(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Daily Mail reported Monday that the parents of alleged Trump shooter Thomas Crooks have hired an attorney as the FBI continues to investigate what they knew about their now-deceased child’s plans for the July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Citing a Crooks family member who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Daily Mail reported that the parents—licensed counselors Matthew and Mary Crooks—have hired Pittsburgh-based Quinn Logue, which reportedly describes itself as trial attorneys who specialize in both criminal defense and civil suits, including wrongful death and personal injury.
“The FBI still very much has questions about how much they knew and how he slipped through the net,” the unnamed family member told the Daily Mail. The family member also reportedly revealed that the father, 53-year-old Matthew, is a gun enthusiast who has sold firearms to relatives in the past.
Crooks’s father reportedly owned the gun used to wound Trump, kill a firefighter, and hospitalize at least two others.
It’s since been revealed that Crooks’s parents called the police on the day of the shooting. Crooks reportedly told his dad that he was taking the AR-15 to the gun range, but instead went to the Butler rally.
There have been conflicting reports as to whether Crooks’s parents called law enforcement before or after the attack.
Headline USA filed a request with Bethel Park police for records and a recording of the parents’ call. However, police denied the request last week, citing an ongoing law enforcement investigation.
Pennsylvania law allows for the release of 911 recordings if a law enforcement agency or court deems them to be in the public interest. Headline USA has appealed Bethel Park’s denial of the phone call recording, and will be making the argument that it’s in the public interest for the recording to be released.
The FBI could also be investigating whether Crooks used his parents’ house to make the purported explosives found in his vehicle. Local sniper Ben Shaffer, who was involved in the security at the Trump shooting, said at a Monday press conference that the explosives were “possibly” made at the Crooks household, where the gunman lived.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
