Thomas Matthew Crooks

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Thomas Matthew Crooks

Name	Thomas Matthew Crooks
Birth Date	2003-09-20
Death Date	2024-07-13
Death Place	Meridian, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death Cause	Gunshot wound
Education	Community College of Allegheny County (Associate's degree)
Known For	Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania
Fatalities	1
Injuries	7 (3 from gunfire including Donald Trump, four officers injured by flying debris)
Motive	Under investigation
Locations	Near Butler in Meridian, Pennsylvania
Date	July 13, 2024
Weapon	AR-15–style rifle

Thomas Matthew Crooks (September 20, 2003 – July 13, 2024) was an American man who attempted to assassinate former U.S. president Donald Trump, who at the time was the presumptive Republican Party nominee for the 2024 presidential election.

On July 13, 2024, at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, Crooks shot at Trump with an AR-15–style rifle from a nearby rooftop while Trump was giving a speech. Crooks hit Trump's ear with a shot and killed one attendee while critically injuring two others before being killed by a Secret Service counter sniper team. His motive remains unknown. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the case.

Evidence on his political views remains inconclusive. In January 2021, he donated $15 to a voter turnout group with a Democratic platform. When he reached the voting age of 18 in September 2021, he registered to vote in Pennsylvania as a member of the Republican Party and remained registered as a Republican until his death.

Early life and education

Thomas Matthew Crooks was born on September 20, 2003, and grew up in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh. Both of Crooks's parents are licensed professional counselors. Recollections about him, including information about his life and personality, vary considerably.

He attended Bethel Park High School. He attempted to join the school's rifle club, participating in "preseason", but was such a bad shot he was considered "dangerous", being rejected from the team and asked not to come back. He joined the National Technical Honor Society in 2021 while a junior in high school. In 2022, he graduated with high honors and won a $500 "star award" from the National Math and Science Initiative.

Classmates and school officials characterized him as being quiet; classmates said that he was often bullied for various reasons including his quiet demeanor, body odor, as well as for wearing camouflage hunting outfits and surgical masks to school.

He earned an associate degree in engineering science from the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, graduating two months before the shooting. He was employed as a dietary aide in a nursing home at the time of the shooting. According to the nursing home, which is less than a mile away from where he lived, he had passed a background check and "performed his job without concern". He had been accepted into both the University of Pittsburgh and Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pennsylvania northwest of Pittsburgh and planned to attend the latter.

He had a membership at a local shooting club for at least a year.

Attempted assassination of Donald Trump

Prior to the shooting, Crooks searched for images and public appearances of Trump, President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, as well as for information regarding the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention. He also searched the Internet for information on major depressive disorder and the Oxford High School shooting, with authorities finding an arrest photograph of Oxford shooter Ethan Crumbley on his phone.

On July 6, the same day he registered for the rally, Crooks searched "how far was Oswald from Kennedy" in reference to former president John F. Kennedy and the gunman who assassinated him. Crooks also searched for information on power plants and the attempted assassination of Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico. He used a number of aliases and encrypted communication accounts to buy firearm supplies and bomb-making material. On July 12, 2024, Crooks went to a shooting range where he was a member to practice firing.

He purchased over 50 rounds of ammunition and a ladder before going to the rally on July 13. He requested the day off from work because he had "something to do", telling his co-workers that he would return the next day. Hours before the shooting, Crooks's parents had called the police to report him as missing and expressed concern about his wellbeing. On July 13, Crooks went to the Trump rally. He climbed onto a building that was being used by police as a staging area. Text messages from a police sniper indicate that the police were aware of him already 90 minutes before the shooting. Using an AR-15–style rifle which his father had bought legally in 2013 and that was legally transferred to him in 2023, Thomas shot Trump and injured his upper right ear and also shot three adult male audience members; one of them, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, was killed. Thomas Crooks was then killed by a member of the Secret Service Counter Sniper Team. Bomb-making materials were found inside his vehicle and at his home, and a remote detonator was found on his body. The FBI identified him as the shooter on July 14.

2024, an investigation by the FBI is underway. Crooks's motivation remains unknown.

Political activities

Authorities have said that Crooks's political views are unknown, and they have not determined whether his assassination attempt was politically motivated. Public records do not indicate his views.

On January 20, 2021 when he was 17, he donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a liberal voter turnout group, through the Democratic Party donation platform ActBlue. His donation was made on the same day that President Biden was sworn into office. According to the Progressive Turnout Project, he made the donation in response to an email about "tuning into" the inauguration. He unsubscribed from the group's mailing list in 2022.

Crooks had been registered to vote since September 2021, when he turned 18. He registered as a Republican and he voted only once, in the 2022 midterm elections.

After the shooting, the FBI uncovered a social media account "believed to be associated with the shooter" with about 700 comments from 2019 to 2020. A public statement from FBI deputy director Paul Abbate described Crooks's activity on social networking services as including comments that "appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes" and "espouse political violence".

See also

Biography

• Ryan Wesley Routh
• List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots