Would-be Trump killer practiced 100-yard shot day before Pennsylvania assassination attempt, FBI documents show

Thomas Matthew Crooks became increasingly obsessed with guns and long-range shooting before he attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump on the campaign trail in July 2024, according to newly unclassified documents released by the FBI.

The 20-year-old engineering student spent the day before he fired at Trump at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, where he practiced shooting on average once a week, according to the federal files. He was a “terrible shot” at first, his father told investigators, according to documents cited by the New York Post, but diligently practiced on his own and at shooting ranges.

An employee at Keystone Shooting Center outside Pittsburgh described Crooks as “an odd duck” and “not someone they would want their daughter to spend time with,” federal investigators noted in the documents. One person at the Clairton gun club told investigators he remembered Crooks practicing a 100-yard shot the day before the president’s speech in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The collection of reports and interviews comprise 600 pages of interviews with Crooks’ relatives, neighbors, teachers and classmates. It also includes reports from responding law enforcement officers and details from the ensuing investigation.

Together, the documents provide the first detailed look at Trump’s would-be assassin and his…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health