Thomas Matthew Crooks: What we know about Trump rally gunman suspect

FBI identifies gunman as 20-year-old Pennsylvania man

US Secret Service agents after an assassination attempt targeted former president Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. AP

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified the gunman who allegedly shot Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a Saturday rally as Thomas Matthew Crooks.

The 20-year-old was from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, according to the FBI statement released early on Sunday.

He was shot dead by Secret Service snipers at the scene.

The FBI earlier said it had tentatively identified Mr Crooks as the gunman and was conducting a DNA test. Law enforcement officials said on Saturday that Mr Crooks carried no identification to the site of the shooting and had to be identified using other methods.

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Sunday that it closed the airspace over Bethel Park for “special security reasons”.

Details about Mr Crooks and his possible motivations are still sparse.

Mr Crooks was a registered Republican, according to state party records cited by US media. However, when Mr Crooks was 17 he made a $15 donation to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians, according to a 2021 Federal Election Commission filing cited by Reuters.

The donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project, a national group that rallies Democrats to vote. The groups did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Mr Crooks graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He received a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative, according to the newspaper.

His father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN that he was trying to figure out what happened and would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before speaking about his son.

Video footage shared on social media showed the gunman on top of the roof of a nearby building before shots rang out.

A witness said he alerted police after noticing the gunman several minutes before shots were fired.

“We noticed a guy crawling … bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us,” he told the BBC.

“You could clearly see him with a rifle.”

He said they alerted police, who “didn't know what was going on”.

“I'm thinking to myself – why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?”

Security officials said the gunman was outside the secured perimeter, around 100 yards from the stage where former US president Trump was speaking.

He wore a T-shirt promoting a YouTube channel devoted to firearms, according to US media reports, which named the channel as Demolition Ranch.

The channel’s founder posted a photo of the gunman on Instagram after he shot dead following the attack, captioned “What the hell”.

A man who was shot dead at the event has also been identified but is yet to be named by police.

A doctor who attended the rally said he tended to the man, who was shot in the head.

“I thought it was firecrackers at first,” he told CBS News.

“The guy had spun around and was jammed between the benches. He had a head wound here, there was lots of blood. There was brain matter.”

Two others, both men, were injured.

A bullet pierced Trump's right ear, the former president said on social media before being taken to hospital.

He has since been discharged.

The assassination attempt has been condemned by US President Joe Biden and world leaders including UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

The Secretary-General unequivocally condemns this act of political violence. He sends his best wishes to President Trump for a speedy recovery,” Guterres spokesman Stephan Dujarric said.

– Reuters contributed to this report