Newly released FBI records obtained by the watchdog group Judicial Watch show that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate then-candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, exchanged a series of coded text messages about 3D printing in the months before the shooting.
One exchange, dated Feb. 9, 2023, involved an individual the FBI identified only as an “unknown contact.” That person asked Crooks, “Did you 3D print the parts?” Crooks replied, “Yes, except for the fan blades.” The contact responded, “Woah that looks cool,” and asked further questions about the parts in reply to a Crooks message that the FBI redacted.
A separate set of messages, exchanged with a second, redacted party between May 21, 2023, and Jan. 3, 2024, shows Crooks sending a string of fragmented, seemingly nonsensical words and phrases: “Hello … Hello red …Hello red … Hdudhdbdbbd … 7888ejdj … Yolo … Ddodjjf … 890 … Hdjd … Djdj … red … Yup red … Hello … Jhhhuuh … Hhdj … Jjjjjjjjjjjj … Hello red … Red red.” The FBI redacted any response from that contact.
The documents also include a DHL shipping notification for a package Crooks received from Hong Kong, along with 40 drone photographs Crooks took between Feb. 6 and Feb. 27, 2024. Among the images were shots of PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium, home respectively to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Crooks’ interest in 3D printing had previously surfaced in documents obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and reported by the New York Post. Those records included an account from Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, who told investigators his son had once successfully built a working Glock 19 handgun using 3D-printed parts.
“Using carbon fiber plastic, a dryer and a toaster oven, Thomas did once create a Glock 19,” Matthew Crooks told investigators.
According to the Post’s reporting, the elder Crooks forbade his son from using the printed firearm out of fear it could explode.
Two Civilians Killed, One Death as Recently as Last Month
The July 13, 2024, attack in Butler County did not kill Trump but left two civilians dead. Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old local fire chief, was killed instantly while shielding his family from gunfire.
James Copenhaver, a 76-year-old veteran, was shot in the triceps and midsection, suffering injuries to his kidneys and colon. He was released from the hospital about a week after the shooting but continued to suffer complications from his wounds. He died from those complications on Sept. 23, 2026.
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said the newly disclosed records add to an incomplete picture of the shooter’s background and planning.
“These latest records reveal more pieces of the puzzle surrounding Thomas Crooks,” Fitton said. “The FBI should stop the slow drip of heavily redacted records and immediately provide the full investigative record — especially since the death last week of James Copenhaver, who was severely injured from being shot during the assassination attempt on President Trump.”
