Bethel Park is a suburb of about 34,000, seven miles south of Pittsburgh and about 40 miles south of Butler. Residents on Sunday described the borough as a tight-knit community made up of small business owners and self-described family men who like to talk about their children but not about politics.
The fire department consists entirely of volunteers, said Stephen Diethorn, 66, who with his wife owns Ma and Pop’s diner. “People like to help each other, and they like to get along.”
A local media outlet’s list of graduates of Bethel Park High School in 2022 listed Crooks as one of 20 students to have received a $500 prize for math and science from the school that year. Bethel Park High School did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Crooks was registered as a Republican, according to Pennsylvania’s voter status records.
Crooks is believed to have used an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle to carry out the attack, a U.S. official and another person familiar with the investigation said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a probe that is still in its early stages.
When the FBI named Crooks as the suspect, the bureau said this “remains an active and ongoing investigation” and urged anyone with relevant information to submit it to the agency.
In a news conference Saturday evening, before the alleged shooter was named, FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek said the agency did not yet know his motivation. “Our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was,” he said.
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens was asked whether the shooter acted alone and responded that it was “too early to say that.”
“It will be some time until we can conclusively … answer that question,” he added.
Bivens described a “chaotic” scene at the rally after shots were fired in the direction of Trump as he was speaking on the rally stage. He said federal and local agencies were working together to interview witnesses and process the crime scene.
By early Sunday, authorities had sealed off the area around Crooks’s home. Local fire department vehicles blocked access for several blocks, allowing only residents and investigators to enter.
In the streets outside that area, the neighborhood seemed notably apolitical, with no political yard signs.
But Diethorn, the diner owner, said he had noticed political tension intensifying somewhat in recent years.
Last year, he had to come out from the kitchen to break up an argument between a man who supported President Biden and another who liked Trump. They were yelling. He encouraged them to “be civil.”
Then a few months ago, a man who rides his bicycle around town in a colonial outfit with a big Trump sign decided to park outside of the diner. Diethorn asked him to move across the street. He didn’t want anything controversial to discourage business.
The separation between food and politics collapsed Sunday morning, as the TV that is mounted above the four pots of coffee flashed pictures of the former president bleeding from the ear next to the words, “Bethel Park.”
“To see a statement talking about Bethel High School on T.V., it’s insane, like out of a movie or something” said customer Tony Serkis, 51. “Unfortunately, it is scarring this community right here.”
Serkis, a lifelong conservative who works in IT, credits Trump with pushing economic policies during his first term that helped Serkis and his family. They were supposed to go to the rally on Saturday, but scheduling conflicts prevented them from attending.
Serkis said he grew up with close friends who were liberal and thinks it is important for people who have differences to be able to talk to each other. “We’ve lost that,” he said. “I mean, someone tried to assassinate a former president.”
Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein and Alex Horton contributed to this report.
