Thomas Matthew Crooks, the failed Trump assassin, appears to have purchased the ladder he used to scale the building and 50 rounds of ammunition on the morning of the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
According to a CNN report citing law enforcement officials, Crooks purchased the ladder from Home Depot on the day he attempted to assassinate Trump from the roof of a nearby building.
If this report is accurate, Crooks may have managed to bypass law enforcement and the Secret Service while carrying a tall ladder, which he used to climb the building unnoticed.
According to CNN:
On Friday, he went to a shooting range where he was a member, and practiced firing, a law enforcement official told CNN. The next morning, Crooks went to a Home Depot, where he bought a five-foot ladder, and a gun store, where he purchased 50 rounds of ammunition, the official said.
Then, Crooks drove his Hyundai Sonata about an hour north, joining thousands of people from around the region who flocked to Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He parked the car outside the rally, with an improvised explosive device hidden in the trunk that was wired to a transmitter he carried, the official said.
Then, investigators believe, he used his newly-bought ladder to scale a nearby building and opened fire on the former president.
The report added, “It’s not clear whether Crooks used the ammunition or the ladder that he bought on Saturday during his attack later that day.”
However, a ladder was prominently propped against the building from which Crooks planned to shoot.
Crooks also had a detonator on him and explosives attached to a receiver in the trunk of his vehicle.
Interestingly, the report states that no motives have been found for the shooting, and his online history does not reveal any “political or ideological impetus for the shooting.” His online activities suggest an interest in coding and gaming.
The report claims there is no evidence of him searching online for how to create an explosive device.
Crooks used a gun that was legally purchased and owned by his father.
The report concluded:
“The shooter’s parents, who have been cooperating with law enforcement since the shooting, have told investigators that Crooks did not appear to have friends and did not appear to have any political leanings, a law enforcement official told CNN. But they didn’t seem to know much about what was going on in his life recently, law enforcement sources said.”
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