Online footprint ties gunman’s father to gun marketplaces

Police officials called it an AR-15. An ATF agent called it “nothing special.” But the rifle at the center of countless controversies is now at the center of the attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump.

An AR-15-style rifle was found next to the body of Thomas Matthew Crooks , the 20-year-old authorities say wounded Trump and others and left one man dead in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

An FBI official said Sunday that the bureau believes the rifle, using 5.56 ammunition , was purchased legally by Crooks' father, Matthew Crooks. The official, on a call with reporters, said he did not know whether Crooks had permission to use the weapon.

The Crooks family’s digital footprint is small, but some of their few online tracks tie them to internet marketplaces that buy or sell guns.

According to data from a website breach reviewed by USA TODAY, Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, made a purchase in 2020 from Botach, a website that describes itself as one of the leading retailers of tactical supplies used in law enforcement, the military and home defense.

The leaked data do not show the specific items purchased or the transaction amount, so it is unclear whether Matthew Crooks' purchase was a firearm. The Botach website advertises a variety of semi-automatic rifles and many other goods.

The data was hacked from Eye4Fraud.com, said Megan Squire, deputy director of the Southern Poverty Law Center who provided USA TODAY an excerpt showing the purchase. Eye4Fraud.com is a company that screens online purchases on behalf of e-commerce merchants for potential fraudulent activity. Its data was hacked in February 2023 and posted to the dark web earlier this year.

It is unknown who hacked or posted the data, Squire said. The data shows only the one purchase by Matthew Crooks.

Matthew Crooks could not be reached in repeated phone calls Saturday and Sunday.

About the shooting: FBI says gunman acted alone, used gun purchased by father

The Associated Press, citing law enforcement sources, reported the rifle was purchased by Matthew Crooks at least six months ago.

Seven months ago, a Gmail account using the name Matthew Crooks posted a review for a licensed gun reseller in Nevada called CashMyGuns.com. The reviewer praised the business as "the easiest way to get rid of unwanted firearms" and recommended it to others.

Multiple data brokers connected that Gmail account to a person named Matthew B. Crooks. Information in the Google profile aligns with Matthew Crooks' geographic location, showing other reviews for businesses in the Pittsburgh area, including in Bethel Park, where public records and neighbors’ interviews show the Crooks family lives.

Botach did not respond to requests for comment over the weekend. John Dunlap, president of Dunlap Gun Buyers, which runs CashMyGuns.com, said in a statement that the company does not disclose customer information to the public but fully cooperates with law enforcement and follows strict regulations to ensure the lawful sale and transfer of firearms.

The purchase record and online posting suggest "gun culture was in the home," Squire said. "When we see this at SPLC, it just starts setting off a lot of the same flags that we see all day, every day with the folks and groups that we study."

Who was the gunman? What we know about Thomas Crooks

The gun used in the shooting

An AR-15 rifle is relatively common in the U.S. About 1 in 20 adults in the nation own one, according to The Washington Post .

The AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle, meaning one bullet is fired each time the trigger is pulled and the gun automatically loads another bullet. An automatic rifle – illegal to own in most states – can continuously fire bullets as long as the trigger is held down.

Thomas Crooks fired at Trump from a rooftop at the crowded rally where the former president was speaking, according to Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi. He is believed to have fired multiple rounds before he was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.

“It was nothing special,” said Joseph Price, special agent in charge of the ATF in Pittsburgh, of the weapon used by the shooter.

In an interview in the parking lot of the Butler Township Municipal Building on Sunday morning, Price said investigators were still determining how many shots had been fired.

Crooks' immediate family members could not be reached as of Sunday afternoon, though CNN reported his father told the outlet Saturday he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but would speak to law enforcement before making additional statements.

Crooks' home address is listed in Bethel Park, at a three-bedroom brick house that has been owned since 1998 by Matthew and Mary Crooks. Telephone calls to the couple were not returned overnight. County voter records show Matthew Crooks is registered to vote as a Libertarian; Thomas Crooks was registered as a Republican.

Gun laws in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has stricter gun laws than many states, according to Everytown for Gun Safety , a national nonprofit that pushes for gun control in the U.S. The group described Saturday's shooting as “an unacceptable and tragic reminder of our nation’s gun violence crisis“ in a statement that evening.

Background checks including mental health records are required before buying a handgun, license to carry permits are required to possess a concealed gun ( more than 1.6 million have been issued ), and guns are not allowed on some public properties and cannot be possessed by people convicted of hate crimes, violent misdemeanors, domestic abuse and stalking.

Still, the Everytown nonprofit said Pennsylvania is “missing several foundational gun laws.“ The state does not require background checks for rifle sales through private sellers, for instance, according to the gun violence prevention nonprofit Giffords Law Center .

Just nine states have passed laws outlawing possession of certain semiautomatic rifles commonly called assault weapons, such as AR-15 rifles. Pennsylvania is not among them, unlike neighboring states Delaware, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. Training and waiting periods are not required ahead of gun purchases, along with high-capacity magazines and reporting of lost or stolen firearms.

Gun safety at Trump rallies

Trump has made gun owners a key portion of the electorate he hopes to land in November's presidential election.

He's received an endorsement from the pro-firearm National Rifle Association , which called the former president “a powerful champion in the White House who always fought for our constitutional right to keep and bear arms“ in a May statement. And speaking at an NRA forum this spring , he pledged to protect gun access if he regained the presidency.

Gun control measures are in place at his public rallies.

What went wrong? How did Secret Service allow shooter to get so close to Trump?

Attendees of Saturday's event were required to pass through metal detectors and take part in bag inspections, a standard at Trump events. Guns were not allowed, according to a list of prohibited items shared with rally-goers published by The Philadelphia Inquirer , along with items such as fireworks, noisemakers and laser pointers. Similar measures were in place during a gun scare at a Trump rally in 2016 in Nevada – the then-candidate was rushed off stage that night but returned minutes later to continue his speech.

Still, gun control measures at the gates didn't prevent Saturday's shooting because Crooks was perched on a rooftop just outside of the rally grounds. A USA TODAY analysis found the shooter was about 150 yards away from the stage where Trump was speaking.

Security experts told USA TODAY that investigations of the deadly shooting must focus on whether security protocols were violated, noting that the shooter gained access well within the range of an accurate sniper .

The attendee killed in Saturday's shooting has been identified by authorities as Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who lived in Pennsylvania.

Trump was injured in the shooting but was released from a local hospital late Saturday night. He's expected to be in attendance in Milwaukee this week at the Republican National Convention.

Online photos of Thomas Crooks at the rally Saturday appear to show him wearing a shirt for a high-profile YouTube channel called Demolition Ranch, whose Facebook page says it is “dedicated to making you smile with guns.”

“The idea of a disaffected 20-year-old who has too much access to guns and a lot of time on their hands, spending it on YouTube gun channels – that's really common," Squire said, "and sadly leads to this kind of violence we've seen before.”

Contributing: Will Carless, Stephanie Warsmith, Aysha Bagchi

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Online footprint ties gunman’s father to gun marketplaces