A 20-year-old Pennsylvania man is believed to be the gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday, firing several shots and killing at least one spectator, according to federal and local law enforcement agencies.
The FBI identified the suspect killed at the scene early Sunday morning as Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park.
The FBI “has not determined a motive at this time, but investigators are working diligently to identify a motive,” Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek said. Identifying a motive is a top priority because the FBI is also investigating the shooting as a “potential act of domestic terrorism,” said Robert Wells, assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division.
In a later call, Rojek said authorities believe Crooks was “acting alone and there is no public safety concern at this time.”
“At this time, we have not identified any ideology associated with this case, but we would like to remind everyone that this investigation is still in its early stages,” he added.
Authorities feared that the assassination attempt would inspire other assassins.
According to an NYPD intelligence document obtained by ABC News, an assassination attempt against President Donald Trump “is likely to be heavily leveraged by bad actors and hostile nation states with misinformation, disinformation and disinformation intended to stok and stok up division, amplified by extremist messaging.”
According to a bulletin dated July 14, 2024, “In the hours immediately following the shooting, multiple users across multiple online messaging platforms responded to the incident with support for the attack, outright calls for civil war, hostile rhetoric toward Vice President Trump, threats against elected officials, and general calls for retaliatory violence.”
Tune in to ABC News’ special “The Moments After the Trump Assassination Attempt” on Sunday at 8pm ET.
A portrait emerges
State records show Crooks was a registered Republican voter. District officials said he graduated from a Pennsylvania high school in 2022. The Defense Department said he had no ties to the military.
He worked as a dietitian at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, according to Administrator Marcy Grimm. Grimm said Thomas Matthew Crooks “performed his duties without incident” and had a clear background check. “Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his duties without incident and had a clear background check, so we were shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement,” Grimm said in a statement. “At this time, we are fully cooperating with law enforcement.”
According to multiple law enforcement sources, an ATF emergency investigation determined that the firearm recovered at the scene was legally purchased by the suspect’s father, and sources briefed on the gun said it was an AR-15 style rifle purchased in 2013.
Other sources said the gunmen fired as many as eight shots from a rooftop about 200 to 300 yards away.
The FBI’s Rojek said investigators were trying to determine what a suspicious device was found in the suspect’s vehicle and that another device was found in the suspect’s home, both of which were primitive, Rojek said.
The FBI said Crooks had no history of mental illness and that his family was cooperating with the investigation.
“We are looking at his history, daily activities, writings, social media posts, etc., which may help us determine what prompted this shooting. We have not seen anything threatening,” Rojek added.
Social media platform Discord told ABC News on Sunday that it was working with law enforcement and had identified a “rarely used” account it believed was linked to the suspect. The company said it had “found no evidence” that the account was used to plan attacks.
In a statement to ABC News, a Discord spokesperson said the suspect’s account did not “incite violence” or “discuss the suspect’s political views.”
According to law enforcement sources, investigators are looking into alleged misinformation that the suspect may have recently consumed and whether it may have had any impact on the incident.
Investigators are continuing to review the suspect’s cellphone and other digital devices but have not yet found any links to extremist groups or individuals, officials said. The shooting increasingly appears to be a lone attack, they said.
“Lonely” and “Quiet”
A former classmate of the suspect told ABC News he was a “quiet” student with few friends.
“He always seemed like a lonely guy,” said Jameson Myers, who went to grade school and high school with the suspect.
Myers described Crooks as “somewhat of a funny guy” who was “not very social and didn’t have many friends,” but said he never heard him talk about politics, especially Donald Trump.
“I was friends with him, and he never acted like a political revolutionary,” Myers said, noting that he was a “Star Wars” fan and “a very nice, kind person as far as I knew.”
Myers said Crooks had attempted to join the high school rifle shooting team but was rejected and asked not to rejoin.
“Not only did he not make the team, he was asked not to come back because he was a poor shooter and was deemed dangerous,” Myers said.
Another member of the team, speaking on condition of anonymity, told ABC News there was a view that Crooks “was not really a good fit for the rifle team.”
“His shooting was awful too,” the team member added.
The team’s coach at the time declined to comment and referred questions to the school district. A school spokesman did not respond.
Crooks’ other classmates described him as “quiet” and “very intelligent.”
“One thing I knew for sure was that he was very smart,” another student who sat behind Crooks in AP Statistics class told ABC News. “I always remember hearing his test scores when we were all comparing. He was always very good in math and science.”
The student continued that Mr Crooks was “always a kind person”.
“I would never say he came across as a threatening person,” he continued.
Another classmate, Zoe Materkowski, said Crooks was “just a quiet kid.” A classmate who graduated a year before Crooks also described him as a quiet student.
“He was a lonely guy,” Jason Kohler said. “He would sit alone at lunch.”
Another classmate who rode the same bus and took several classes as Crooks described him as quiet and friendly.
“Honestly, I can’t think of a better word to describe him than normal,” a classmate said. “He just kept to himself.”
The classmate added that Crooks was interested in building computers and never discussed politics.
“It’s just funny because he didn’t seem like the type of person who would think of doing something like that,” he said of Crooks’ reaction upon learning he was the shooter.
A ‘chaotic’ scene
According to Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Colonel George Bivens, shots rang out shortly after Trump appeared on an outdoor stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, at about 6pm on Saturday. Police say the suspect was firing from the roof of a building outside the security perimeter, several hundred feet from the stage.
The former president said one of the bullets struck Trump in his right ear. The US Secret Service said he was “unharmed.”
A Secret Service counter-sniper returned fire, shooting and killing the suspect, the department said. The scene was “chaotic” and “everything unfolded very quickly,” Bevins said.
Police officials took several hours to publicly identify Crooks as a suspect, saying at a news conference late Saturday that they believe they know who carried out the shooting but were refraining from releasing individual names.
Authorities said at a press conference that they were using DNA to identify the suspect because he did not have any identifying marks on him.
“This is a question of biometric verification,” Rojek said. “For example, this person had no identification, so we’re now looking at photos, doing DNA testing and trying to do biometric verification.”
Determine whether he acted alone
Bivens said the investigation is still in its early stages to determine whether the suspect acted alone, and that investigators are still looking into whether anyone else was involved.
“The FBI has not determined a motive at this time, but investigators are working aggressively to determine what the motive may have been,” Rojek said.
The Bethel Park School District said the suspect graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. The district said it was limited in what it could release, adding that it would “fully cooperate” with the investigation.
“The school district wishes Mr. Trump a speedy and full recovery, as well as those who attended Saturday’s event who may have been physically harmed or emotionally affected by this tragic incident,” the district said in a statement.
“Our condolences go out to the family of at least one of the victims. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time,” the school district added.
When the FBI released a statement early Sunday naming the suspect, an FBI spokesman said the investigation was “active and ongoing.” The FBI urged anyone with photos, videos or information to come forward.
ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey, Isabella Murray, Mark Osborne, Charlotte Slobin, Sasha Pezenik, Matt Saylor and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
