Authorities have identified the gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a registered Republican from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Crooks, who graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, was found to have made a small contribution to a Democratic-aligned group, the Progressive Turnout Project, in January 2021.
Crooks, who was registered to vote as a Republican, had no prior criminal record and this year's presidential election would have been his first opportunity to vote. The shooting incident took place at a Trump rally in a Pittsburgh suburb, where Crooks fired at the former president from a rooftop outside the rally's security perimeter.
Law enforcement officials reported that Crooks was killed by Secret Service agents after opening fire on Trump. He did not have any identification on his body, requiring agents to confirm his identity through DNA and biometric analysis.
One attendee at the rally was killed in the shooting, while two others sustained critical injuries. Crooks' father, Matthew Crooks, expressed shock and confusion over the incident, stating that he would wait to speak to law enforcement before making any further comments.
