(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Thanks to the help of the transparency organization Judicial Watch, Headline USA has won its lawsuit for audio of the 911 call Thomas Crooks’s father made the day his son allegedly tried assassinating then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at his July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Following a roughly 18-month legal battle, Judge Daniel Regan ordered the Bethel Park Police Department to disclose the phone call recording on April 24. Bethel Park did so on Friday, and Judicial Watch published the recording today.
The call from the father, Matthew Crook, was made just before 11 p.m. on July 13, 2024—nearly five hours after the shooting at the Butler Farm Show.
“I was calling in regards to my son Thomas. He, he belongs to the Claritin Sportsmen Club in Claritin…. The reason I’m calling is he left the house here at about a quarter till 2:00 this afternoon. And we’ve gotten no contact from him, no text messages, nothing’s been returned, and he’s not home yet…. Like I said, he belongs to the Claritin Sportsmen Club or Gun Club, and he took a rifle of his out there, and it’s, it’s routine. He always does it, but he’s usually back within two hours,” Matthew Crooks told the police.
Just because the book is out doesn't mean the investigation stops. Grateful to Judicial Watch for helping me unearth Matthew Crooks's 911 call, which can be heard below.
Court order here: https://t.co/GKGvXGp1sc pic.twitter.com/Ua8ZnFwA55— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) May 19, 2026
“And we’ve been texting him, leaving him messages on his phone. He’s not been returning any of our texts or messages, which is totally not like him. And, you know, we’re, we’re going on 11:00, and he still hasn’t come back or contacted us, so we’re kind of worried. We don’t know if he’s been in an accident or if something else happened to him.”
Less than an hour later, ATF and Pennsylvania troopers approached the house to conduct a search. Crooks’s father exited the residence, stepped onto the front porch, and asked them: “Is it true? Did Thomas shoot Trump?”
A responding ATF agent was initially caught off guard, according to the transcript of an interview he conducted with Congress.
“What makes you say that?” he asked the father, who responded: “The news called me.”
Legal History
Headline USA initially filed a request for the call in August 2024, only to have Bethel Park Police deny disclosure nine days later—citing Section 708(b)(18) of the RTKL, which exempts 911 recordings from public disclosure. However, the exact same RTKL paragraph cited by Bethel Police also states that law enforcement can release 911 recordings that are in the public interest.
That’s where Judicial Watch came in. The non-profit watchdog agreed to take on this publication’s case, filing a lawsuit in late October 2024 in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas to force Bethel Park Police to disclose the 911 call.
Judicial Watch argued in court filings that it was in the public interest to release the call. The judge finally agreed on April 24.
A similar recording from a call Matthew Crooks made to 911 dispatch was released in December 2024. The call lasts roughly 2 minutes before abruptly ending when the 911 dispatch center transferred Matthew to the Bethel Park Police. It’s the Bethel Park Police portion of the call that was released today.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
