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