STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The man identified as the shooter in Saturday's assassination attempt on former President Trump came from Bethel Park, Pa. NPR's David Mistich went there over the weekend and joins us this morning. Dave, hi.
DAVID MISTICH, BYLINE: Hi.
INSKEEP: I guess we should say upfront what we're not going to learn, at least at this moment, and that is a motive for this shooter, and that is not unusual in these high-profile shootings. It's a senseless act, hard to make sense of it, and it sometimes is difficult or impossible. But with that caveat, what have you learned about Thomas Matthew Crooks?
MISTICH: Right. Well, he's believed to have lived with his parents in Bethel Park, which is about an hour away from the site of the Trump rally. Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. Paige Updegraff told member station WESA in Pittsburgh that she went to high school with Crooks, and that he was quiet.
PAIGE UPDEGRAFF: I feel like I really only saw him talking to the same people. I don't really think I ever saw him go out of his circle. He never picked fights or anything like that.
MISTICH: Crooks was a registered Republican, but had donated $15 to a Democratic group in 2021. He doesn't appear to have had any criminal record. And authorities have said so far that there are no signs of mental health issues and that they found no threatening language on Crooks' social media accounts.
INSKEEP: And I guess he was also a member of a local gun group known as the Clairton Sportsmen's Club, according to a statement from the club lawyer. So we know that. We know he had some experience with guns. What is known about the weapon itself?
MISTICH: At a press conference yesterday, the FBI said Crooks had used an AR-15 style rifle when he opened fire from the roof of a building just outside the rally venue. They said the weapon was purchased legally by his father. It's not yet clear how Crooks got access to the gun. And a person familiar with the investigation who was not allowed to speak publicly did tell NPR that at least one potentially explosive device was found in Crooks' car at the rally site.
INSKEEP: Potentially explosive device - OK, we'll wait for more details on that. Now, I'm thinking about the shooter himself. He's 20 years old. He's a high school graduate. He's living with his parents. Did he have a job?
MISTICH: He did. Crooks was working at a nursing home in town. It's the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation. He was a dietary aide - took care of meals for residents. I went there yesterday afternoon. Staff members quietly gathered around me, you know, and a woman at the front desk. They said they weren't able to talk publicly. But in a statement, the administrator of the nursing home, Marcie Grimm, said they were, quote, "shocked and saddened" to learn of Crooks' alleged involvement. She did go on to say that Crooks did his job, quote, "without concern," and his background check was clean.
INSKEEP: You also went to the suspected shooter's home, what was happening there.
MISTICH: Well, that was the place I headed when I first got into town, and I should say that Bethel Park is - was described to me as middle to upper-middle class suburb of Pittsburgh of about 33,000 people. Local police and fire department had blocked off access hundreds of yards away from the Crooks family home. But some neighbors - they were standing outside there watching what was happening.
JIM ZAWOJSKI: Here, everybody kind of keeps to themself. I mean, you say hi to your neighbors, and other than that - you know, I'd say that it's a quiet neighborhood, nice neighborhood.
MISTICH: That's Jim Zawojski. He says he lives just down the street from the Crooks, but he didn't really know the family. In fact, he said he could not even tell me what they looked like.
INSKEEP: There's a common theme here. This is almost feels like a blank slate at this point in the investigation, Dave.
MISTICH: That's right.
INSKEEP: And I guess we should note NPR's Ryan Lucas has been reporting that the FBI is hoping to get more clues once they get access to the phone of the man they identify as the shooter. That's NPR's Dave Mistich. Thanks so much.
MISTICH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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