The shooter who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday normally would have been at work that day, but he told his boss he needed that the day off because he had “something to do,” according to multiple law enforcement officials.
Thomas Matthew Crooks told his coworkers he would be back to work on Sunday.
While investigators have not been able to identify a motive for Crooks’ attack at the rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, they are piecing together more of his activities.
By 3 p.m. on Saturday, roughly three hours before the shooting, Crooks was at the security screening area for the rally. He first aroused suspicion when he passed through the magnetometers carrying a rangefinder, which looks similar to a small pair of binoculars and is used by hunters and target shooters to measure distances when setting up a long-range shot, according to a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
The rangefinder would not have prevented Crooks from getting through the security screening point, but it did attract the attention of security personnel who kept an eye on him until he left the secure area.
Investigators are unsure of where Crooks went after he left the screening area but the working theory is that he went to his car to retrieve the rifle.
