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Commentary by: Gabriella Sable
Monday, September 16, 2024
Headline USA, a conservative news outlet, scored a major win last week when a Pennsylvania Appeals Panel ruled in favor of their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain the autopsy records of Thomas Matthew Crooks. Crooks was the shooter involved in the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on July 13th.
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Ken Silva, a staff writer for Headline USA, filed the open records request because, according to Silva, information on Crooks is still vague. Silva said he is interested in learning what prescription drugs Crooks could have been taking at the time of the shooting because it could give some insights into what, if any, mental health issues the shooter had.
“The FBI said that Mr. Crooks wasn’t on any drugs of abuse but we still haven’t seen a toxicology report to see possible prescription drugs,” Silva said.
Silva is also looking into why Crooks’ body was left on the roof of the building until 6 a.m EST, the day after he was shot and killed. The Butler County Coroner did not examine the body until after midnight on July 14th. However, the one page coroner’s report said the examination was done on July 13th, the day of the shooting.
“Right off the bat, we have discrepancies there,” Silva said, “and then a further irregularity is that the body was transferred to Allegheny County for the actual autopsy” Silva continued. “We still don’t know why that happened if the other county has more autopsy services. But again, we still need answers to these questions.”
The process to get the records from both Allegheny County and Butler County was initially denied on the grounds that the autopsy reports were not public records. Headline USA appealed the decision and won. Officials at Headline USA have since paid the fees to get these records and are currently waiting to receive the reports, which the Butler County Coroner has 30 days to provide. The documents include an autopsy report, toxicology report, and possible photographs of Crooks’ body.
The House Task Force investigating the shooting announced that it has received the photographs of Crooks’ body as part of these records, but Chairman Mike Kelly said that they are gruesome and does not think the public needs to see them.
On the other hand, Silva firmly believes in transparency in this investigation. “In a high profile crime like this that could have arguably kicked off some kind of civil war, we think everything should be public,” Silva argues. “There should be nothing off the table here.”
This is just one of the many FOIA requests Headline USA has filed with local agencies.
“We’ve been hitting the local agencies hard. The feds are pretty much a black box and it’s going to be on Congress to try to get information from them.” Silva said.
Another transcript Headline USA is aiming to have released are the 911 audio recordings from that day.
In Bethel Park, on the day of the shooting, Crooks’ parents, Matthew and Mary Crooks, reportedly called police to report that their son was missing. There are conflicting reports as to whether the call was made before or after the shooting. Headline USA filed a request for audio of that call and was denied that request on the grounds that 911 calls are not public records.
However, this denial of the 911 audio could go against state law.
“In Pennsylvania open law, there’s a public interest clause that says if the public interest outweighs privacy interests, police can have their discretion to release the call,” Silva states. “We’re actually contemplating litigation because they’ve denied that and they’ve signaled that they’re going to fight us in the appeals process.”
Additionally, four Pittsburgh police officers were injured in the first assassination attempt against Trump. According to Pittsburgh local news station, WPXI, they were hit with shrapnel and at least two officers were hospitalized with relatively minor injuries. According to Silva, there is controversy over transferring two police officers to other units after the shooting, as a form of punishment for not receiving permission to work the Trump rally.
This raises questions as to whether these cops were initially assigned to guard Jill Biden’s event, but decided to go to work at Trump’s rally in Butler, PA instead. Headline USA submitted a FOIA request to the Pittsburgh Police Department to understand what happened and if these officers were transferred.
In response to why he has submitted so many FOIA requests, Silva said, “At this point, we don’t know what we don’t know.”
In total, Headline USA has submitted seven FOIA requests to understand the events surrounding the assassination attempt of former President Trump. The outlet is still waiting on its requests, hoping to bring transparency, and provide answers where there are still many questions.
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