The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the suspect in the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania’s Butler County.
The suspect, a resident of Bethel Park in Pennsylvania, was shot and killed by the Secret Service seconds after he allegedly fired shots towards a stage where Trump was speaking at the rally on Saturday days before the Republican convention.
Trump said on social media that a bullet “pierced the upper part” of his right ear before agents whisked him off stage. He also offered his condolences to the family of the rally attendee who was killed by the suspect.
Crooks lived about an hour away from where the shooting took place in Butler. He graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He received a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative, according to the newspaper.
A 2022 graduation ceremony video cited by The New York Times shows Crooks receiving his high school diploma to some applause. Video from that ceremony posted online shows Crooks with glasses in a black graduation gown and posing with a school official.
State voter records show that Crooks was a registered Republican and the upcoming November 5 election would have been the first time Crooks had been old enough to vote in a presidential race.
However, when he was 17 he made a $15 donation to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians, according to a 2021 Federal Election Commission filing. The donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project, a national group that rallies Democrats to vote.
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