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Thomas Matthew Crooks: FBI names suspect in Donald Trump assassination attempt

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video subtitles, Donald Trump ducks as gunshots are heard during his rally in Pennsylvania

  • Author, Gary O’Donoghue & Bernd Debusmann in Butler, Pennsylvania & Matt Murphy in London
  • Role, BBC News

The man suspected of shooting former US President Donald Trump has been identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks.

He is 20 years old and from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, the statement said.

Trump was shot during a rally in Pennsylvania. After a series of shots were fired, Secret Service agents surrounded the former president. He was quickly dragged from the stage into a waiting vehicle and has since returned to New Jersey.

He is “doing well” and grateful to police officers, according to a statement on the Republican National Committee (RNC) website.

The FBI believes the incident was an assassination attempt on Trump.

In a post on his social network Truth, Trump said a bullet pierced the “upper part” of his right ear.

“I knew immediately something was wrong because I heard a hissing sound, gunshots and immediately felt the bullet go through the skin,” Trump wrote. “There was a lot of bleeding, so I realized what was happening.”

As security guards led him away, blood was clearly visible on Trump’s ear and face.

The FBI statement added that the incident was “active and ongoing.”

Pennsylvania police said there were no further threats after the shooting.

The suspect was shot dead at the scene by a US intelligence sniper, agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

He added that one bystander was killed and two others were seriously injured in the shooting. All three victims were male, officials later confirmed.

Law enforcement sources told CBS News that Crooks was armed with an “AR-style rifle.” and had fired from a building a few hundred meters outside the venue.

Special Agent Kevin Rojek confirmed that the agency is treating the shooting as an attempted murder.

He added that the crooks had no identification and that investigators His official identification was made based on his DNA.

A motive for the attempted murder has not yet been identified, Rokek said.

The state’s voter rolls show that Crooks was a registered Republican, US media reports. He is also said to have donated $15 to a liberal campaign group in 2021.

The Republican presidential candidate had just begun delivering his speech to supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania – a crucial swing state in the November election – when the shooting began.

When Trump spoke about his successor, President Joe Biden, and his administration, numerous bangs rang out.

Several supporters holding signs and standing behind Trump ducked when the shots were heard.

Bystanders who spoke to the BBC said the shots may have come from a one-story building to the right of the stage where Trump was speaking.

One witness – Greg – told the BBC he spotted a suspicious-looking person on the roof of the building crawling around on the ground like a bear about five minutes after Trump took the stage. He said he alerted the police to the person.

“He had a gun, we could clearly see him with a gun,” he said. “We pointed it at him, the police were running around on the ground down there – we were like, ‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a gun,’ and the police didn’t know what was going on.”

Tim, who was also present at the rally, told the BBC he heard a “volley” of gunfire.

“There was a spray that we initially thought was a fire hose, and then the speaker on the right side started to fall down,” he said.

“Something must have hit the hydraulic lines (causing the fall). We saw President Trump fall to the ground and everyone else fall to the ground because of the chaos.”

Warren and Debbie were at the scene and told the BBC they heard at least four shots.

They said they both lay down on the ground when Secret Service agents came through the crowd and shouted at people to lie down. People remained calm, they said.

“We couldn’t believe what was happening,” Warren said.

Debbie said a little girl next to them was crying because she didn’t want to die and asked, “How can this happen to us?”

“It broke my heart,” Debbie said.

Republican Congressman Ronnie Jackson told the BBC his nephew was injured in the shooting. He suffered a minor wound to the neck and was treated at the scene, Jackson said in a statement.

video subtitles, Witness says he saw the shooter on the roof

In a speech from his home state of Delaware, President Biden condemned the attack and called it “sick.”

“There is no place for this kind of violence in America,” he said. “Everyone must condemn it.”

The White House later announced that President Biden spoke with Trump before returning to Washington DC.

In a rematch of the 2020 election, Trump and President Biden, the likely Democratic nominee, remain neck and neck.

Politicians from both parties joined Mr Biden in condemning the apparent attack.

Former President Barack Obama said there was “absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy” and that he was “relieved that former President Trump was not seriously injured.”

Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence said he and his wife would pray for their former ally, adding that he urged “every American to join us.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement: “My thoughts and prayers are with former President Trump. I am grateful for the decisive response by law enforcement. America is a democracy. Political violence of any kind is never acceptable.”

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned the shooting internationally and said he was “appalled by the shocking scenes at President Trump’s rally.”

“Political violence in any form has no place in our society and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack,” he said in a statement.

Trump card is still ready to accept his party’s nomination for president at the party’s convention in Milwaukee on Monday, his campaign managers said. Some had speculated that he wanted to announce his vice presidential candidate at the Butler rally.

Some Republicans quickly blamed President Biden for the shooting, accusing him of stoking fears about a possible Trump return to office.

Senator JD Vance, who is on the shortlist for Trump’s vice presidential running mate, said the Biden campaign’s rhetoric directly led to the incident.

Mike Collins, a Republican congressman, accused the president of “incitement to assassinate.”

Meanwhile, James Comer, chairman of the powerful House Oversight Committee, said he would summon the Secret Service director before his panel.

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