Former President Donald Trump was injured Saturday evening during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in what the FBI says was an assassination attempt.
According to the Secret Service, the gunman and at least one audience member are dead. Two other attendees are critically injured. Trump was shot and hit by a bullet in the upper part of his right ear.
The Secret Service said the former president is safe after he was rushed off the stage with blood on his face. The FBI has identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Authorities say he fired multiple shots from a building rooftop just outside the rally venue, before he was killed by Secret Service agents. Eyewitnesses described a “bloody” and chaotic scene.
President Joe Biden spoke with Trump after the shooting. Biden denounced the violence in remarks Saturday night and said in a statement earlier that he’s “grateful” Trump is safe. Biden, who was planning to stay in Delaware for the weekend, returned to the White House earlier than planned so he can continue receiving briefings from law enforcement.
Authorities have named the gunman and shared details about the casualties from the shooting that took place.
The gunman: The FBI identified him as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who lived in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles south of the rally location. He was killed at the scene by Secret Service agents.
Public records show he was registered to vote as a Republican, but made a small donation to a Democratic-aligned group in 2021.
Authorities at a news conference said they don’t currently believe there are any additional existing threats, but that its still an active investigation and it’s too early to conclusively say it was a lone wolf attack.
The casualties: The shooting left one attendee dead and two others critically injured, authorities say. All three were adult men. Though they have been identified by authorities, those details have not yet been publicly shared.
Reports reveal Trump is “fine,” and the Secret Service said he was safe. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the former President flew back to Newark, New Jersey.
Investigation Begins:
Multiple federal and state agencies are now investigating what happened, how the shooter accessed his location, what weapon was used and other questions that have not yet been publicly answered.
The FBI has asked the public to submit any information, photos or videos related to the shooting at FBI.gov/butler or to call 1-800-CALL-FBI
President Joe Biden was in Delaware at the time of the shooting, where he had planned to stay for the weekend — but he flew back to the White House early Sunday morning so he can continue being briefed by law enforcement. Earlier, he said he’d spoken with Trump, and publicly condemned the shooting.
About The Gunman:
The gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, according to a local media report and a video of the school’s beginning.
Crooks was registered to vote as a Republican, according to a listing in Pennsylvania’s voter database that matched his name, age, and a Bethel Park address that law enforcement was searching Saturday night and is linked to Crooks in public records. This year’s presidential election would have been the first he was old enough to vote in.
Federal Election Commission records show that a donor listed as Thomas Crooks with the same address gave $15 to a Democratic-aligned political action committee called the Progressive Turnout Project in January 2021.
The shooting: Crooks fired on Trump while perched on a nearby building rooftop outside the rally’s security perimeter, before being killed by Secret Service agents, according to law enforcement officials.
He didn’t have any identification on his body, so agents had to “run his DNA and get biometric confirmation,” Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said at a press conference Saturday night before Crooks was named.
One attendee at the rally was killed and two others critically injured.
FBI’s Statement:
“The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the subject involved in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
This remains an active and ongoing investigation, and anyone with information that may assist with the investigation is encouraged to submit photos or videos online at FBI.gov/butler or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.”
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