Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, has been named by the FBI as the 20-year-old suspect who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a July 13 rally.
“The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the subject involved in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13, in Butler, Pennsylvania. This remains an active and ongoing investigation, and anyone with information that may assist with the investigation is encouraged to submit photos or videos online at FBI.gov/butler or call 1-800-CALL-FBI,” a statement published by the FBI reads.
Footage of Donald Trump’s shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks opening fire and then getting killed seconds later surfaces pic.twitter.com/2ctMtIkwUs
— KK Media (@KKMediaTingz) July 14, 2024
The New York Post was first to accuse Crooks of being the gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump. The Washington Post reported that Crooks shot Trump with an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. The Post also reported that Crooks is registered as a Republican voter in a state database.
FEC records show he contributed $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, which The New York Times described as “a liberal voter turnout group.” He had no criminal history.
“the 20-year-old out. He was found with an AR-style semi-automatic assault rifle”
Exclusive | Pictured: Thomas Matthew Crooks, who shot Trump#trump
https://t.co/GAxbQyR5Zi— Linda Schmidt (@LSchmidtFox5) July 14, 2024
Roger Stone, whose close ties to Trump are well-known, named another man on X as the possible shooter, but the FBI now says the suspect is Crooks, USA Today reported.
NYP has ID'ed the Trump shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, who graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. Here's footage of him accepting his diploma at commencement. Crooks received the National Math & Science Initiative Star Award for academic achievement. pic.twitter.com/VcZnSV2upb
— Mia Cathell (@MiaCathell) July 14, 2024
The shooter is deceased. A Secret Service news release says the assassin was “neutralized” by agents. In a late-night news conference, however, a top FBI official initially said authorities were not yet confident enough to release the shooter’s identity formally.
The man named by the Post is from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, the publication reported.
A GoFundMe was established for the victims and their families. “This is the official Trump campaign fundraiser for the victims of the shooting in Pennsylvania,” U.S. Sen. JD Vance, a potential VP pick, wrote on X.
The Post reported that the suspect was positioned on a roof “130 yards away” from Trump.
The shooter’s proximity to the stage on a rooftop raises serious questions about why the Secret Service did not secure all rooftops in the line of sight of the former president, who said he was shot in the ear but is expected to be okay.
Video emerged showing the assassin on a rooftop.
The Secret Service wrote in a news release that a rallygoer was shot and killed, and two others were “critically injured.” The “suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue,” that release says.
The assassination attempt was caught on dramatic video, sort of a live version of the Zapruder film, but the former president survived by inches; a dramatic photo showed a bullet whizzing by close to his head. Trump clutched his ear and then went to the ground. The Secret Service rushed the stage, but the former president stood, told them to wait, and then defiantly thrust his fist into the air, face bloodied.
An unidentified rallygoer wasn’t so fortunate; the video showed the man, who was not named, being carried from the bleachers, face covered in a towel. A witness revealed he was killed by a headshot in front of his family.
“His family watched his happen. They were in the bleachers when he got hit and went down. They were trying to figure out what was going on. They were screaming for help. They put a towel over the man’s head. The body was removed from the bleachers,” the witness told CNN. “The police came back right after and tried to move the family. They were all in shock. They weren’t processing what was going on. He was dead the minute he was hit. It reminded me of the Zapruder film from Kennedy. His head snapped and that was it.”
The Motive for the Suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks, Is Not Yet Clear, the FBI Says
The FBI’s special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh office, Kevin P. Rojek, said in the late-night news conference that the agency had deployed multiple resources, including bomb technicians. Rojek said the FBI was calling the shooting an “assassination attempt against our former President Donald Trump.” He said it remained an active crime scene.
The motive for the assassination attempt was not yet clear, Rojek said, refusing to identify the gunman at the news conference. The FBI official said that authorities would formally release the suspect’s name when they are 100 percent confident in it. “At this time, we are not prepared to identify who the shooter is,” he said, adding that the agency was close to doing so. He said that investigators are working “tirelessly” to identify what the motive was. The FBI later released the name.
“They do the initial security assessments and determine where the different security locations should be. And they’re the ones who are in charge of securing the scene,” Rojek said of the U.S. Secret Service, which was not at the news conference.
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said at the news conference that authorities are “not taking for granted that this was a lone-wolf attack.” He said the spectator victims have been identified and are all males, but he declined to release their names.
Secret Service taking out the Assassin at the Trump rally. pic.twitter.com/CkkuUjU5J4
— TENET Media (@watchTENETnow) July 14, 2024
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, and shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
He wrote that “nothing is known at this time about the shooter” and offered condolences to the family of the person killed and the person “badly injured.” That statement came some time before the Post published a name, however.
Social media accounts, including an Instagram account, were being bandied about on social media but could not be immediately verified as the shooter’s.
The Accused Shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, Was Spotted by a Witness ‘Bear Crawling’ Up a Roof, a Witness Says
BREAKING: Trump rally attendees claim the suspect was on top of a building near the rally and was k*lled by the Secret Service sniper team.
The reports are currently unconfirmed but a new video shows a body on top of a nearby structure.
A body was also seen at the event being… pic.twitter.com/RIsRRWnAt5
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 13, 2024
A witness who was outside former President Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania, rally told BBC in a video interview that he saw the shooting suspect “crawling, bear crawling, up the roof beside us, 50 feet away from us.”
At first, the witness said, he didn’t know why a man was “crawling up the roof. There are only a few buildings around here. Why isn’t the Secret Service on every building?”
Another video, which you can watch below, showed what rally attendees said was the suspect’s body on a roof. The attempted assassin appears to be wearing camouflage clothing. Numerous false names were being shared on X and other social media platforms.
The witness’s account raised serious questions about how the gunman was allowed to access the roof without the Secret Service securing it or noticing.
OMG. pic.twitter.com/64tckobsYE
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 14, 2024
We “pointed at the guy crawling up the roof. You could clearly see him with a rifle,” the witness, whose name was not given, told BBC on video. He said he and others in his group frantically tried to point the man out to the Secret Service and police, but no one acted for several minutes. And he questioned why Secret Service agents weren’t positioned on every roof in the area.
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