Law enforcement officials have identified the man who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The FBI said the deadly shooter was identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa. The motive is unknown.
The shooter was quickly “neutralized” by the Secret Service, said public affairs director Anthony Guglielmi.
Based on what was found at the scene, Crooks used a semiautomatic rifle, three senior U.S. law enforcement officials said. Investigators are looking into whether the gun he used belonged to his father and was purchased legally, two of the officials said.
Bethel Park is a relatively affluent, mostly white city in the southern part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Butler, where the rally was held, is about an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh.
Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. He was one of more than a dozen students to receive the National Math and Science Initiative Star Award that year, according to a story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
A high school classmate, Jason Kohler, 21, said Crooks was a “lonely kid” who was “severely bullied in high school.”
Crooks always wore hunting clothes and was teased for his attire, and often sat alone at lunch, Kohler added.
Michael Dajak, 20, spent most of his life in school with Crooks and recalled him as a relatively reserved and quiet classmate. While he never heard or saw Crooks being actively bullied by his peers, he said Crooks was someone who “kept alone a lot.”
Dujac said he did not recall Crooks being politically outspoken or active on social media, and was with friends and acquaintances from high school on Saturday night when he learned Crooks was the shooter.
Dujak said they were all “in shock” and “couldn’t process” the news.
“It’s absolutely horrifying that someone you went to school with could commit such a heinous act. When this incident first came to mind, it was the thing that made me cringe the most,” Dajak said. “Two years ago, I was in the same class as this person.”
One man who lives on Crooks Street said he was shocked to hear the news of the assassination attempt on his neighbor. “It’s just crazy,” Andrew Blanco, 39, said.
Blanco said most of the people in her neighborhood were friendly, but she rarely saw or spoke to anyone at Crooks’ house.
“They’re not even out there, so we don’t know anything about them,” Blanco said.
Allegheny County Councilman Dan Grisbeck, a Democrat who lives just down the street from the shooter’s home in Bethel Park, said neighbors can’t believe the shooter was living among them.
“No one expected someone who lived in their neighborhood to do something like this,” Grizbek told NBC News.
Grizbek said he met Crooks’ parents while canvassing the neighborhood last fall while running for County Council. On Crooks’ doorstep, Grizbek said he had a “very pleasant conversation” with Crooks’ parents.
Grizbek said he had never met the shooter in person. “It was just a normal conversation between constituents,” he said.
The Pentagon confirmed that Crooks has no affiliation to the US military.
Pennsylvania voter records list the name of Thomas Matthew Crooks with the same address and date of birth as the Republican, but Federal Election Commission records show that Crooks gave $15 to a liberal political action committee on Inauguration Day in 2021.
State police Lt. Col. George Bivens said at a press conference Saturday night that investigators were close to positively identifying the shooter, who was unidentified.
“The shooter has been tentatively identified,” he said. “All that remains is biometric confirmation.”
