Here’s what we know about the suspected Trump rally shooter

July 14, 2024

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Here’s what we know about the suspected Trump rally shooter

The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., as the suspect in Saturday’s attempted assassination of former U.S. president Donald Trump at a campaign rally.

The suspect was shot and killed by the Secret Service seconds after he allegedly fired shots toward a stage where Trump was speaking in Butler, Pa.

The FBI said it was working to determine a motive for the attack, in which one rally attendee died and two other spectators were critically injured. Trump was shot in the ear.

State voter records show that Crooks was a registered Republican. The upcoming Nov. 5 election would have been the first time he was old enough to vote in a presidential race.

Crooks lived about an hour away from where the shooting took place in Butler. The Federal Aviation Administration said on Sunday that it closed the airspace over Bethel Park, Pa., for “special security reasons.”

When Crooks 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. The groups did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

WATCH | This video shows the moment Donald Trump is shot in his right ear:

Apparent assassination attempt made on Donald Trump

WARNING: Video shows blood on Donald Trump’s face after he is shot in the ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The incident is being investigated as an assassination attempt.

See also Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tough Bronx persona is under fresh scrutiny with a resurfaced childhood nickname from her suburban upstate New York upbringing casting doubt on that publicly portrayed image. The progressive champion’s latest spat with President Donald Trump over the Iran strikes again called into question her true upbringing when she declared on X she was a “Bronx girl" to make her a point against the president. The 35-year-old congresswoman wrote in part on X: "I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully," she said, referring to the president’s upbringing in Queens as she called for his impeachment over his decision to bypass Congress in authorizing U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx but moved to Yorktown – which is nearly an hour outside New York City -- when she was 5 years old and went on to attend Yorktown High School where she graduated in 2007. She was considered an accomplished student there and well thought of by teacher Michael Blueglass, according to a 2018 report by local media outlet Halston Media News. “There, known by students and staff as ‘Sandy,’ she was a member of the Science Research Program taught by Michael Blueglass," the report states. “She was amazing," Blueglass said, per the report. “Aside from her winning one of the top spots and going to the [Intel International Science and Engineering Fair], she was just one of the most amazing presenters in all of the years I've been at Yorktown. Her ability to take complex information and explain it to all different levels of people was fantastic." After high school, Ocasio-Cortez attended Boston University, where she majored in economics and international relations, per the report. Ocasio-Cortez’s “Sandy" nickname — which carries a more suburban and preppy tone — appears to undercut her politically crafted image as a tough, inner-city fighter, one she has portrayed since her famous 2018 congressional campaign where she eventually ousted former 10-terms Congressman Joe Crowley. New York GOP Assemblyman Matt Slater, who now represents Yorktown, added to the scrutiny of Ocasio-Cortez’s persona in the wake of her brash with Trump and released images of Ocasio-Cortez from his high school yearbook. He claimed he and the rising Democratic star attended Yorktown High School at the same time when she was a freshman and he was a senior. "I saw the attacks on the president and her [Ocasio-Cortez] claims that she's a big, tough Bronx girl," said Slater. "To sit there and say that she’s a Bronx girl is just patently ridiculous." "Everybody in our community knows this is just a bold-face lie," said Slater on "Fox & Friends First" last week. "She grew up in Yorktown, she was on my track team." "She's lying about her background, she's lying about her upbringing," Slater claimed. Slater’s post sent social media ablaze and prompted Ocasio-Cortez to respond after an image if her family’s home was posted online. “I’m proud of how I grew up and talk about it all the time," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X Friday responding to the post. “My mom cleaned houses and I helped. We cleaned tutors’ homes in exchange for SAT prep." “Growing up between the Bronx and Yorktown deeply shaped my views of inequality & it’s a big reason I believe the things I do today!"

Crooks’s father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN that he was trying to figure out what happened and would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before speaking about his son.

Thomas Crooks 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.

Suspected shooter carried no identification

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. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.

Law enforcement officials said on Saturday that Crooks carried no identification to the site of the shooting and had to be identified using other methods.

WATCH | Witnesses describe the moment shots were fired and the chaos after:

Witnesses describe moment shooter fired at Trump, and the chaos after

Witnesses say the shots fired at former U.S. president Donald Trump appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service. The FBI said it had taken the lead in investigating the attack.

“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 news briefing.

‘AR-style’ weapon reportedly recovered

Law enforcement vehicles were stationed outside a residence listed at the address on Crooks’s voter registration record. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were on the scene Sunday and a bomb squad was at the residence, USA Today reported.

A police vehicle blocks a street. — A law enforcement vehicle is seen on Sunday blocking a street in Bethel Park, Pa., near a residence identified as that of suspected shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks. (Joshua A. Bickel/The Associated Press)

Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that bomb-making materials were found inside the vehicle of the suspect and inside his home in Bethel Park, about 85 kilometres south of Trump’s campaign stop.

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Law enforcement also recovered an “AR-style” rifle at the scene of the attempted assassination, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.

WATCH | Republican National Convention to go ahead after shooting:

Republican National Convention to go ahead after Trump rally shooting

CBC’s Idil Mussa reports from Milwaukee ahead of the Republican National Convention with the latest on the shooting at a Donald Trump campaign rally that left one attendee and the suspect dead. The FBI has said they are investigating Saturday’s incident as an assassination attempt and identified the suspect as a 20-year-old man.

Investigators believe the weapon used in the shooting had been purchased by Crooks’s father at least six months ago, the law enforcement officials said.

“It’s insanity that anyone would do this,” Dan Maloney, a 30-year-old resident from the area, was quoted as saying by USA Today.

Reuters could not immediately identify social media accounts or other online postings by Crooks. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, did not immediately respond to questions on whether the platforms had removed any accounts related to the suspect.