The shooter who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania rally Saturday has been identified by authorities.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation named 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the gunman who opened fire at Trump from a rooftop near the prospective Republican presidential nominee’s campaign rally in Butler, PA.
TMZ.com
F.B.I officials provided no other information about Crooks or his motive but said the investigation into him was ongoing.
According to the New York Times, Crooks did not have a rap sheet in Pennsylvania, where he grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bethel Park.
The NYT said voting records showed Crooks was a registered Republican, but other documentation revealed he donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project (PTP). The PTP works with the Democratic political action committee, ActBlue, to encourage liberals to turn out and vote.
The NYT also said Crooks was among 1400 students who graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. During the graduation ceremony, Crooks was seen walking across a stage in a black gown and spectacles before receiving his diploma from a school official.
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Also in 2022, Crooks was given a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative, according to the Tribune-Review, a newspaper in western PA.
Now, two years later, Crooks was fatally shot by Secret Service agents as he tried to assassinate Trump at Saturday’s rally. Trump was standing at a podium giving his regular stump speech to a packed crowd when Crooks fired several shots at him from the rooftop nearby. TMZ obtained exclusive footage of Crooks lying on his belly on the roof as he calmly pulled the trigger of his gun.
Other video showed Trump getting hit by the bullet and reacting by quickly grabbing his injured right ear. Trump then dropped to the stage as Secret Service agents rushed to his aid, covering him with their bodies. Two other people at the rally were shot and one died.
After Crooks was killed, Trump was escorted by his security detail to a waiting vehicle, which drove him to a local hospital, where he was treated and released hours later.
Trump then issued a statement thanking law enforcement and sending his condolences to the families of the bystander killed and the other man seriously injured at the rally.