Thanks to the help of the non-profit transparency group Judicial Watch, Headline USA has obtained a recording of the 911 call Thomas Crooks’s father made on the day his son allegedly tried assassinating Donald Trump during his July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Allegheny County—where Crooks lived with his parents, Matthew and Mary Crooks—provided the call to Headline USA on Friday after a four-month legal process.
The call lasts roughly 2 minutes before abruptly ending. Matthew Crooks initially called Allegheny County 911 dispatch, which transferred him to the Bethel Park Police Department.
“Hi, yes. Uh, my name is Matthew Crooks. I was calling in regards to my son, Thomas. Uh, he belongs to the Clairton Sportsman Club in Clairton, and I don’t have the number for Jefferson Police on hand. The reason I’m calling is he left the house here at about a quarter to two this afternoon, and we’ve gotten no contact from him, no text messages, nothing’s been returned, and he’s not home yet,” Matthew said.
“That’s totally not like him. So we’re kind of worried, not really sure what we should do.”
The recording ended after Matthew confirmed his son was 20 years old. Headline USA is filing an appeal in an attempt to obtain the rest of the recording—if it exists.
Obtaining the 2-minute recording was a lengthy process in the first place.
After requesting the call on Aug. 12, Bethel Park Police denied disclosure nine days later— citing Section 708(b)(18) of the RTKL, which exempts 911 recordings from public disclosure.
However, the exact same RTKL paragraph cited by Bethel Police also states that law enforcement can release 911 recordings that are in the public interest.
Headline USA appealed accordingly, but an appeals officer ruled that he didn’t have the power to force disclosure. Only a police department or a court has the power to force disclosure of 911 calls, the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruled in October. The Office of Open Records made a similar ruling that same month in an appeal filed by NBC News, which also sought the call.
That’s where Judicial Watch came in. The non-profit watchdog agreed to take on this publication’s case, filing a lawsuit in late October in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas to force Bethel Park Police to disclose the 911 call.
“Disclosing the 911 recording would further aid the public’s interest in completing a timeline of events surrounding the attempted assignation of President Trump on July 13, 2024,” attorney J. Chadwick Schnee argued on behalf of Judicial Watch and Headline USA—asking the court to reverse the appeal office’s decision and to deem the 911 recording to be in the public interest.
Unfortunately, I couldn't obtain the 911 phone call
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) December 13, 2024
BUT THE MAN WITH THE LARGEST ARMS IN WASHINGTON DC COULD!!!!@JudicialWatch @TomFitton https://t.co/R3nNBbbG19 https://t.co/O7HNRm2543 pic.twitter.com/jPS7krVSIH
However, a judge never had the chance to rule on Judicial Watch’s lawsuit. Last week, ABC News published a story about the call, reporting that it obtained the 911 call via a Right to Know Law request—the same method by which both Headline USA and NBC had requested it. Though Headline USA’s request was with Bethel Park Police, NBC had tried obtaining the recording via Allegheny County—and the county fought NBC all the way to appeal, and won.
It’s not clear why Allegheny County disclosed the call to ABC after denying it to NBC—and successfully arguing in October that it wasn’t in the public interest. However, Allegheny County only disclosed the call after Judicial Watch filed its lawsuit.
ABC did reveal that the call was made at 10:56 p.m., which settles conflicting reports of whether the father called before or after his son shot at Trump at 6:11 p.m.—grazing Trump’s ear, killing a firefighter, and seriously wounding two others before dying from law enforcement’s return fire.
The timing of the call wasn’t included in the response Headline USA received.
