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What is Demolition Ranch, the YouTube channel on Thomas Matthew Crooks’ shirt?
Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman who opened fire on Saturday at a rally for former President Donald Trump, was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “Demolition Ranch,” the name of a popular YouTube Channel focused on firearms.
The YouTube channel, which has more than 11 million subscribers, is run by Texas social media personality Matt Carriker. In his YouTube profile, he says the account is “not your average gun channel.”
In the aftermath of the shooting, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are investigating Crooks’ background and possible motive. Crooks was killed by snipers Saturday after he shot and injured Trump, killed a spectator and critically injured two others.
Crooks was a 2022 graduate of Bethel Park High School in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh suburb about an hour south of the Trump rally’s location in Butler, Pennsylvania. A former classmate told CBS News that Crooks had tried out for the school’s varsity rifle team during his freshman year, but that he didn’t make the roster and didn’t return in later years to try out again.
What is Demolition Ranch?
Demolition Ranch offers videos with titles such as “Is the AK-50 any good?” and “I sawed off a .50 caliber sniper rifle.” In addition to its gun-related video content, Demolition Ranch operates a store selling merchandise branded with the channel’s name, including $30 t-shirts, $55 sweatshirts and $35 hats, as well as can coolers and stickers.
Demolition Ranch primarily focuses on the capabilities of firearms, including esoteric weapons such as a pistol grenade launcher. Last month, the account announced that it was opening a public shooting facility called Desperado shooting range. In the video, Carriker shows off a new gun, which he uses to shoot at targets, with the action set to a soundtrack. His videos are often tagged as sponsored by a range of companies.
In another short video, Carriker tested the force of what he called “the most powerful sniper rifle” against a bronze block. He also shows off his personal arsenal, which appears to include hundreds of weapons.
Carriker is also the founder of another account called Vet Ranch, described on YouTube as “a place for veterinarians to share some amazing stories.” A Facebook page calls Vet Ranch “an organization that provides veterinary treatment for homeless animals.” Carriker also has a social media presence on X, Instagram and TikTok.
On his company’s site, Carriker says that since founding Demolition Ranch in 2011 he has amassed a personal net worth of $4.3 million. He states that his YouTube channel and his merchandise shop are two of his primary sources of income.
On Demolition Ranch’s site, Carriker also breaks down his earnings, claiming to earn a monthly salary of $24,000 to $27,000, plus between $13,000 to $15,000 per month from his YouTube channels. On an annual basis, he said that equates to an income between $445,000 to $504,000.
Carriker responds to shooting
In a Facebook post Saturday Carriker posted an image of a bloodied Crooks wearing the Demolition Range t-shirt and captioned it with, “What the hell.”
On social media site X, Carriker wrote: “Sucks seeing articles about this and they are naming 3 people… the shooter, trump… and somehow me.” A representative for Carriker did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment.
Carriker also said he is “in disbelief” about the incident, adding that he will soon make a public statement on YouTube.
The secretary of state’s office was the target of an unsuccessful cyberattack earlier this month, the agency confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday.
An official with the secretary of state’s office said the attack was an attempt to crash the absentee voting website, and it was discovered when the agency noticed a spike in attempts to access the site nine days ago, on Oct. 14. There were over 420,000 attempts made from around the world, which the official said was a coordinated attempt to make the website crash.
Security experts were ultimately able to thwart the attack. The secretary of state’s office said it still does not know who was behind the attack but suggested it may have been a foreign country.
Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the office, wrote Thursday evening in a social media post that “this was a big win for our cyber security team and our partners. We work everyday to protect Georgia voters and our systems.” In a separate post, he said, “The attack was detected and mitigated quickly.” CNN first reported the cyberattack attempt.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is aware of the cyberattack and worked with the Georgia secretary of state’s office in the aftermath of the incident, sources confirmed to CBS News. The FBI has not responded to a request for comment.
Georgia voters have also been showing up for early voting, which began on Oct. 15. Early voters shattered records this year for the presidential election, the secretary of state’s office said, more than doubling early voting figures from 2020 on the first day, with 310,000 ballots cast, compared with 136,739 on the first day of early voting in 2020.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger predicted there would be record turnout in Georgia this year, telling CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” Sunday, “You look at the turnout — we’re almost pushing 1.4 million who’ve already voted early or who we’ve accepted their absentee ballots.”
Nicole Sganga and
contributed to this report.
Boeing machinists on Wednesday voted to reject a new labor contract proposal and continue a costly weekslong strike that halted production of some of the embattled company’s top-selling planes, resulting in furloughs and layoff announcements for thousands of workers.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced on social media that 64% of members voted to reject the deal.
“The strike will continue at all designated picket locations,” the union said.
The vote comes more than a month after 33,000 union members overwhelmingly rejected a negotiated offer and walked off the job on Sept. 13.
The IAM on Saturday had said it had brokered a tentative deal with Boeing that included cumulative raises of almost 40% over four years, significantly more than the prior negotiated offer.
The new contract offer also includes a $7,000 ratification bonus and a larger company contribution to retirement plans. It did not bring back a defined benefit pension that was frozen a decade ago and that many wanted to return to.
Contract talks broke down earlier in the month, but the company and union resumed bargaining in recent days, with Julie Su, the acting labor secretary, traveling to Seattle to meet with both sides.
If workers had voted to accept the contract offer, they would have had to return to work on Oct. 31, according to the union.
Boeing can’t produce any new 737s so long as the strike that shut down assembly plants in the Seattle area continues. One major Boeing jet, the 787 Dreamliner, is manufactured at a nonunion factory in South Carolina.
As machinists cast their ballots, Boeing reported a massive third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion, with the airplane manufacturer hit by the five-week-old strike and charges tied to its commercial aircraft and defense programs.
Boeing is struggling to right itself after manufacturing troubles and multiple federal investigations after an in-air panel blowout in January.
In August, the company brought in Kelly Ortberg, a seasoned aerospace executive, as its new CEO with the mandate to right Boeing’s safety and manufacturing issues. Ortberg, who earlier this month announced job cuts of 10% of the company’s workforce, or 17,000 employees, on Wednesday wrote in prepared remarks he delivered to investors Wednesday that Boeing is “at a crossroads.”
“The trust in our company has eroded,” he wrote. “We’ve had serious lapses in our performance across the company which have disappointed many of our customers.”
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