Donald Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’ father has spoken out for the first time since his son was shot dead trying to assassinate the former president.
Matthew Brian Crooks, 53, was seen leaving a grocery store with a cart full of goods on Monday in Pennsylvania with an unidentified woman.
‘We just want to try to take care of ourselves right now. Please, just give us our space,’ Crooks told Fox News Digital.
The father declined to comment further, but said the family will eventually release a statement when ‘our legal counsel advises us to do so.’
Crooks’ son, Thomas, tried to killed Trump with his father’s rifle during a rally in Butler. He was shot dead by Secret Service within seconds of firing his first shot.
Matthew Brian Crooks, 53, asked for the family’s privacy while speaking out for the first time since his 20-year-old son was shot dead for attempting to assassinate the former president
Crooks’ son, Thomas, attempted to assassinate Donald Trump , 78, with his father’s rifle while the politician was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He was shot dead by the Secret Service within seconds of firing his first shot
Crooks, a registered Libertarian, legally purchased the AR-15 his son used in the attack that left the 45th President with a bullet graze to the ear.
Crooks and his wife Mary had called police hours before the shooting and said they were worried about his welfare and that he was missing.
The Crooks family has been cooperating with the FBI to help discover Thomas’ motive.
Thomas had searched the internet for when the Democratic and Republican National Conventions would take place, and had several pictures of politicians – including Trump and President Joe Biden – on his phone. He also searched about major depressive disorders.
The late shooter was also a member of his local gun club and had bought ammunition prior to the attack, which caused Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign.
Trump’s former physician Ronny L Jackson, 57, revealed it was an ‘absolute miracle he wasn’t killed’
His motive for the shooting is currently unknown, but a former high school classmate Vincent Taormina revealed the 20-year-old had a strong disdain for politicians.
Taormina also exclusively revealed to DailyMail.com that Thomas had threatened to ‘shoot up’ their high school, but it wasn’t taken seriously.
‘We had like this anonymous place you could post things or tell on someone on our computers at school and he posted something like: ‘Don’t come to school tomorrow,’ and something else that made it sound like he’d put bombs in the cafeteria bathrooms.
‘Half of us just didn’t come to school the next day – I didn’t. But it wasn’t taken seriously,’ he continued. ‘We all texted one another and it came out pretty quickly that it was Thomas and his friend group who’d made the threats to shoot [the school] up.’
The July 13 assassination attempt nearly killed the former president and left father-of-two retired fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, dead and two other attendees critically injured.
Former Marine David Dutch, 57, was shot in the chest and liver and has so far undergone two surgeries, while the family of the other victim James Copenhaver, 74, has asked for privacy while they come to terms with the ‘life-altering’ injuries he sustained.
Trump’s former physician Ronny L Jackson, 57, revealed it was an ‘absolute miracle he wasn’t killed.’
‘I am extremely thankful his life was spared,’ Jackson wrote in a Saturday letter, uploaded to Truth Social by Trump.
The doctor said Trump sustained a two-centimeter – roughly one-inch – gunshot wound during last week’s attempted assassination.
Jackson revealed the Republican nominee had to undergo a CT scan of his head in Pennsylvania after the bullet clipped his ear, and that his injury continues ‘intermittent bleeding,’ which requires him to keep his bandage on – which has since become a symbol of solidarity among his supporters.
The memo from former White House physician Ronny Jackson, now a hardline right-wing lawmaker from Texas, is one of the first detailed accounts of the injury Trump sustained.
The 45th President of the United States was initially treated at Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania, which Jackson praised for their ‘outstanding care’ and ‘excellent job of evaluating him and treating his wound.’