The revelation adds another unsettling detail to an investigation that has continued well beyond the shooting itself.
Father Saw Troubling Behavior
Less than a week before the assassination attempt, Matthew reportedly witnessed behavior that he later described to investigators as deeply unusual.
On July 7, he was watching a surveillance camera when he saw his son inside the family garage cleaning a firearm. Matthew said Crooks was pacing while his “arms going up and down … frantically talking and not making any sense.”
That incident occurred just six days before Crooks opened fire at the rally.
Matthew also remembered another conversation that struck him as unusual. His son asked whether “he would have to do a background check” if he purchased his father’s Glock pistol.
Federal records reviewed by investigators have also revealed that Crooks used the name “Bob Dole” when ordering firearm-related items and other packages. Fox News reported that the alias was used for purchases before the shooting, with Crooks reportedly collecting packages addressed to the pseudonym.
The records indicate that firearms had become a recurring subject between father and son.
But Matthew did not describe their shared interest in shooting as a bonding experience. Instead, investigators were told that Crooks’ relationship with firearms had increasingly taken on a different character.
Matthew told investigators that his son “had ulterior motives” that became apparent “the minute he pulled that trigger.”
From Poor Shooter to Increasingly Focused Gunman
The federal documents also provide a picture of Crooks’ development as a shooter.
According to his father’s account, Crooks’ interest in firearms began during the COVID-19 pandemic. His early efforts at target shooting, however, were hardly impressive.
Matthew described his son as a “terrible” shot.
“He could not hit the paper [target],” read a summary of Matthew’s FBI interview conducted one day after the Butler shooting.
His father estimated that Crooks spent approximately four or five years practicing before he was consistently capable of hitting the paper target.
That history is significant because investigators have documented Crooks’ later interest in long-range shooting and firearms equipment. Authorities have also previously determined that he visited the Butler Farm Show grounds before the rally and went to a shooting range the day before the attack.
The FBI has said Crooks acted alone in the shooting, while investigators have continued examining his preparation, digital activity, firearm purchases and possible motives.
The Gun Safe Question
Perhaps the most striking portion of Matthew’s account concerns the family gun safe.
Matthew told investigators that he was careful about keeping the combination secret because Thomas had previously watched him enter it. As a result, he frequently changed the combination.
Yet on the afternoon of July 13, that security measure did not prevent Crooks from obtaining the rifle.
Matthew opened the safe himself and handed over the firearm because he believed his son was simply going to practice at a shooting range.
Federal records show that Crooks then purchased ammunition before eventually returning to the Butler rally site. A federal timeline says he bought 50 rounds of ammunition shortly after receiving the rifle from his father.
The rifle had been legally purchased by Matthew and later legally transferred to his son, according to previous FBI disclosures.
Within hours, the firearm was being used in a deadly attack that shocked the nation.
Trump survived after a bullet grazed his ear. One rally attendee was killed and two others were seriously wounded before a Secret Service counter-sniper shot and killed Crooks.
The newly reviewed records do not, by themselves, establish that Matthew knew what his son intended to do. Instead, they show a father who had noticed strange behavior, knew his son had been watching him access the gun safe and nevertheless believed the rifle was being taken to a shooting range.
That distinction remains important as investigators continue examining exactly what Crooks was thinking, how he prepared and whether additional warning signs were missed before one of the most serious attacks on a U.S. presidential candidate in modern American history.
The federal investigation has previously concluded that Crooks acted alone, but the continuing release of investigative records is providing additional pieces of the timeline surrounding the Butler attack.
