The man identified as the shooter in the apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump was a 20-year-old from a Pittsburgh suburb not far from the campaign rally where one attendee was killed. Investigators are working to gather more information about Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who they say opened fire at the rally before being killed by Secret Service days before Trump was to accept the Republican nomination for a third time. An FBI official said late Saturday that investigators had not yet determined a motive.
Relatives of Crooks didn’t immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN late Saturday that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but wouldn’t speak about his son until after he talked to law enforcement. A blockade had been set up Sunday preventing traffic near Crooks' house, which is in an enclave of modest brick houses nestled in the hills of blue-collar Pittsburgh. Crooks' political leanings were not immediately clear. Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn in to office. Public Pennsylvania court records show no past criminal cases against Crooks. Authorities told reporters that Crooks was not carrying identification so they were using DNA and other methods to confirm his identity.
Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. A video posted to social media shows the body of a person wearing gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a building at AGR International Inc., a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump’s rally was held.
The roof where the person lay was approximately 164 yards)from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. Investigators believe the weapon was bought by the father at least six months ago, according to two law enforcement officials. Federal agents are still working to understand when and how Thomas Crooks obtained the gun.
One rally attendee was killed and two others were injured in the shooting. All three victims are adult men and were audience members-- there names have not been released. A GoFundMe page, organzied by the Trump campaign's national finance director Meredith O'Rourke, was set up in the hours after the attack with donations going to the families of the injured. It has so far raised more than $790,000.
Trump released a statement on social media, saying he is "doing well" and is grateful to law enforcement officers. President Biden went on national television saying, "There is no place in America for this kind of violence. It's sick, it's sick. It's one of the reasons why we have to unite this country."
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