Thomas Matthew Crooks' Parents Contacted Police Before Donald Trump Rally Shooting

Secret Service agents fatally shot Thomas Matthew Crooks after firing six to eight rounds, one of which grazed former president Donald Trump's ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooting also resulted in the death of firefighter Corey Comperatore and injuries to two others.

At this time, there has been no evidence suggesting that the shooter left behind any writings, suicide notes, social media posts, or other materials that could explain his motives for targeting Trump at the rally over the weekend.

Investigators did, however, reveal that the parents of Crooks made a phone call to local police to report their son missing the day of the shooting--and that the call came in before shots were fired at the rally.

According to FOX, the parents of Thomas Matthew Crooks were searching for him on Saturday before the shooting at the Trump rally, and after they could not locate him, they contacted law enforcement to report him missing. Details about what his parents conveyed to authorities remain unclear, but the call occurred prior to Crooks firing at Trump during the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Earlier this week, Crooks' father said that his son asked to borrow the AK-style rifle, which was purchased legally by the senior Crooks, to go to the shooting range. They were both members of Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, which features a rifle shooting range that spans roughly 200 yards, so the parents did not think anything of it.

Investigators later uncovered that Crooks purchased 50 rounds of ammo the morning of the attempted assassination and that two explosive devices were found in the suspect's car. A third was found inside the family home.

This latest news comes after reports surfaced that a police officer came face-to-face with Thomas Matthew Crooks seconds before the shots were fired from the AR-style rifle.

Sheriff Michael Slupe reported that Butler Township officers received alerts moments before the shooting occurred about a suspicious individual outside the rally perimeter and began searching for that person. One of the responding officers saw the suspect, later identified as Crooks, on the roof of a building approximately 400 to 500 feet from the stage and climbed up to investigate.

However, it seems Crooks pointed his gun at the officer, and they backed down.

“All I know is the officer had both hands up on the roof to get up onto the roof. Never made it because the shooter had turned towards the officer, and rightfully and smartly, the officer let go,” Slupe said. “I’d have done the same thing. Absolutely. I mean, people think officers are Superman, like, you hold on to the roof with one hand while you’re hanging on for dear life and pull a gun out of here. And it doesn’t work that way."

A former police chief who provided security for two former presidents, Stan Kephart, said the handling off the shooting was an “absolute and abysmal failure” by the Secret Service, per The Associated Press. “You don’t get to blame other people. They are under your control,” he added.

Although the officer did not prevent Crooks from shooting, he is still being hailed as a hero. His approach delayed the shots fired, causing Trump to turn his head in time to avoid the bullet.

“Now timing is everything," the sheriff said, per The New York Post. "He turns around and at this point in the speech, obviously as we all know, the president is looking way back to his right and he gets hit on the ear."

"Can you imagine 10 seconds before that? That the president was looking straight ahead and where that bullet could have potentially landed," he added.

Shortly after the shooting, Crooks' dad told CNN he was trying to work out "what the hell is going on," adding that he would "wait until I talk to law enforcement" before speaking publicly about his son.

A neighbor of the Crooks', Cindy Angelo, told Channel 11 News that she had returned home over the weekend to find the road blocked off with police tape.

"This is very shocking to me," she told the news channel, per NewsWeek. "I really thought there was an accident [and] that's why the road was blocked off. When he [a police officer] told me that [about the shooting] I was like, 'What?!' I couldn't even imagine that. I couldn't imagine that someone living on my street would do that."

The parents are being cooperative with authorities and the FBI is still trying to determine a motive for the attack.

Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office said, “We are working hard to determine the sequence of events related to the subject and his movements in the hours, days, and weeks prior to the shooting."

"We’re still very early in this investigation," he added.