Authorities say the initial profile of a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who allegedly tried to assassinate former Republican President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in the state on Saturday and was later shot and killed by the Secret Service is complicated and information so far is sparse.
Thomas Matthew Crooks lived in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white and generally affluent suburb of Pittsburgh. He lived with his parents, both licensed behavioral health counselors, according to public records, which show no indication of any criminal history, traffic violations or financial problems, such as foreclosures.
Crooks’s contradictory behavior late in his student days at Bethel Park High School gave little indication of his political leanings. He was a junior there when, on Joe Biden’s first day in office, he donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a political action committee aligned with the president’s Democratic Party.
But eight months later, at the start of her senior year, Crooks registered as a Republican and stuck to her affiliation when she voted in the November 2022 midterm elections, a few months after graduating from Bethel Park High School, where she was one of the students to receive a $500 National Math and Science Initiative “STAR Award.”
Crooks thrust himself into the political spotlight on Saturday when he climbed onto the roof of a bottling plant in Butler County, Pennsylvania, about an hour north of Bethel Park, while Trump was speaking at a rally nearby as he seeks to return to the White House in November.
People listening to the former president’s speech outside the rally said they saw Crooks carry an AR-type rifle onto the factory roof and aim it in the former president’s direction. But they said police did not immediately respond to their warnings. In response to the allegations, local District Attorney Richard Goldlinger told CNN that investigators needed to quickly determine how Crooks “got to that location.”
Crooks ultimately fired several shots at the stage where Trump was speaking, less than 500 feet (152.4 meters) from the stage. One spectator was killed and two were seriously injured. Trump reported that the bullet had “pierced” the top of his right ear and that he was visibly bleeding, but said he was otherwise “OK” after Secret Service officers removed him from the scene.
A Secret Service spokesman said agents fired shots at Crooks, killing him.
Graphic photos circulating on social media from the scene show Crooks wearing a T-shirt bearing the name of a YouTube channel that provides content related to guns and destruction.
Late on Saturday, the channel’s host reposted a photo of a police officer standing over Crooks’ body – with some of the writing on his T-shirt visible – on Instagram, writing: “What the hell?”
ABC News The bureau reported that multiple law enforcement sources told it that the rifle used by the shooter on Saturday was legally purchased by the suspect’s father, Matthew Crooks, a conclusion investigators came to after an emergency trace of the weapon by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal report Authorities found explosives in Crooks’ car, which was parked near the site of Saturday’s Trump rally.
The paper added that police had received multiple reports of suspicious packages near Crooks’ location and had dispatched explosives disposal technicians.
The FBI identified Crooks late Saturday as the man who attempted to assassinate President Trump. CNN contacted Matthew Crooks for comment, and he said he wanted to speak with authorities to find out “what the hell is going on” before talking about his son, the report said.
