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Federal authorities on Sunday named Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa., as the gunman who shot at former president Donald Trump in what they described as an assassination attempt during a campaign rally a day earlier in Western Pennsylvania.
The incident — which interrupted the event that had drawn thousands to the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pa. just after Trump had taken the stage — left the former president with minor injuries, one spectator dead, and two others critically injured. Crooks was killed by the U.S. Secret Service shortly after he opened fire from the roof of a building near the fairgrounds, outside of the event’s security perimeter.
Officials said at a news conference early Sunday that they were still working to identify what prompted Crooks’ attack.
“Our investigators are working tirelessly to identify what that motive was,” said Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Pittsburgh.
Crooks’ political leanings were not immediately apparent. He was registered as a Republican, according to state voter rolls. However, campaign finance reports show that he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn into office.
Those updates came as FBI, U.S. Secret Service, and Pennsylvania State Police fanned out across the region in the hours following the attack — two days before the scheduled start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the former president is expected to officially accept his party’s nomination.
» READ MORE: What we know about the deadly shooting at the Trump rally in Butler, Pa.
The harrowing act of political violence in Pennsylvania threw an election that has already fractured a deeply divided country into further disarray. The last time a U.S. president or former president was wounded in an assassination attempt was in 1981, when President Ronald Reagan was shot outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Reagan was seriously wounded in the shooting, and three others were injured but survived.
Shortly after the attack, Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, that a bullet “pierced the upper part of my right ear.” His campaign reported he was “fine.”
“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he wrote. “Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA.”
The former president arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport just after midnight Sunday, flanked by his Secret Service detail and heavily armed members of the agency’s counter assault team, and was expected to spend the evening at his private golf club in nearby Bedminster, N.J.
Hours earlier, attendees described a chaotic scene at the rally attended by thousands of people in 90-degree heat at the fairgrounds about 40 miles from Pittsburgh.
» READ MORE: Donald Trump ‘fine’ after gunfire erupts at Western Pa. rally; Authorities say two, including apparent shooter, dead
Trump had just started his speech around 6:15 p.m. Saturday when a loud popping noise rang out. He grabbed his neck and appeared to say, “Oh.” Two more shots could be heard as someone on the stage shouted, “Get down.”
The president crouched down behind the lectern and Secret Service agents rushed to the stage to whisk him away. With what appeared to be blood on his face from a slight wound on his right ear, Trump pumped his fist in the air as he was guided to a waiting armored SUV.
With what appeared to be blood on his face from a slight wound on his right ear, Trump pumped his fist in the air as he was guided to a waiting armored SUV.
» READ MORE: As it happened: Donald Trump wounded after shots fired at Pa. rally; FBI identifies alleged shooter
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa) was in the first row of the rally with Rep. Mike Kelly (R., Pa) and Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick.
“It was hard to determine the first couple of shots. I mean, it just sounded not necessarily like gunfire. But after the third and fourth shot, it was clear that it was in fact gunfire,” Meuser said.
He said someone on the bleachers behind him was hit.
GOP Senate candidate David McCormick, who was slated to speak later in the rally, was seated in the front row.
“All the sudden shots started to crack, someone behind me appears to have been shot,” he said. “There’s lots of blood, and then the Secret Service were all over President Trump.”
Jon David Longo, a Trump delegate from Butler, who was a warm-up speaker at the rally, told The Inquirer he heard something ping off the side of the bleachers and realized it was gunfire.
He threw himself over his wife, who is pregnant, and told everyone to get down.
“I noticed there was a guy, a gentleman, unfortunately, who lost his life behind us in the bleachers,” Longo said.
Corey Check, another Trump delegate from Butler, was in a VIP section near the stage chanting “USA” with the crowd when the gunfire started.
Check said that when he realized the popping was gunshots, he grabbed a few strangers’ hands and said the Lord’s Prayer five times. He said a Secret Service agent pulled his gun and told everyone to get down.
“I think I’m going to be traumatized after this,” Check said in an interview on his drive home from the rally. He said his next thought was, “if we survive this s — hallelujah and America is not defeated.”
Investigators said early Sunday that they had not received any intelligence indicating a possible threat before the shooting and they believed there was no ongoing risk of danger to the area. Authorities found several suspicious packages around the shooter’s body that slowed down the processing of the crime scene.
Chief among the concerns for officials in the coming days will be how the shooter gained access to the roof of the nearby building, Rojek said. Attendees had described long lines to get into the event that included security checkpoints with bag checks, metal detectors, and hand wands.
Asked whether law enforcement failed to provide adequate security for the rally, he added authorities were still working determine “what, if any, failures there were.”
“There’s going to be a long investigation into exactly what took place and how the individual was able to get access to the location,” he said.
» READ MORE: Attendees at Trump’s rally Saturday walked through metal detectors, were prohibited from bringing weapons
In a statement Saturday, President Joe Biden said he was “grateful to hear” that Trump was safe and doing well. His campaign said it would pull down television ads as quickly as possible and halt campaign-related communication until further notice.
“I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information,” Biden said. “Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said he had been briefed on the situation in Butler.
“Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable,” Shapiro said. “It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States.”
North Dakota Sen. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the three men on Trump’s short list for vice president, all sent out statements expressing concern for the former president.
Rubio shared an image taken as Trump was escorted offstage with his fist in the air and a streak of blood on his face along with the words: “God protected President Trump.”
Butler County, a largely rural and predominantly white area, supported Trump with almost 66% of the vote in 2020 and 61% of the vote in 2016. Trump visited Butler County in 2020, delivering remarks at the Butler County Regional Airport.
The visit to Butler was Trump’s fifth stop this year in Pennsylvania, a critical battleground in the November election. It was the first time this year that Trump has visited a Pennsylvania county that he won in 2020 and anticipation for the moment was high as Trump is expected to announce his vice presidential running mate any day now.
Trump’s campaign and the RNC released a joint statement late Saturday confirming he would still attend the convention in Milwaukee starting Monday “as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th President of the United States.”
And while the high-stakes campaign will soon resume, condemnations of the shooting and prayers for the victims poured in from both sides of the political aisle on Saturday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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Thomas Matthew Crooks identified by FBI as gunman behind attempted assassination of Trump at Western Pa. rally - The Philadelphia Inquirer
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