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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 editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times has resigned after the newspaper’s owner blocked the editorial board’s plans to endorse Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for president, a journalism trade publication reported Wednesday.
Mariel Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview that she resigned because the Times was remaining silent on the contest in “dangerous times.”
“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent,” Garza said. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”
In a post on the social media platform X that did not directly mention the resignation, LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said the board was asked to do a factual analysis of the policies of Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump during their time at the White House.
Additionally, “The board was asked to provide (its) understanding of the policies and plans enunciated by the candidates during this campaign and its potential effect on the nation in the next four years,” he wrote. “In this way, with this clear and non-partisan information side-by-side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being president for the next four years.”
Soon-Shiong, who bought the paper in 2018, said the board “chose to remain silent and I accepted their decision.”
Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review that the board had intended to endorse Harris and she had drafted the outline of a proposed editorial.
A LA Times spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
The LA Times Guild Unit Council & Bargaining Committee said it was “deeply concerned about our owner’s decision to block a planned endorsement in the presidential race.”
“We are even more concerned that he is now unfairly assigning blame to Editorial Board members for his decision not to endorse,” the guild said in a statement. “We are still pressing for answers from newsroom management on behalf of our members.”
Trump’s campaign jumped on Garza’s departure, saying the state’s largest newspaper had declined to endorse the Democratic ticket after backing Harris in her previous races for U.S. Senate and state attorney general.
Her exit comes about 10 months after then-Executive Editor Kevin Merida left the paper in what was called a “mutually agreed” upon departure. At the time, the news organization said it had fallen well short of its digital subscriber goals and needed a revenue boost to sustain the newsroom and its digital operations.
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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.
