Shooting was an assassination attempt against Trump, FBI says

Former President Donald Trump was injured Saturday evening during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in what the FBI says was an assassination attempt. The gunman and at least one audience member are dead, the Secret Service said, and two other attendees are critically injured.

Trump said on social media that he was shot and hit by a bullet in the “upper part of my 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. “It’s pure insanity,” said one rally attendee.

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.

Authorities have identified the gunman involved in the attack against former US President Donald Trump on Saturday as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by Secret Service agents at the scene after the shooting.

The FBI named Crooks in a statement early Sunday morning, identifying him as a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania – about 35 miles south of Butler, where Trump was holding his rally.

Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, according to a local media report and a video of the school’s commencement.

He 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.

When reached by CNN late Saturday night, Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, said he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but would “wait until I talk to law enforcement” before speaking about his son.

The gunman, who lived in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles south of the rally location, was killed at the scene by Secret Service agents.

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 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.

A spokesperson said Trump is “fine,” and the Secret Service said he was safe. The former president said on social media that he was hit by a bullet in the “upper part of my right ear.” In the early hours of Sunday morning, Trump flew back to Newark, New Jersey.

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.

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.

Source: CNN, Staff, Updated 3:59 AM EDT, Sun July 14, 2024

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