In an exclusive interview, a woman who lives a stone's throw away from the late Thomas Matthew Crooks' residence said " something didn't feel right " on the morning of the tragic Donald Trump rally shooting, leading her to decide against attending at the eleventh hour.
This Bethel Park, Pennsylvania , inhabitant also mentioned the " bad vibes " she sensed from the 20-year-old during the occasional sightings of him in the neighbourhood over the past months. She provided an insight into the peculiar young man who would later fire a shot at the former president's ear during a rally approximately 50 miles north in Butler, Pennsylvania, resulting in one fatality and leaving two others critically wounded.
"I was going to go. I set my alarm for 5 am, and I had my clothes out, ready to go," Amy shared with TheMirror.com, recounting the anticipation she felt prior to the doomed rally. "I was just going to throw them on, not even do makeup, nothing."
The 56-year-old had intended to drive up and join some friends, but ultimately, she backed out. She lingered at home for about an hour, wrestling with the decision.
"Something didn't feel right. Not like an overwhelming [feeling], but something didn't feel right," she expressed. "Usually, I'm just like, 'Throw your stuff on. Just go. Just do it.'" Although she couldn't pinpoint the feeling, it was significant enough to make her hesitate, reports the Mirror US .
Choosing hot weather as her deciding factor, she analysed the day's weather forecasts and chose not to attend upon realising the temperature would exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Later in the evening, the Trump supporter sat at home with her husband, watching the rally live on television. "I heard the pops," she reported. "I knew what the pops were 'cause I'm familiar with guns. I knew exactly what it was."
She explained that her husband, who she stated has extensive knowledge about rifles, took a moment to comprehend what they just heard. Shock then engulfed them. "It was just sick. I'm still sick to my stomach," the Trump supporter disclosed.
"The first thing I said to my husband was, 'If he had his head turned, he would have been temple shot right away.'" She noted that the occurrence of such an incident in Butler made it even more shocking.
She later discovered that the shooter lived within a block from her residence. "I had just finished watching the news conference, and they weren't naming him," she mentioned, referring to the Saturday evening press conference held a day after the shooting. "I thought, 'Oh, he's going to be from Butler or something."
Then, she revealed that her daughter, who also resides near Bethel Park, messaged her and informed her that the shooter was from their locality. Shortly after, a neighbour texted her advising her to "look down the street."
"They had descended upon us," she said, referring to the sudden arrival of the FBI and local authorities on the quiet residential street where Crooks resided. "We saw them all rolling in," she described the scene as she and several neighbours watched in disbelief. "It was like, 'What? '" She added, "The whole neighbourhood was out, and we were just standing there."
That night, no one managed to sleep, she shared. Then, the police approached them as they watched the raid unfold from the side street where Amy lives. "We were told immediately to get back in our homes and stay there, so we congregated at one home and talked for a while in shock, complete shock," she recounted.
"Nobody expects [this could happen] in their neighbourhood," Amy, a resident of Bethel Park for 30 years, added. "Stuff like this doesn't happen here. Bethel Park is like your basic, good suburban community of Pittsburgh . Everyone gets along. Everyone helps each other. There's a lot of square mileage to Bethel Park - it's pretty big - and everyone, we have our differences, but we [get along]."
Speaking to officials, Amy disclosed that the local people knew who the shooter was before authorities made any identification. Their information gathering had led them to share his details via community social media groups.
Amy explained that both her street and Crooks' area were sealed off for more than a day following the incident. Currently, Crooks' road remains partially shut with visible police tapes attached across the thoroughfare from a stop signal to a telegraph post.
Interestingly, the lockdown proved to be a unifying event in her locality. Amy described Bethel Park, where she resides, as home to some greatly patriotic citizens, many holding pro-Trump sentiments. Spotting American flags fluttering on home porches or "Trump 2024" signs planted on lawns is typical scenery here.
The investigation intrusion heightened the community's patriotism - more flags popped up; more political signs were erected. Amy highlighted how previously hesitant supporters drove their message home by prominently displaying their endorsement for the previous president in light of the forthcoming 2024 election.
A prominent sign decorates Amy's front space bearing the script "Faith, Family, Freedom" enhanced by a nationalistic backdrop. On Saturday night, after a lockdown was enforced on Amy's street due to fears of a "suspicious device," - with those living closer to the Crooks' home being evacuated, according to other neighbours who spoke to TheMirror.com - she admitted to "getting in trouble" with authorities for being caught outside in her yard. She had been positioning a "Faith, Family, Freedom" sign out front.
"I put it out too soon in my yard - I placed it along my house. It was leaning against my house where the bushes are," she explained, referring to when she first received the sign several weeks ago. "It was there before all this happened - just your average political sign. It would annoy me to put it out on the street too early. But now, it's out."
In the days following the lifting of the lockdown, allowing residents to resume their normal activities, Amy shared that numerous neighbours have driven past her home, noticed the sign and stopped to ask where they could get one themselves.
"Other neighbours throughout the area have said they're more determined to show their support, and I know people who were previously scared are now putting signs out," she revealed. "I've just had more delivered to my house."
She confessed that she still feels somewhat fearful - she worries about potential backlash within the community due to her support for ex-President Trump, which is why she requested that TheMirror.com not disclose her surname. However, her fear won't deter her.
"I'm not going to back down because I have to be who I am. I'm patriotic. I'm true to myself," she declared. Amy first noticed Crooks roaming her neighbourhood on what she described as a typical day "after spring."
She was tending to her garden when she caught a glimpse of him. "It was out of the blue about a month, month and a half ago. He was just walking with his head down like this," Amy recounted, mimicking his walk by shuffling her feet and casting her gaze downwards in a forlorn manner.
"At one point, he turned his head," she continued. "He did make eye contact with me by going like this."
Demonstrating Crooks' actions, she slowly tilted her bowed head to the side, giving the assembled reporters a chilling sideways glance. "I only made eye contact with him once because I caught him. A lot of times, I'm digging or whatever," she went on to say. She couldn't remember if he had headphones in or what he was wearing, but his distinctive walk and posture were memorable.
"It's really hard to describe without [demonstrating] - it's just odd," she explained. "Myself and another neighbour who'd seen him around recently both got bad vibes. We spotted him separately at different times. I did not have a good feeling when he was walking up the street," she admitted. "Let's just put it that way."
Amy last spotted Crooks about a month to six weeks ago, marking only the third time she had seen him since his elementary school days. The Crooks family were known for their reclusive nature, Amy revealed. So much so, that she hasn't laid eyes on the parents since they moved into the neighbourhood nearly three decades ago, just a few years after her own arrival.
If she were to cross paths with them today, she admitted she "wouldn't even recognise them."
"I never saw them. I frequently drive up and down the street as it's our route to the main roads, but I've never spotted them outside," she shared.
"They've been residents here for ages. As have I, and in all those 30 years, I've never once seen them. That's the extent of my history in this neighbourhood, and most of the folks here have been around for an equally long time," she added. "Nobody knew them. Like nobody knew them."
Amy often takes late-night strolls around the neighbourhood, sometimes as late as 10 pm, either to "let off steam" or simply to "relax." Despite these walks, she confessed that she's never managed to catch a glimpse inside the Crooks' home, finding their level of privacy somewhat peculiar.
Reflecting on the past, Amy mentioned that she occasionally saw Crooks or his father, Matthew, mowing the lawn, but those were the only instances she spotted any family member in nearly 15 years - before Crooks started unsettling her and other neighbours with his peculiar head-down walks up and down the streets.
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Amy also shared that none of the neighbours remember seeing Crooks or his family when collecting their kids from local school events, which Crooks also attended. Another neighbour, a high school student who briefly encountered Crooks during their shared year at Bethel Park High School, told TheMirror.com that Crooks was a loner at school.
Another unnamed neighbour, according to Amy, had seen Crooks more recently than she had, possibly a week or so prior to the shooting incident. However, Amy didn't provide details about what this neighbour observed during those encounters, only mentioning that they both felt "bad vibes" from Crooks.
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