Law enforcement officials have identified the man who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The FBI said the deadly shooter has been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
The shooter was quickly “neutralized” by the Secret Service, said public affairs director Anthony Guglielmi.
Based on what was found at the scene, Crooks used a semiautomatic rifle, three senior U.S. law enforcement officials said. Investigators are looking into whether the gun he used belonged to his father and was purchased legally, two of the officials said.
Officials, citing preliminary findings, said Crooks appeared to have fired eight shots before being taken down.
Several suspicious containers and containers were found in Crooks’ vehicle, but it was unclear whether they functioned as incendiary or explosive devices, two officials said.
Crooks’ family is cooperating with investigators, but a senior police official briefed on the case said the suspect’s motive remains unclear.
Bethel Park is a relatively affluent, mostly white city in the southern part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Butler, where the rally was held, is about an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh.
Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. He was one of more than a dozen students to receive the National Math and Science Initiative Star Award that year, according to a story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
A high school classmate, Jason Kohler, 21, said Crooks was a “lonely kid” who was “severely bullied in high school.”
Crooks always wore hunting clothes and was teased about his attire, Kohler said.
“He was sitting by himself at lunch, just completely alone,” Kohler added. “It’s kind of sad, to be honest.”
Michael Dajak, 20, who spent most of his life at school with Crooks, recalled him as a relatively reserved, quiet classmate. He never saw or heard of Crooks being actively bullied by his peers, but he said Crooks “used to be alone a lot.”
Dujac said he did not recall Crooks being politically outspoken or active on social media, and was with friends and acquaintances from high school on Saturday night when he learned Crooks was the shooter.
Dujak said they were all “in shock” and “couldn’t process” the news.
“It’s absolutely horrifying that someone you went to school with could commit such a heinous act. When this incident first came to mind, it was the thing that made me cringe the most,” Dajak said. “Two years ago, I was in the same class as this person.”
One man who lives on Crooks Street said he was shocked to hear the news of the assassination attempt on his neighbor. “It’s just crazy,” Andrew Blanco, 39, said.
Blanco said most of the people in her neighborhood were friendly, but she rarely saw or spoke to anyone at Crooks’ house.
“They’re not even out there, so we don’t know anything about them,” Blanco said.
Crooks worked as a dietary assistant at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
“We were shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement,” Marcy Grimm, the center’s administrator, said in a statement Sunday. She added that he “performed his duties without incident” and that “his background check came back clean.”
The center said it was cooperating with law enforcement and could not comment further.
Allegheny County Councilman Dan Grisbeck, a Democrat who lives just down the street from the shooter’s home in Bethel Park, said neighbors can’t believe the shooter was living among them.
“No one expected someone who lived in their neighborhood to do something like this,” Grizbek told NBC News.
Grizbek said he met Crooks’ parents while canvassing the neighborhood last fall while running for County Council. On Crooks’ doorstep, Grizbek said he had a “very pleasant conversation” with Crooks’ parents.
Grizbek said he had never met the shooter in person. “It was just a normal conversation between constituents,” he said.
The Pentagon confirmed that Crooks has no affiliation to the US military.
Pennsylvania voter records list the name of Thomas Matthew Crooks with the same address and date of birth as the Republican, but Federal Election Commission records show that Crooks gave $15 to a liberal political action committee on Inauguration Day in 2021.
State police Lt. Col. George Bivens said at a press conference Saturday night that investigators were close to positively identifying the shooter, who was unidentified.
“The shooter has been tentatively identified,” he said. “All that remains is biometric confirmation.”
