Federal authorities in the United States have identified the man who shot at Donald Trump during a rally yesterday as Thomas Matthew Crooks.
The would-be assassin was ‘neutralised’ by members of a US Secret Service team assigned to protect the former president just moments after the shooting took place at a farm show in Butler, just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Crooks fired from an elevated position, understood to have been the roof of a manufacturing plant more than 200 feet away from the venue where Trump was addressing the crowds, grazing the presidential candidate’s ear with one of several shots fired.
An AR-style rifle was recovered from the scene, though details of the apparent attempt on Trump’s life remain scarce at this early stage in the investigation.
What’s known is that Crooks, a 20-year-old resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was a registered Republican and does not appear to have had a criminal history, according to state voter and public court records.
Bethel Park, a predominantly white and relatively affluent city, is located in the southern reaches of Pittsburgh, roughly 40 miles south of where Saturday’s rally was held.
The New York Times reports that Crooks graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, receiving an award of roughly $500 (£394) from the National Math and Science Initiative.
The Federal Aviation Administration has said this morning the airspace over the city has been closed ‘effective immediately’ for security reasons.
According to the Intercept, Crooks had previously made a single donation to the ActBlue political action committee, a Democrat fundraising platform, on January 20, 2021 – the day Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States.
At the time, Crooks was just 17 years old. By the end of that year, however, he had turned 18 and registered to vote as a member of the Republican Party.
NBC News claims to have verified photos of Crooks lying on the roof of the manufacturing plant wearing a grey T-shirt with an American flag on the sleeve.
The lettering on the shirt reportedly matches an item of clothing available for sale on the website for Demolition Ranch, a firearms YouTube channel.
The channel boasts more than 11 million subscribers and frequently posts videos testing out various different firearms.
Crooks’ apparent motives for carrying out the shooting on Saturday, which claimed the life of at least one rally attendee, remain unclear at this stage, as well as whether he acted alone or had accomplices.
The identities of audience members killed or injured in the incident have also not been disclosed.
It nevertheless represents the most serious attempt on a president’s life since the shooting of Ronald Reagan in 1981.
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