What we know about the 20-year-old suspect in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump

Filed 9:31 a.m. Sunday, July 14, 2024

MICHAEL BIESECKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The man who officials say tried to assassinate 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 were working today to gather more information about Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who they say opened fire from a rooftop outside the rally venue in Butler before he was killed by Secret Service.

An FBI official said late Saturday that a motive had not yet been determined. Public court records in Pennsylvania show no past criminal cases against Crooks.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said on social media the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting. Two spectators were critically injured, authorities said.

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.

Bomb-making materials were found inside Crooks' vehicle near the Trump rally and at his home, according to two officials who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

A blockade had been set up today preventing traffic near Crooks' house, which is in an enclave of modest brick houses in the hills outside blue-collar Pittsburgh. Police cars were stationed at an intersection near the house and officers were seen walking through the neighborhood.

Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, the school district said in a statement to KDKA-TV. The school district said it will cooperate fully with investigators. In 2022, Crooks was among several students given an award for math and science, according to a Tribune-Review story at the time.

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.

The FBI released his identity early this morning, hours after the shooting. 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.

An AP analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the scene of the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get close to the stage where the former president was speaking.

A video posted to social media and geolocated by the AP 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 less than 150 meters -- 164 yards -- from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M-16 rifle.

Investigators believe the weapon was bought by the father at least six months ago, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.

The officials said federal agents were still working to understand when and how Thomas Crooks obtained the gun. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity

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Associated Press journalists Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Julie Smyth and Joshua Bickel in Bethel Park, Michael R. Sisak in New York, Mike Balsamo in Chicago and Colleen Long in Washington contributed.