‘Loner’ and ‘nice’: Complex portrait of gunman in Trump assassination attempt emerges

(BUTLER, Pa.) — A 20-year-old Pennsylvania man is suspected to be the gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday, firing several shots and killing at least one spectator, federal and local law enforcement agencies said.

The FBI early on Sunday identified the suspect, who was killed at the scene, as Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park. Firefighter Corey Comperatore, a dad who was attending the rally was killed and two other bystanders injured.

The FBI did not “currently have an identified motive, although our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was,” Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek said. The highest priority is being placed on determining motive because the bureau is also looking at the shooting as a “potential domestic terrorism act,” said Robert Wells, the FBI’s assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division.

In a later call, Rojek indicated officials believed that Crooks “acted alone and that there are currently no public safety concerns.”

“At present, we have not identified an ideology associated with the subject, but I want to remind everyone that we’re still very early in this investigation,” he added.

Officials feared that the assassination attempt would inspire others.

The assassination attempt against President Donald Trump “will likely be amplified in extremist messaging and heavily exploited by malicious actors as well as adversarial nation-states in mis/dis/mal-information aimed at fomenting division,” according to an NYPD intelligence product obtained by ABC News.

“In the immediate hours after the shooting took place, multiple users on numerous online messaging platforms responded to the incident with support for the attack, overt calls for civil war, hostile rhetoric against FPOTUS Trump, threats against elected officials, and generalized calls for retaliatory violence,” according to the bulletin which was dated July 14, 2024.

Portrait emerges

Crooks had been registered as a Republican voter, according to state records. A $15 donation to a progressive group was also recorded under “Thomas Crooks” in January 2021, according to FEC records.

He graduated from high school in Pennsylvania in 2022, district officials said. The suspect had no military affiliation, according to the Pentagon.

He was working as a dietary aide at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, according to administrator Marcie Grimm. Thomas Matthew Crooks “performed his job without concern” and passed a background check, according to Grimm. “We are shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement as Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his job without concern and his background check was clean,” Grimm said in a statement. “We are fully cooperating with law enforcement officials at this time.”

The firearm recovered at the scene was legally purchased by the suspect’s father, an urgent trace conducted by ATF found, according to multiple law enforcement sources. A source who has been briefed said the gun was an AR-15 style rifle that was purchased in 2013.

Crooks allegedly fired as many as eight rounds from a rooftop 200-300 yards away, other sources said.

According to Rojek, from the FBI, there was a suspicious device found in the suspect’s car and agents were trying to determine what it is. Another was found in his home, Rojek said, and both were described as rudimentary.

Crooks had no known history of mental illness, per the FBI. His family is cooperating with investigators.

“We’re looking into his background, his day-to-day activities, any writings, and social media posts that might help us identify what led to this shooting. And we have not seen anything threatening,” Rojek added.

The social media platform Discord told ABC News on Sunday that it’s cooperating with law enforcement and has identified a “rarely used” account that appears to have been linked to the alleged shooter. The company said it “found no evidence” that the account was used in the planning of the attack.

In a statement to ABC News, a Discord spokesperson said the account linked to the alleged shooter also did not “promote violence” or “discuss his political views.”

Investigators are looking at what sources describe as misinformation that the suspected gunman appears to have been recently consuming and whether it played any role in the incident, according to law enforcement sources.

So far, investigators have not uncovered any ties to extremist organizations or individuals, though they continue to scour information from the suspect’s phone and other digital devices, according to the sources. Increasingly, the shooting was looking like a lone wolf attack, sources said.

‘Lonely’ and ‘quiet’

Former classmates of the suspected shooter described him to ABC News as a student who was “quiet” and did not have many friends,.

“He was somebody who came across as lonely a lot,” said Jameson Myers, who said he attended both elementary and high school with the suspect.

Myers said that Crooks “tended to be more of an interesting one” and described him as “more socially reserved” and someone who “didn’t have a ton of friends.” But he said he never heard Crooks discuss politics or, specifically, Donald Trump.

“I was friends with him- he never acted, like, by any means a political revolutionary,” Myers said, noting he was a fan of “Star Wars” and “was a very nice, even sweet guy from what I knew.”

Myers and another student said that Crooks tried to join the high school’s rifle team but was rejected and asked not to return after a “preseason” session.

“He didn’t just not make the team, he was asked not to come back because how bad of a shot he was, it was considered like, dangerous,” said Myers.

Another member of the team, who asked not to be named, told ABC News that there was a view that Crooks “wasn’t really fit for the rifle team.”

“He also shot terrible,” the team member added.

The coach of the team at the time declined to comment and referred questions to the school district. In a statement, school district said that Crooks “never appeared on a roster” and that there is “no record” of him having tried out.

Crooks, however, did belong to a local shooting club, counsel for the club confirms to ABC News, Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.

“I can confirm that Mr. Crooks was a member of Clairton Sportsmen’s Club. Beyond that, the Club is unable to make any additional commentary in relation to this matter in light of pending law enforcement investigations,” said Robert S. Bootay III, attorney for the club. “Obviously, the Club fully admonishes the senseless act of violence that occurred yesterday. The Club also offers its sincerest condolences to the Comperatore family and extends prayers to all of those injured including the former President.”

Other classmates of Crooks, who described him as “quiet” and “very smart.”

“One thing I did know for sure was he was very smart,” said another student, who told ABC News he sat behind Crooks in their AP statistics class. “I always remember hearing his test grades when we would all compare and he always did very well and math and sciences.”

The student continued that Crooks was “never anything but kind.”

“I would not say that he ever appeared as a threatening person,” he continued.

Another classmate, Zoe Materkowski, said he was “just a quiet kid.” A classmate who graduated a year before Crooks similarly described him as a quiet student.

“He was a loner,” said Jason Kohler. “He would sit alone at lunch.”

Another classmate who rode the same bus as Crooks and shared multiple classes with him described the suspected shooter as quiet but friendly.

“I honestly can’t think of a better word to describe him than normal,” said the classmate. “He just kind of stuck to himself.”

The classmate added that Crooks was interested in building computers and never discussed politics.

“It’s just crazy, because he didn’t really seem like he would be the type to think to do that,” he said about his response to learning that Crooks was the suspected shooter.

‘Chaotic’ scene

Shots rang out a few moments after Trump stepped onto an outdoor stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, at about 6 p.m. on Saturday, State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said. The suspect was firing from the roof of a building outside the security perimeter, taking aim from hundreds of feet away from the stage, law enforcement said.

One of the bullets struck Trump in his right ear, the former president said. The U.S. Secret Service said Trump was “safe.”

A Secret Service counter-sniper opened fire and killed the suspect, the agency said. The scene was “chaotic” and “everything unfolded very quickly,” Bevins said.

Law enforcement officials took several hours to publicly identify Crooks as their suspect, saying at a press conference late Saturday that they believed they knew who carried out the shooting, but were refraining from naming the individual.

Officials had said during that press conference that they were using the suspect’s DNA to confirm his identity, because the suspect had not been carrying anything that would have identified him.

“It’s a matter of doing biometric confirmations,” Rojek said. “So, there was no identification on the individual, for example, so we’re looking at photographs right now and we’re trying to run his DNA and get biometric confirmation.”

Determining if he acted alone

It was too early in the investigation to say whether the suspect had been acting alone, Bivens said. Investigators were determining if anyone else had been involved, he said.

The FBI did not “currently have an identified motive, although our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was,” Rojek said.

The suspect graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High, according to the Bethel Park School District. The district said it was limited in what it could disclose publicly, adding that it would “cooperate fully” with the investigation.

“The school district wishes to express its sincere wishes for a speedy and full recovery for Mr. Trump and for those in attendance at the Saturday event who may have been physically harmed or emotionally impacted by these tragic events,” the district said, in part, in a statement.

The district added, “We offer special condolences to the family of at least one attendee who was killed. Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time.”

As the FBI issued a statement early Sunday naming the suspect, a bureau spokesperson said the investigation remains “active and ongoing.” The FBI urged anyone with photos, videos or information to come forward.

ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey, Isabella Murray, Mark Osborne, Charlotte Slovin, Sasha Pezenik, Matt Seyler and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

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