Crooks trained at shooting range where Fed agencies trained

[Sea Six]

HUGE: Thomas Crooks Trained at Shooting Range, Where Multiple Federal Agencies Reportedly Train, Including DHS — Visited the Club 43 Times Including Holidays Since Last Year, Records Show
by Jim Hᴏft Aug. 11, 2024 1:20 pm366 Comments

Screenshot: Jesse Watters Primetime
New evidence shows that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man suspected of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump, had been intensely preparing for his attack at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a facility frequented by multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

According to the documents released by Grassley’s office on Thursday, Crooks signed up for a membership at the gun club on August 10, 2023.

His alarming pattern of behavior is highlighted by the fact that he visited the range 20 times within just four months of joining. Notably, his dedication to rifle practice was evident, with 80% of his visits focused solely on honing his skills with long guns.

“He focused almost exclusively on the rifle range throughout 2024,” Grassley’s office said in a statement per the New York Post.

Crooks visited the club 43 times within the past year and even spent major holidays, including Christmas Day, Valentine’s Day, and Halloween, under federal law enforcement’s nose.

Crooks’ final visit to the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club occurred just one day before he attempted to assassinate Trump.

According to ABC News, “The Clairton Sportsmen’s Club previously confirmed to ABC News that Crooks visited the gun club for the last time on July 12 — the day before the rally. He visited the range at 2:45 p.m. local time that day, according to the records released by Grassley’s office.”

In a recent broadcast, Fox News’ Jesse Watters highlighted the disturbing nature of the evidence.

“It’s been a month since Trump was nearly killed, and the FBI has barely said a word about what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania. Thankfully, Congress is churning out new information to help the American people understand what happened,” Watters said.

He continued, “Turns out that Crooks first joined the Clarendon Gun Club in August of last year, just a year ago, and then visited the range 43 times. Crooks even spent holidays at the shooting range, including Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Halloween. And his parents didn’t think this was strange.”

What’s more alarming is that the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club wasn’t just a local shooting range—it was a hub for federal law enforcement training. Agencies like DHS, which oversees the Secret Service, regularly held training sessions at the facility. This means that Crooks was honing his skills under the very noses of federal agents tasked with protecting national security.

“The shooting range was crawling with feds. Multiple local and federal law law enforcement agencies trained at this facility, including the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Secret Service. Crooks was training under federal law enforcement’s nose. We’re now seeing just how close they got to each other. Just two months before trying to kill Trump, Crooks was at the range within 24 hours of a Homeland Security Office training session,” Jesse Watters said.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that a mobile ad data analysis revealed that someone who regularly visited Crooks’ Pennsylvania home also visited a building in DC near an FBI office.

The Oversight Project identified nine devices linked to AD-IDs that were located at Crooks’ home and work within the last year.

Per the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project: “We found the assassin’s connections through our in-depth analysis of mobile ad data to track movements of Crooks and his associates.”

“To do this, we tracked devices that regularly visited both Crooks’s home and place of work and followed them,” the Oversight Project said.

[Sea Six]

.

[markids77]

If you are trying to read some law enforcement failure into this, let me comment.
Back when I decided I REALLY wanted to know how to shoot a pistol I spent about 3 years at a local range expending about 10,000 rounds a year.
The range I shot at is a training facility for not only carry permit purposes, but also for local and other LE organizations.
I have no aspirations for criminality or mayhem, but while I was training I shot with, and competed against judges, bomb squad members, SWAT operatives, air traffic controllers and US Marshalls. None of us spoke of politics, or of current events. Our conversations were about trigger control, breathing and what stance resulted in the most effective follow up shot.
The guy practiced... but I bet he kept his mouth shut.

[Sea Six]

Originally Posted by markids77

If you are trying to read some law enforcement failure into this, let me comment.
Back when I decided I REALLY wanted to know how to shoot a pistol I spent about 3 years at a local range expending about 10,000 rounds a year.
The range I shot at is a training facility for not only carry permit purposes, but also for local and other LE organizations.
I have no aspirations for criminality or mayhem, but while I was training I shot with, and competed against judges, bomb squad members, SWAT operatives, air traffic controllers and US Marshalls. None of us spoke of politics, or of current events. Our conversations were about trigger control, breathing and what stance resulted in the most effective follow up shot.
The guy practiced... but I bet he kept his mouth shut.

Hell no. I spent six years as a deputy sheriff in one of FL’s largest counties. I am pro LE.

If anything, LOCAL LE nearly caught up with Crooks in time to make a difference, in SPITE of apparently all the gov agencies’ best efforts. As evidenced by the video footage (the narrator may have some downward views of LE however).

[Sea Six]

If in fact he had a handler this could be where they met. Or where the handler took him to know where to train. All sorts of possibilities.

He was definitely honing his skills on rifle shooting. Sounds like he spent plenty of time getting his accuracy up.

This is interesting too

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that a mobile ad data analysis revealed that someone who regularly visited Crooks’ Pennsylvania home also visited a building in DC near an FBI office.

[Over140mph]

My add'er to this is that shooting ranges are often times shared by various jurisdictions because there aren't that many ranges.

[6spdC6]

Originally Posted by Over140mph

My add'er to this is that shooting ranges are often times shared by various jurisdictions because there aren't that many ranges.

Right you are!

I was a officer or director of a very large gun club in the Albany NY area. (mid 70s to early 90s)

We had a bunch of ranges. One of which we rented out to at least ten+ different agencies for training or quals. One of which was the state DOC they put through may recruits and each class had at least a week at our range. Many departments did not have their own range and in the Albany area including the feds there were plenty of cops/agents that had to shoot. On our range they fired up to a 100 yards. That included rifle, handgun, shot gun some sniper rifles and tear gas guns. Due to state rules no FA fire even though some outfits had those type weapons!

At the time I was a NRA certified RO, firearms instructor and club PPC instructor and knew many of the ROs/instructors that were at the range with their students. I shot with many of these LEO outfits and some times even gave a little help when necessary. As construction work was slow in my area when I had free time and as the club was close by I was there a lot, both shooting and doing maintenance!

This arrangement was good for the cops and the club made serious money for the use of that range and clubhouse.

[KenHorse]

Originally Posted by Over140mph

My add'er to this is that shooting ranges are often times shared by various jurisdictions because there aren't that many ranges.

Yup. A local indoor range is actually owned by a local SO and is open to the public as well

[Sea Six]

In both FL counties I worked the Sheriff’s office had their own range. We always qualified there. There was one exception I guess that the range wasn’t available for a full week and we had several officers that HAD to qualify. We went to the local privately owned club.

[Over140mph]

Originally Posted by Sea Six

In both FL counties I worked the Sheriff’s office had their own range. We always qualified there. There was one exception I guess that the range wasn’t available for a full week and we had several officers that HAD to qualify. We went to the local privately owned club.

It varies by the regions and states. The long gun SWAT guys need a place to train and I think it's too costly for jurisdictions to justify owning a massive hunk of land like that when they can more easily go to a private club (at much less cost) and achieve the same thing.