The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified the gunman who shot Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday (13/7). The gunman was named as Thomas Matthew Crooks, who is still 20 years old.
Crooks is said to be a registered supporter of the Republican Party, which supported Trump in the US election. Crooks is also reported to have donated $15 to a group that supports the Democratic Party, which supports Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden.
Crooks was from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a town regarding 70 kilometers (43 miles) or an hour’s drive from Butler, the site of the attempted murder.
He graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, according to local media reports.
Crooks is a registered Republican, according to a listing in a Pennsylvania voter database that matches his name, age and address in Bethel Park. This year’s presidential election will be his first as a legal adult.
Federal Election Commission records show that a donor listed as Thomas Crooks at the same address gave $15 in January 2021 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a Democratic-aligned political action committee.
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When reached by CNN late Saturday night, Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, said he was trying to find out what happened. “I’m going to wait until I talk to law enforcement,” he said.
Crooks shot Trump on the roof of a building not far from the Butler Farm Show, a campaign location, before being shot dead by a US Secret Service agent.
“There was no identification on his body, so agents had to run his DNA and get biometric confirmation,” Kevin Rojek, an FBI special agent in charge in Pittsburgh, said at a news conference Saturday night before Crooks was named.
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In addition, one campaign visitor was killed and two others were seriously injured.
Video from NBC News captured more than a dozen shots that appeared to come from agents protecting Trump as he spoke on stage.
Trump was immediately taken out by the Secret Service from where he was speaking following the shooting. Trump confirmed he was in good condition following receiving treatment. (CNN/P-5)
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