WASHINGTON (AP) — The man identified as the shooter in apparent attempted murder of the former president donald trump was a 20-year-old from a suburb of Pittsburg, not far from the campaign rally where an attendee was killed.
Authorities say Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire at the rally before being killed by the Secret Service on Saturday, days before Trump accepted the Republican nomination for the third time.
An FBI official said Saturday night that investigators had not yet determined a motive. One participant died and two spectators were seriously injured, authorities said.
Relatives of Crooks did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN on Saturday night that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but wouldn’t talk about his son until he spoke to authorities.
The bandits’ political leanings were not immediately clear. Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he donated $15 to a progressive political action committee on January 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden took office.
Pennsylvania public court records show no prior criminal cases against bandits.
The FBI released his identity on Sunday morning, hours after the shooting. Authorities told reporters that Crooks was not carrying identification, so they used DNA and other methods to confirm his identity.
Law enforcement authorities recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
An AP analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the site of Trump’s rally, as well as satellite images of the site, shows that the gunman managed to get close to the stage where the former president was speaking.
A video posted on social media and geotagged by the AP shows the body of a person wearing gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a building owned by AGR International Inc., a factory north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump’s rally was held. . .
The rooftop the person was standing on was less than 150 meters (164 yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent sniper could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which US Army recruits must achieve a human-scale silhouette to qualify with the M-16 rifle.
Investigators believe the gun was purchased by the father at least six months ago, two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press.
Authorities said federal agents are still working to understand when and how Thomas Crooks obtained the gun. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
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Associated Press reporter Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Mike Balsamo in Chicago and Colleen Long in Washington contributed.
