Unity is the most elusive goal of all but nothing is important than that right now Unity okay so with all that in mind let me bring in right now Chad a former sheriff's deputy SWAT team member founder of proactive Response Group and friend of the show Chad good to see you thanks so much for coming on um I can't believe what we're talking about we knew you were coming in we thought we would you know talk about some story that was happening in the news um what were your thoughts as you were watching this because for me it was one of the most surreal scary experiences seeing it happen in real time you know what's crazy is I I was getting oil changed in the car someone had alerted me hey the former president's just been shot and you're like whatever and but it immediately took me back to thinking about you always hear people like our parents age who knew where they were when JFK was assassinated it's the first thing that came I was like this is where I'm going this is going to be the story immediately went home and started following this uh up to about 3:00 in the morning yep um and you know I guess for me a lot of failures you have a very unique background and I wanted to talk to you about this what stands out to you about this shooting what were you looking at as the rep morning was coming in and we have a lot of different parts to talk about what was what were you thinking about as the more details are coming to light and as is going on into the evening you know Jesse I was a detail leader for a US Congressman for about two years I've I've attended several of these rallies uh for the former president and what goes into them the the the background the security the advancement that goes into them and to think that this happened um obviously what um the the first and foremost is is an elevated position shot how in the world did this happen that that's step number one on on an advancement as you prepare for any type of these visits and my law enforcement background you know we had the opportunity to run six to eight motorcades for for current presidents uh large events worked hand inand with the Secret Service with the counter assault team with their Advanced team I know that you know the secret service has a zero fail Mission they were this damn close to losing that zero fail mission on Saturday um so just a lot of breakdown uh I think in communication do you think that means and and I've seen reporting about this that local law enforcement in Butler County was supposed to be maintaining the outside perimeter and communicating that to the Secret Service is that something that and by the way we're not placing blame here because we don't have the full idea about what happened but if you talk about a breakdown in communication there were multiple agencies working together here is that something I would be totally off that local law enforcement there might have been a miscommunication there well no I'm not sure if it was miscommunication obviously at any of these type of events you're going to IIT the the local authorities for extra assets to have um so but at the end of the day you know it does come back to the United States Secret serve right I think that the the shift the detail that um president Trump's detail did a phenomenal job on stage right there is a very big issue you know with whoever did the post assignments in the advancement so I think that we are going to have to wait till this investigation's fully complete to truly grasp and understand but at face you know this can't happen whether it was local law enforcement you know there are some reporting out there obviously the the service will solicit you know TSA to help with running magnetometers I really think that it's going to come down to there was a Manpower issue and again sources close to me have told me that they requested additional assets so the Secret Service and the FBI have been pushing back on this uh Secret Service spokesperson Anthony gamy says there's an untrue assertion that a member of the former president's team requested additional security resources and that those were rebuffed and he said this is absolutely false in fact we added protective resources and technology and capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel Tempo um and also the FBI came out and said the same thing um what do you make of that I think that there's going to be a lot of Cy uh during investigation we know what that means you know exactly um so obviously nobody in a situation like this blame is going to be pushed on all different locals are going to blame the feds feds are going to get blame the locals at the end of the day you've got to be able to work together um there's been events look mistakes happen not mistakes like this where you're 150 yards away you have a building um and again I've been part of of this we would always you know when when you're sitting there having a the background that I have and working with the Secret Service you're always going to want to pull you know drop large Flags pull 18 wheelers up something that blocks the view of the stage where the man's going to be at because that's a line of sight that's a line of sight and wouldn't that either sweeped right they would do protective sweeps at or at least when they have and I believe the reporting indicates there were four sniper teams there were two from the Secret Service two from local law enforcement they would keep an eye on those buildings or are they looking more in the distance maybe they'd be looking further out and not necessarily something that's 150 yards away no so again you would use your resources and a lot of times with the counter sniper element you would want to kind of transition from like a 180 you know and everyone's kind of 180 uh to your secondary team the locals right um and you're communicating with them so you're going to have a spot or someone on on their binoculars that's kind of sweeping and your other guys a lot of times on the rifle um so was there a um Lackman or a miscommunication as to who was covering what I don't know I still think at the end of the day that building comes into play should have never you know you you should have had post standards standing there so was there you know reports today is that law enforcement was there that there was a law enforcement agencies or a law enforcement officer assigned to that building right and can we amplify that a little bit because there were reports that people saw this shooter beforehand they saw uh guy matching his description carrying a rifle others saw him actually scaling the roof climbing up to the roof um Ben Maser told KD Ka he saw the guy move from roof to re roof I told an officer the alleged shooter was on the roof when I turned around to go back to where I was it was when the gunshot started and then it was just chaos and we all came running away and that was that there is also reporting that a local police officer had confronted the shooter that the shooter aimed the gun at the officer and the officer backed away um and there's also been reporting that the shooter was seen by local law enforcement and they said to watch out for him um but this was maybe not but this was communicated to Secret Service so you have a lot of different stories here about what happened but I think a common theme could be he was in their SES whichever way you want to use that before the shooting took place I think that's the concern here right I the the AP is reporting earlier uh on my way here to the studio that people had alerted them as he was trying to go through the magnetometers that hey this guy's acting weird he's acting suspicious they lost sight of him in the crowd uh of that initial crowd so I know that early on something raised the suspicion of of attendees to notify law enforcement um where he went to we don't know but again there's so much technology out there and again obviously the service is not going to tell lay out their cards of all the technology and stuff they use for for security purposes and I respect that but you know I when this report is released it is going to be so interesting to figure out who was and and here's the problem social media and all this stuff is putting out so much stuff and and that's why I've always said it's important that we wait till all the facts come but the fact of the matter is law enforcement was notified several minutes beforehand right so so where was that breakdown of communication of getting someone up there the problem I have is I want to know this this officer that confronted him on the roof you know did was he on a ladder if that's true right did he climb the same ladder how did how did this officer get up there did someone you know lift him up somehow um I I would have some serious issues if a police officer scaled a ladder as a guy with a long gun you know where we've got a former president and a candidate about to take the stage and and you basically come back down and and look we have to be clear sniper teams took down this guy instantly after the shots were fired there is a question of could they have taken him out beforehand now talk to me about how much discretion sniper teams would have to take out a Target in that environment um if they see him in their sites before right so obviously there again stuff circling around the internet that they uh ask for permission to take the shot that that is absolutely false they in this type of situation they do not have to ask for any type of you know authority to take a shot or or utilize deadly force in this type of situation when when you are assigned and you've got a former president on there and someone is laying on the roof with a long gun the first opportunity they have they're going to take that so again I don't want to mondy Morning Quarterback or second these this counter sniper unit there's a possibility that maybe the the angle and the slant of the roof they couldn't get a visual on him until he got to a certain position um I I have a feeling that's what's going to be you know relayed once this report is is is put out but let's be very careful to you know start voicing our thoughts and opinions on this counter sniper unit till we know what they saw you know at at that time and there's going to be a lot of conspiracy theories it's going to happen I mean there already is there were minutes after this was happening there were conspiracy theories about what was happening like is there any chance that they thought he might have been a member of law enforcement might have been been member of the secrets they just didn't know yet absolutely not they would know they would know immediately we do briefings I mean our briefings there's you know and and again this is no secret obviously we you'll see the guys in their suits the the shift they'll have pin on we have you know there's ways that we identify law enforcement you know even some of the undercover people that may be out there you're never going to see someone just randomly climb up on top of a building and plane clothes prone out with a long gun it's just not going to happen I want to ask you about what's happening with the investigation so the FBI is taking the lead in investigating this um according to Evan Lambert from news Nation the FBI uh is looking into Crooks they say he was a lone actor um they're working to access his cell phone um no mental health diagnosis issues at this point apparently his family is cooperating they're processing DNA weapons fingerprints the scene digital evidence social media what are they doing right now what is the FBI looking for by looking at all these different uh these different pieces of evidence I think first and formost for most like you said they they're trying to uh rest assure that he was a lone actor sure first right because we don't want anyone else out there could this you know be a uh could there have been a secondary person that just didn't commit uh freaked out possibly but they're going to build a profile uh on Crooks to figure out okay we know where the gun came from that it came from his father's you know what caused him they're going to be looking internet history things like that really diving into a digital footprint to see was he influenced by anyone was he in communication with any other people um what was his planning like because let's be honest there's no way Jesse you're going to convince me that this guy that Crooks woke up on Saturday and said I know the the the rallies today I'm just gonna go he did his homework um that's going to be an interesting part knew where to be position new where to be exactly um so again they're going to be pulling the Digital Data from that van that they've that they've taken um the black box out of there they're going to track his movements as far back as they can as to when he decided to do it's it's and by the way if I'm understanding it correctly they didn't ID him on the spot it wasn't like he was carrying his license they had to ID him through DNA right correct DNA and other biometric terms and and that tells you something too right the fact that he wasn't apparently carrying any kind of identification and I would also have to imagine and I I don't know he had to have known he's going in there not going to be making it out 100% obviously you know in my line of work we talk about this a lot you know cuz we teach active shooter response which thank God understand this could have you know unfortunately we had another person that lost their life and two other ones that are fighting for their lives now as well this could have turned out a whole lot worse too as well and including not just the former president being shot but a mass shooting in and of itself absolutely right and these people that go into this they know it's it's a one-way Mission they're they're not coming out when you're laying on a roof uh at an event that should be one of the most secured events there is right some of the most powerful people in the world there's no chance you're going home how tough is that shot by the way 130 150 yards away I mean again it was what centimeters away I don't know if that's an accurate way of saying from his head from Don former president Donald Trump's head I mean how tough is that shot you know I on the way here I was asking about business partner because they haven't released if or or maybe you can tell me what type of site he was using I don't think we know at this point so that's going to be an interesting part right if this guy was using iron sights just stock iron sights that's tough and I mean even for some but you know if whether it was a Red Dot or some type of magnification I could take Jesse I could take you if you had no experience with the rifle I could take you out in about you know 45 to 50 minutes I could have you at that distance making those shots so it makes me wonder so as they're also wondering about whether or not how we got access to the gun practice right they would probably be looking at local gun Rangers because obviously had he done his research on what that distance was yeah uh you know a 5.56 I am not a big ballistics expert or anything but I know you know the I can't even quote the maximum effective range of that it's well past that right um well past that so I'm sure that he knew at that distance put it on and and and if it drops an inch and drops an inch let's also just clarify this point after the shots the response and I've seen criticism online about the way Secret Service agents were behaving but the response from the sniper teams down to the agents down to law enforcement down to the military teams that were there what did you make of that because for me as an outsider looking in it was very Swift and I think the the criticism I've seen online about some of the agents is is unwarranted and unfounded 100% yeah I again I think the United State Secret Service that that day the shift the the counter snipers and his detail did an absolutely perfect job um it's it's a it's totally different being in that role versus being a cop right and and law enforcement we are trained to go towards the threat right right in that type of situation no it's not you go to the man or woman you go to your protecte and we cover them that's what ex did and you notice you know obviously former president Trump and and any type of dignitary president they're going to go through training with the Secret Service they're telling him what to do as well right um to get down so that it actually helped them on that aspect sure you're you're getting all these people talking about they should have got got him off the stage sooner or anything like that you also hear the shooters down so again we Monday Morning Quarterback there could have been second shooter there could have let me tell that's how they knew how to get up and move 100% right so why you know there at that point you know I'm not saying time's on their hand but I think they realized that there was no life-threatening injury to the you know former president at that time um do I think that could have gone a little bit quicker maybe but again it worked out obious second shooter they didn't know if there was a second and you got to get the cars you got to get you got to get your Vehicles you know his his detail leader saying we got to get to the car sir we got to get to the car sir um but that was another thing communication if you realize it was really at at at one point it was limited to the president and his detail leader his shift leader because in a stressful situation if you've got four or five people that are on top of you saying get up no stay down this right so he knew the shift leaders making those calls as to when we're going to move you saw the two counter assault element guys which is kind of their SWAT guys providing that exterior cover getting him to the car now what's going to be interesting and obviously a lot of people probably remember this from Reagan is when the former president gets to the vehicles again his shift leader his detail is going to then start a head to toe check because that's what happened to Reagan they didn't realize Reagan had been shot until he gets in there and his agent found you know he was rubbing down here and he said oh I think you laid on my rib Reagan starts coughing up blood and that's when he realize uhoh he's been shot so again there's protocols that are going to go in on the way to the hospital the profile of the shooter anything there stand out to you were you shocked I mean even from the age to the background that we know so far yeah I think the age kind of sticks out a little bit um I feel like a lot of times after these types of mass shooting events you the the the Pha The Loner phrase sticks out um is that just a go-to phrase that people use uh I don't know I I I think again the investigation as more people come forward it's going to help build that profile and the FBI obviously is the best at at at at building profiles on people so do you agree that the FBI should be taking command of this I do okay and what all I mentioned what they might be looking into but what are what resources did the FBI PL have that perhaps another agency doesn't have especially and again I don't know the much about that town that that was in I can only assume you know kind of small town Vive so obviously the the bureau has so many more resources than the capability especially we're talking about getting into the phones right right especially iPhones I mean there's been so many cases iPhones are very hard to get into um so there's nobody else I would want trying to get into the phones get into the computers they have the you know the FBI has the best aspects on forensics on you know whether it's computer forensics things like that that's who I want working this you talked about the report I want to get to that because the President Joe Biden has directed the US secret service director Kimberly cheel to review all security measures to see what happened uh a statement from US from from director cheel reads in part quote the Secret Service is working with all involved federal state and local agencies to understand what happened how it happened and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again we understand the importance of the independent review announced by President Biden yesterday and we will participate fully we will also work with the appropriate congressional committees on any oversight action what are your thoughts on that it needs to happen yeah u i I think the American people deserve to understand what took place on Saturday and that way we can in any type of event like this we learn from them right right in in a swap background we would always debrief afterwards and in fact I asked a good friend of mine with the service when do we when I thought you know when he thought that the Shi may have debriefed themselves said at the hospital when when the former president was being checked out and evaluated that that group you saw surround him was probably in there debriefing hey what went right what went wrong and obviously there'll be a more formal you know after action report and debrief but you know it it is important that the American people know what happened and prevent this from ever happening again the Department of Homeland Security and Congress they're also looking into this so when would we have some sort of independent report on what happened here I would not anticipate anything before six to eight months at a minimum you this is not going to be a quick turnaround there is so much to look at crime scene wise um I mean think how many people were there Jesse how many people are coming forward to interview and say they saw something yeah I mean you're talking about thousands of people thousands of or hundreds of not thousands of cell phone videos things like that that report's not even going to be touched until every one of those are downloaded looked into all that I mean you know it could be upwards to a year before this report comes out wow shocking it was shocking to see um as you keep saying you know it is a terrible situation because we lost the life of again a a a father a husband somebody who was protecting his family's life two people injured president Trump was injured um and it could have been despite all saying it could have been even worse um but thankfully it wasn't uh so we saw this Swift action from uh Secret Service and local law enforcement there as well clearly there were deficits but again could have been much worse Chad airs thank you so much my friend for coming in appreciate it it's always a pleasure all right everybody that's all we have for you right now here on sidebar thank you so much for joining us and as always please subscribe on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube wherever you get your podcasts I'm Jesse Weber speak to you next time [Music]