{"id":299354,"date":"2026-10-03T23:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T23:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/299354\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T23:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T23:52:11","slug":"trumps-attempted-assassin-sent-mysterious-texts-about-3d-printer-leading-up-to-butler-pa-shooting-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/299354\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s attempted assassin sent mysterious texts about 3D printer leading up to Butler, Pa. shooting: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas Matthew Crooks,<\/a> the shooter in the assassination attempt at President Donald Trump\u2019s Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13, 2024, sent a series of strangely coded text messages in the months leading up to the shooting, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you 3D print the parts?\u201d an individual the FBI <\/a>described as an \u201cunknown contact,\u201d messaged Crooks on Feb. 9, 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, except for the fan blades,\u201d Crooks responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWoah that looks cool,\u201d the unknown contact replied to Crooks, also asking about the \u201cparts\u201d in response to a Crooks message which the FBI redacted.<\/p>\n

Another series of messages between Crooks and a redacted second party display a series of odd one- or two-word messages Crooks sent the contact between May 21, 2023, and Jan. 3, 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello \u2026 Hello red \u2026Hello red \u2026 Hdudhdbdbbd \u2026 7888ejdj \u2026 Yolo \u2026 Ddodjjf \u2026 890 \u2026 Hdjd \u2026 Djdj \u2026 red \u2026 Yup red \u2026 Hello \u2026 Jhhhuuh \u2026 Hhdj \u2026 Jjjjjjjjjjjj \u2026 Hello red \u2026 Red red,\u201d Crooks\u2019 messages read. The FBI redacted any potential response from the other party, according to the documents.<\/p>\n

According to records obtained by Judicial Watch, Crooks sent a series of strangely coded text messages in the months leading up to the shooting. FBI<\/p>\n

Other information Judicial Watch received from the FBI documents included a notification <\/a>from shipping company DHL about a package Crooks received from Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

The document release also included 40 drone photos Crooks took between Feb. 6, 2024, and Feb. 27, 2024, which included photos of PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium, where the MLB\u2019s Pittsburgh Pirates and the NFL\u2019s Pittsburgh Steelers play, respectively.<\/p>\n

A Panther Arms semiautomatic rifle used by former U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s attacker Thomas Crooks, recovered at the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting scene. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

Crooks\u2019 affinity for 3D printing <\/a>had been previously reported<\/a> by the New York Post, after the outlet reviewed a series of documents obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.<\/p>\n

Crooks had previously attempted to use his 3D printer to create a Glock 19 handgun, his father, Matthew Crooks, told investigators, according to the documents obtained by Grassley.<\/p>\n

FBI evidence photo of a broken-down Panther Arms semiautomatic rifle and a backpack recovered from the scene of the shooting of former U.S. President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing carbon fiber plastic, a dryer and a toaster oven, Thomas did once create a Glock 19,\u201d Matthew Crooks told investigators.<\/p>\n

But, fearing the gun would explode, Matthew Crooks forbade his son from using it, according to records obtained by the Post.<\/p>\n

New docs show Crooks received a mysterious package from Hong Kong and snapped 40 drone photos of Pittsburgh stadiums. AP<\/p>\n

Crooks\u2019 assassination attempt on then-candidate Donald Trump, while unsuccessful in killing Trump, resulted in the deaths of two civilians. Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old fire chief, died immediately while shielding his family from bullets.<\/p>\n

James Copenhaver, a 76-year-old veteran, was shot in the triceps and the midsection, receiving injuries to vital organs including his kidneys and colon.<\/p>\n

Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks sent \u201cstrangely coded\u201d texts before his July 13, 2024, assassination attempt, records reveal. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Though Copenhaver was released from the hospital a week after the shooting, he dealt with complications from the injuries in the ensuing years. On Sept. 23, 2026, he died due to those complications.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese latest records reveal more pieces of the puzzle surrounding Thomas Crooks,\u201d Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement. \u201cThe FBI should stop the slow drip of heavily redacted records and immediately provide the full investigative record \u2014 especially since the death last week of James Copenhaver, who was severely injured from being shot during the assassination attempt on President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter in the assassination attempt at President Donald Trump\u2019s Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[34,28,30,29,6803,53208,302],"class_list":["post-299354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-donald-trump","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-shootings","tag-thomas-matthew-crooks","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}