BREAKING: Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks cremated thanks to ‘anonymous donor,’ purchased gun parts with ‘Bob Dole’ alias

The 20-year-old had made purchases online under the name “Bob Dole,” the late Senator from Kansas who launched a failed presidential bid in the 1996 election. Packages sent to his parent’s home under the alias included “parts, tools and items to increase the capacity of his rifle.” The documents were released to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley as part of his probe into the Butler assassination attempt and reviewed by the New York Post.

Matthew Crooks, the father of the gunman, told FBI investigators that his son began using the false name after his father’s bank account got hacked. He also instructed his father on how to use a virtual private network and secure browser to search the internet.

The father said his son had believed if a person made a purchase under a pseudonym, they would never be hacked. His father had told him this was not the case, as purchases are linked to bank accounts under a person’s real name, however, Crooks continued to use pseudonyms to make online purchases.

Documents from the FBI also revealed the father telling investigators, “When Thomas was born he did not scream and he was always quiet from that point on.” The father said they “never really had a father/son bond,” and that his son rarely expressed strong emotions and was hard to read.

He said that his son had acted out on occasion in elementary school because “he was bored,” citing an example in which Crooks had damaged a desk and other school property. In middle school, the father and his wife, Mary, “thought Thomas had ADHD” and expressed concerns over their son having fallen in with a “bad” group of kids.

He said that between Crooks’ freshman and sophomore year of high school, his son had grown “a little more quiet and reserved,” and started having “issues with speaking to his teachers.” The father said he frequently caught Crooks talking to himself, which “became more noticeable over the years.”

Matthew Crooks said his son started getting into firearms as a teen. He said that conversations with his son at this time usually were related to guns, including with Crooks questioning whether “he would have to do a background check” to buy his dad’s Glock. The father told investigators that the question was “odd.”

He said his son was a bad shot to begin with, and it took four to five years for him to even hit the paper on which targets are placed. Eventually, Crooks was coming home to tell his dad about targets he hit from over 100 yards away. When the father questioned why Crooks was “going so far out,” he said Crooks had explained that “he wanted to see how far he could shoot with rudimentary sights.”

The documents also revealed that an “anonymous donor paid for cremation” of Crooks. Crooks was fatally shot by authorities at the scene of the assassination attempt.