The 20-year-old was shot dead by Secret Service after opening fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.

A monthslong investigation by CBS News punctures Thomas Crooks’ secrecy to reveal the broadest portrait yet of the lonesome young student who tried to kill President Trump.

Thomas Crooks’ cousin recalled the gunman’s father, Matthew Crooks, doing everything in his power to keep the two Pennsylvania families apart, during an exclusive interview with The

Former State Dpartment official Mike Benz discusses aspects of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last summer in Butler, Pa. that are still a mystery on 'The Will Cain Show.

At the time of his death, Crooks, who had shown a gift for engineering projects, had been working on homemade explosives. Crude bombs were found in his Hyundai Sonata in Butler (along with a drone that he used to scope out the location). Agents who visited his parents after the shooting found explosive materials in his bedroom.

A year after an assassination attempt shocked Butler County, the motives of the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, remain largely a mystery. Bits and pieces of Crooks’ life have come to light over the

Crooks, who was shot dead by Secret Service snipers at the Trump rally, had been a registered Republican and had only completed high school two years prior to the incident.

Still reveling in his political comeback after surviving two near-miss assassination attempts, last December, then-President-elect Trump stopped by the Christmas party of the Secret Service