The individual responsible for the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, according to reliable sources. Crooks, a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, fired shots during an outdoor rally in Butler, a town just outside Pittsburgh. One of the bullets grazed Trump’s ear.
Crooks was positioned on the roof of a manufacturing plant, over 130 yards from the stage at the Butler Farm Show grounds, where the rally was taking place. Law enforcement officers were seen standing over the alleged shooter in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
At the time of the incident, Trump, a former Republican president, was surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents. Crooks, according to state voting records, was also a registered Republican.
The Secret Service agents responded swiftly, neutralizing Crooks. An AR-style rifle was later found at the scene. Bethel Park, where Crooks resided, is a small village located 40 miles south of Butler, where the rally took place.
State voter status records confirmed that Crooks was a registered Republican. Interestingly, he had made a single $15 donation to the liberal ActBlue political action committee on January 20, 2021, the day of President Biden’s inauguration. At the time of the donation, Crooks was 17 years old. He registered to vote as a member of the GOP upon turning 18 in September of the same year.
The motive behind Crooks’ attack on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee remains unclear. The FBI officially confirmed the identity of Crooks as the “subject involved” in the attack on Trump early Sunday.