The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the suspect in the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania’s Butler County.
The suspect, a resident of Bethel Park in Pennsylvania, was shot and killed by the Secret Service seconds after he allegedly fired shots towards a stage where Trump was speaking at the rally on Saturday days before the Republican convention.
Trump said on social media that a bullet “pierced the upper part” of his right ear before agents whisked him off stage. He also offered his condolences to the family of the rally attendee who was killed by the suspect.
In a new statement, Trump thanked people for their messages of support. “Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from the White House, said that “Americans are still trying to come to terms with the shocking news”.
“Some of them have never experienced anything like this – the last time was the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981.”
Who was Crooks?
Crooks lived about an hour away from where the shooting took place in Butler. He graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He received a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative, according to the newspaper. According to reports, Crooks worked as a dietary aide at a nursing home close to where he lived.
A 2022 graduation ceremony video cited by the New York Times shows Crooks receiving his high school diploma to some applause. Video from that ceremony posted online shows Crooks with glasses in a black graduation gown and posing with a school official.
A statement from the Bethel Park School District received by local ABC affiliate WJET-TV confirmed he studied and graduated there.
“Our school district will cooperate fully with the active law enforcement investigation surrounding this case, and as such, we are limited in what we can publicly disclose,” the statement read.
Was the Trump shooter a Republican?
State voter records show that Crooks was a registered Republican and the upcoming November 5 election would have been the first time Crooks had been old enough to vote in a presidential race.
However, when he was 17 he made a $15 donation to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians, according to a 2021 Federal Election Commission filing. The donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project, a national group that rallies Democrats to vote.
FBI officially identifies shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20 of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Voter records show Crooks was a registered Republican who made one singular $15 donation to a liberal PAC on January 20, 2021 — Biden’s Inauguration Day. pic.twitter.com/orEO4hq1PS— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) July 14, 2024
How did he shoot?
On Saturday, according to a video by California-based entertainment news site TMZ, Crooks is seen lying on his stomach on a rooftop with a rifle in hand.
“The guy has longer brown hair, and he seems to be wearing a grey shirt/khaki pants – and as you can see, he’s carefully trying [to] pinpoint a target from afar before pulling the trigger,” TMZ reported.
Trump, 78, had just started his speech when the shots rang out. He grabbed his right ear with his right hand, then brought his hand down to look at it before dropping to his knees behind the podium before Secret Service agents covered him.
He emerged about a minute later, his red “Make America Great Again” hat knocked off. He could be heard saying “wait, wait”, before pumping his fist in the air. Agents then rushed him to a black SUV.
A statement released by the FBI on Sunday confirmed that: “The firearm used in the shooting was purchased legally.” The FBI added: “The shooter was not known to the FBI prior to this incident.”
A second video published by TMZ shows shaky footage of the same rooftop and a blurred body.
“You can see the guy there,” a person says off camera. “I think they hit him because the guy, he looks dead.”
Bob Ayers, a former CIA officer and international security analyst, has told Al Jazeera from Taunton, England that the US Secret Service unit responsible for securing the area “didn’t do a very good job”.
“There should not have been any possibility for a person armed with a rifle to climb right up a building and shoot at the [former] president,” Ayers said.
Explosives found in suspect’s car
Crooks was carrying explosives in his vehicle, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US-based outlet cited unnamed people briefed on the investigation as saying that explosives were found inside the car, which was parked near the Trump rally.
Police received multiple reports of suspicious packages near where the shooter was, authorities said, prompting them to dispatch bomb experts. Investigators were still working to make sure the scene was clear well into the night.
What else has been reported about Crooks?
- News outlets including the BBC and the Los Angeles Times have reported that Crooks was a member of Clairton Sportsmen’s Club in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, which has rifle and pistol ranges, for at least a year. This was confirmed by attorney Robert S Bootay III, representing the club, who told the Los Angeles Times that the club condemns the shooting.
- A video of Crook that appeared on the California-based entertainment news website TMZ following the rally shooting shows him wearing a brown shirt identified as merchandise of YouTube channel Demolition Ranch. The channel runs content about firearms and is run by Matt Carriker. “Last night was crazy … I’ve got news stations calling me asking if I ever spoke with the shooter … what … the … hell,” Carriker said in an X post on Sunday, also posting about how he will make a public statement “soon” on YouTube. Carriker’s supporters have also posted on X, urging the public to not affiliate Crooks with Carriker. One user posted that Carriker is “not affiliated with kid and has not ever spoken with the kid. He’s just a gun YouTuber on YouTube. And y’all are dragging him through the mud”.
- The US investment company BlackRock told Reuters news agency: “In 2022, we ran an ad featuring a teacher from Bethel Park High School, in which several unpaid students briefly appeared in the background, including Thomas Matthew Crooks”.
- Some of Crooks’s former high-school mates have been quoted in various different media outlets. AP news reported that Jason Kohler, who went to the same high school as Crooks but did not have the same classes, said Crooks “sat alone at lunch” and was “bullied at school”. Kohler said that Crooks was made fun of for his clothes, which included hunting outfits. A former classmate, Summer Barkley, told the BBC that Crooks was “generally nice, knowledgeable about history and well-liked by teachers”.
- The shooter’s father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN he intended to speak to the police before talking about his son, and that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on”.
What next?
The FBI has said investigations are ongoing to determine Crooks’s motive for the attack that came months before the presidential elections.
“We’re looking at photographs right now and we’re trying to run his DNA and get biometric confirmation,” Kevin Rojek, FBI special agent in charge, said during a press briefing.
USA Today reported that dozens of law enforcement vehicles have been stationed outside a residence listed at the address on Crooks’s voter registration record. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also on the scene and a bomb squad is at the residence.
Meanwhile, the perimeter of Crooks’s residence has been guarded by yellow police caution tape and the Federal Aviation Administration has also closed the airspace over Bethel Park for “special security reasons”.
