Suspected Trump rally shooter visited gun range dozens of times, senator says, as new footage emerges
The suspected shooter in the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump visited a gun club dozens of times in the year leading up to the attack, including on holidays, according to records newly obtained by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, as dramatic body camera footage of the incident also emerges.
Records obtained by Grassley's office and released Thursday show Thomas Matthew Crooks' "intense preparation in the months prior to his attempted assassination of the former president," Grassley's office said in a statement.
The records were provided by the Clairton Sportsmen's Club Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania, pursuant to a congressional request, Grassley's office said.
The records released by Grassley's office show that since establishing a membership at the gun club on Aug. 10, 2023 -- less than a year before the July 13 assassination attempt -- Crooks visited the range a total of 43 times, including 20 times in his first four months of membership.
Crooks spent several holidays at the range, including Christmas Day, Valentine's Day and Halloween, the records released by Grassley's office show.
Most of his visits -- 80% -- were spent on rifle practice, according to Grassley's office.
"He focused almost exclusively on the rifle range throughout 2024," Grassley's office said.
The Clairton Sportsmen's Club previously confirmed to ABC News that Crooks visited the gun club for the last time on July 12 -- the day before the rally. He visited the range at 2:45 p.m. local time that day, according to the records released by Grassley's office.
Crooks, 20, is suspected of firing as many as eight rounds from the roof of a building outside the security perimeter of the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, before being killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
Body camera footage released Thursday shows the moment when police first confronted the gunman. An officer is seen being hoisted onto the roof, encountering the shooter and then falling back.
"This close, bro!" the officer yells. "Dude, he turned around on me. He's straight up!"
The video shows officers taking up heavy arms and race toward the building.
"This building. He's on top of this building," an officer calls out. "He's got a bookbag. He's got mad s---, AR, laying down."
As officers stream toward the building, other officers are seen offering a boost to the rooftop.
"Next, next, next," an officer says in an apparent attempt to quickly get more officers into position.
By then, though, Crooks is dead.
"One in custody. AGR building south. Rooftop," an officer is overheard saying.
Later, in the calmer aftermath, the officers questioned how a gunman was able to access a rooftop firing position fewer than 400 feet from the podium where Trump had been speaking.
"I told them, post f------ guys over here," one officer is heard saying. "Why were we not on the roof?"
Butler County released the footage Thursday in response to public records requests from news agencies including ABC News.
One rally spectator was killed and two injured in the assassination attempt. Trump also suffered a graze wound to his ear. A motive in the assassination attempt remains under investigation.
Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, said last week that video from that day affirmed there should’ve been better coverage.
"We should have had better protection for the protectee. We should have had better coverage on that roofline," Rowe told reporters.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told a Senate panel last month that the investigation remains focused on motive, identifying any potential co-conspirators and building out the timeline of the shooter's actions.
