Who Was Thomas Matthew Crooks, The Trump Rally Shooter

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks is the shooter who attempted to assassinate former US President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday. Officials say that the shooter opened fire with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle while Trump was addressing a crowd. Crooks was shot dead at the scene by US Secret Service sniper moments after he began firing. 

Authorities have identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as a resident of Bethel Park in Pennsylvania. Local media reports suggest that he graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. Crooks was one of 20 students awarded a $500 prize for math and science the same year. The FBI, America's premier investigating agency, said that the shooter was not carrying any ID, and thus officials used facial recognition technology and DNA to identify him. 

According to the New York Times, Crooks had been working at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center as a dietary aide. The rehabilitation center said in a statement that "his background check was clean." A colleague who worked with the shooter said that he never expressed any political views at work. At the same time, a former student of the same school told CNN that Crooks was bullied by other students and seemed to be a loner. Another former student remembered him as “a quiet kid, not obviously political or violent in any way," reported CNN. 

FBI agents are trying to find out the motive behind the attack, as the gunman did not have any criminal history. Investigators are also working to gain access to Crooks’ phone. “We are working hard to determine the sequence of events related to the subject and his movements in the hours, days and weeks prior to the shooting,” Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI, told CNN. The FBI believes that Thomas Matthew Crooks acted alone. Meanwhile, a day after surviving the assassination attempt, Donald Trump has arrived for the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin.