Washington: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a statement released today said it has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as the shooter behind the failed assassination attempt on former U.S. President and Republic nominee for the 2024 Presidential Elections Donald Trump.
The FBI had earlier said it had identified the shooter but declined to share his details in public.
Who is Thomas Matthew Crooks?
The investigation agency now said the shooter was 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Crooks was from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania which was about 40 miles south of the Butler rally.
Thomas Matthew Crooks had graduated Bethel, PA High School in 2022. Crooks received the National Math and Science Initiative Star Award for academic achievement.
BlackRock have taken down the ad in which Trump's shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, appears.
— Winnie Schola (@WinnieSchola) July 15, 2024
We saw it already pic.twitter.com/IOMjDqbP3Z
Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania. Federal campaign finance reports however also show the Trump shooter gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jananuary 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn in to office.
Motive behind the attack unclear
Following the attack, Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents and the security officials recovered an AR-style rifle. Crooks was apparently shot in the head after he tried taking out the former president.
According to sources, Crooks was planted on the roof of a manufacturing plant that was more than 130 yards away from the stage where Donald Trump was addressing the public at Butler Farm Show grounds.
Thomas Matthew Crooks fired multiple shots at the stage from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue,” the agency said.
The FBI official further said they are not yet sure of the motive behind the assassination attempt.
"We do not currently have an identified motive, although our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was," he said.
Assassination attempt on Donald Trump
Donald Trump, has been hit in the ear in a shooting incident investigated as an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania Saturday July 13, 2024.
Two men - the shooter now identified as Crooks and a spectator, have been killed whereas two others critically injured, officials said.
The visuals shared online showed Trump behind the dais and addressing the rally. He was showing a chart of border crossing numbers saying, “Take a look at what happened,” when pops could be heard and his hand went right to his right ear and he ducked down as U.S. Secret Service agents dove on top of him.
Trump was rushed to the hospital. After the necessary treatment, he has been discharged. He has returned to his home in New Jersey.
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