(CNN) — The shooter who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday normally would have been at work that day, but he told his boss he needed the day off because he had “something to do,” according to multiple law enforcement officials.
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Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, told his coworkers he would be back to work Sunday. He was an aide at a nursing home in Bethel Park, the Pittsburgh suburb where he lived with his parents.
While investigators have not been able to identify a motive for Crooks’ attack at the rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, they are piecing together more of his activities.
By 3 p.m. on Saturday, roughly three hours before the shooting, Crooks was at the security screening area for the rally at the Butler fairgrounds, about a 50-mile drive from his home.
He first aroused suspicion when he passed through the magnetometers carrying a rangefinder, which looks like a small pair of binoculars and is used by hunters and target shooters to measure distances when setting up a long-range shot, according to a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
The rangefinder would not have prevented Crooks from getting through the security screening point, but it did attract the attention of security personnel who kept an eye on him until he left the secure area.
Investigators are unsure of where Crooks went after he left the screening area but the working theory is that he went to his car to retrieve the rifle and then went to the American Glass Research complex adjacent to the Butler Farm Show.
The complex was outside the “hard perimeter” set by the United States Secret Service inside which every person is screened, but the building Crooks climbed atop was less than 500 feet from the stage and had a clear line of sight to where the former president stood to address the crowd.
Crooks gained access to the rooftop by climbing on top of the building’s air conditioning unit and hoisting himself up, according to a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
Nearly two minutes before the shooting began, witnesses alerted police that someone was crawling on the roof of the building. Around the same time, one of the four counter-sniper teams at the rally site observed Crooks looking at their position through the rangefinder, according to the senior law enforcement official.
“They were looking at him while he was looking at them,” the official said.
Butler Township police officers were alerted to calls about the suspicious person, the head of another law enforcement agency told CNN. One police officer hoisted another so he could get a look over the edge of the roof, Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe said. The shooter turned around, saw the officer peering over and pointed his gun at him. The officer let go of the ledge to “take cover.”
The gunman then started firing from the rooftop.
After the shooting, multiple law enforcement sources said investigators found a bulletproof vest, three fully-loaded magazines, and two remote-controlled explosive devices in Crooks’ car.
Investigators are uncertain as to whether Crooks had a plan to use the body armor, nearly 100 rounds of additional ammunition from those loaded magazines, and two remote-controlled bombs, had he escaped after the shooting.
Around 11 p.m., Crooks’ father reported him missing, law enforcement officials told CNN. His father told agents that he believed his son had taken the rifle Saturday to go to the shooting range and thought he would be back by around 1 p.m., the sources said.
Additionally, after a search of his residence, investigators discovered another bulletproof vest, another remote-controlled explosive device, and a 3D printer, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
In the last several months, Crooks received multiple packages, including some marked as possibly containing hazardous materials, according to a joint FBI and Department of Homeland Security bulletin obtained by CNN.
The-CNN-Wire
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