Records show Trump rally gunman Thomas Crooks practiced dozens of times at Clairton rifle range
Thomas Crooks logged dozens of visits to a local sportsman’s club for rifle practice before shooting former President Donald Trump and three other people at a July rally in Butler County, according to records provided Thursday by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley.
Information released by Grassley, R-Iowa, showed that Crooks visited a rifle range the day before he opened fire at the Trump rally, where the former president suffered an ear injury, rally-goer Corey Comperatore was killed and two others were seriously wounded.
Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, made frequent visits to Clairton Sportsmen’s Club to practice his shooting, including on some holidays.
Crooks became a member of the club — which spans 180 acres in West Mifflin and Jefferson Hills and boasts more than 2,000 members — on Aug. 10, 2023, according to the records from Grassley’s office.
The club has several rifle ranges, including at least one that is 200 yards. Investigators have said Crooks fired an AR-style rifle at the former president from the roof of a building less than 150 yards from Trump’s stage at the Butler Farm Show grounds July 13.
Crooks signed in for target practice 20 times within the first four months of his membership, the documents showed, and averaged three to six target practices per month throughout 2024.
In total, Crooks signed in at the range 43 times.
Crooks spent about 80% of his time at the gun club on rifle practice, according to the records.
Attendance logs show Crooks never brought a guest with him to the range, even when he spent holidays there. He logged time at the range on Valentine’s Day this year, and on Christmas and Halloween last year.
Crooks’ last visit to the gun range was logged at 2:45 p.m. on Friday, July 12 — the day before he was fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper after opening fire at the Trump rally.
The Department of Homeland Security also used the range for police training on a day Crooks was not there, records show.
The documents were provided to Grassley’s office by the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.
In the days after the shooting, club president Bill Sellitto told TribLive, “What happened was a terrible, terrible, terrible thing. That’s not who we are.”
The club condemned the violence in a statement from attorney Rob Bootay.
Crooks tried out for Bethel Park High School’s rifle team as a freshman, but was rejected for poor marksmanship, according to the Associated Press.
This story is published as part of a collaboration with TribLive.
