The Shrouded Past of a Would-Be Assassin: Crooks' Cryptic Texts and 3D Printer Revealed

The chilling echoes of July 13, 2024, a day etched into American memory, continue to resonate, especially with the recent passing of James Copenhaver. This 76-year-old veteran, caught in the crossfire during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, succumbed to his injuries on September 23, 2026, a somber reminder of the attack's lingering consequences. It was a day of terror, where a 20-year-old named Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on the former President, grazing his ear before being shot dead himself. Now, new documents are slowly pulling back the curtain on Crooks' unsettling final months.

Just recently, a trove of FBI records, obtained through a persistent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the watchdog group Judicial Watch, has begun to paint a more complete, albeit disturbing, picture of Crooks. Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, has been vocal, expressing deep concern over the previously redacted information. He points out, quite rightly, that these details are crucial for understanding the motivations and potential connections behind such a brazen act, and frankly, it's about time they saw the light of day.

Perhaps one of the most unsettling revelations centers around Crooks' fascination with 3D printing, specifically his attempts to craft a firearm. His own father, Matthew Crooks, had confided in investigators that his son possessed a 3D printer and had even tried to fabricate a Glock 19 handgun. Imagine that – a homemade weapon, pieced together from plastic. The elder Crooks recounted a chilling detail: his son had actually test-fired this improvised weapon once, but the fear of it exploding in his hand was very real, so much so that he reportedly gave up on the endeavor. It makes you wonder what could have been.

The FBI documents include an unredacted text message exchange from February 9, 2023, where Crooks discussed 3D-printed parts with an unidentified contact. The conversation, while vague, hints at the clandestine nature of his activities, mentioning 'fan blades' that were supposedly too large and the sender’s offer to 'take them off [Crooks’] hands.' It's not explicitly stated if these parts were directly related to a firearm, but given his father’s testimony, the implication is certainly there. And honestly, it’s hard not to connect those dots.

Even more perplexing are other text threads found on Crooks' phone. Back in December 2022, he reportedly exchanged 'gifts' with an unknown individual. What kind of gifts? We don't know, and that silence itself is deafening. Then, a protracted text conversation spanning from May 21, 2023, to January 3, 2024, reveals a series of odd, often one- or two-word messages, strings of numbers, and seemingly random characters. These 'cryptic coded texts,' as they've been dubbed, remain largely a mystery. The FBI records, regrettably, offer no explanation for their meaning or whether they truly constitute a code. It leaves so many unanswered questions hanging in the air.

Despite these new disclosures, a significant veil of uncertainty still hangs over the investigation. Who were these 'mystery persons' Crooks communicated with? What was the true purpose of the 3D-printed components, and crucially, was there a direct link between those early exchanges and the horrific events more than a year later? The documents don't offer those clear connections, frustrating those, like Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who seek full transparency. We also know Crooks used a drone to photograph various locations around Pittsburgh, adding another layer to his enigmatic activities. It’s clear we’re still missing crucial pieces of this deeply troubling puzzle, and perhaps, we always will be.