Yearbook images have emerged of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who…Former President Donald Trump was shot during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Crooks is a 20-year-old registered Republican who has donated to Joe Biden in the past. He fired at least eight bullets from a rooftop just 130 yards from where Trump, 78, was on stage in Butler speaking to thousands of fans at 6:15 p.m. Saturday.
The Bethel Park School District verified its 2022 graduation and pledged full cooperation with investigators.
A resident who wished to remain anonymous confirmed the gunman’s identity to DailyMail.com.
Crooks was shot dead by a US Secret Service sniper after he opened fire on the former president.
Yearbook images have emerged of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who opened fire on former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Bethel Park School District verified its 2022 graduation and pledged full cooperation with investigators
As Trump raised his fist toward the crowd, some could be heard cheering his name and chanting “USA” and “Make America Great Again.”
Her father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN he was trying to figure out “what the hell was going on” but would “wait until he spoke to the police” before speaking out.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was armed with “an AR-style rifle.”
During the attack, he appeared to be wearing merchandise promoting one of the most popular YouTube channels dedicated to firearms: Demolition Ranch, NBC News reported.
FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek, the officer in charge, said Crooks had been identified using DNA because he did not have any identification on him.
State voter records show Crooks was registered as a Republican. According to US media, when he was 17, he donated $15 to the liberal political action committee ActBlue on January 20, 2021, the day of Biden’s inauguration.
A resident who wished to remain anonymous confirmed the identity of the gunman to DailyMail.com
Blood can be seen gushing from the side of the former president’s head.
Trump had blood running down his cheeks as Secret Service agents placed him on the ground.
Last night, a bomb squad and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at an address registered to Crooks as officers stood guard in front of yellow police caution tape.
One member of the crowd was killed in the deadly shooting, while two others were injured and are in critical condition. All three are men, according to authorities.
Trump was left bloodied and injured during the assassination attempt and was seen suddenly clutching his ear as loud bangs could be heard whizzing past before he crouched to the ground.
The Secret Service surrounded the 45th President of the United States as heart-wrenching screams could be heard from the MAGA crowd.
He then stood up with blood running down his cheek and raised his fist in the air and defiantly shouted “fight!” while the audience chanted “USA!” as he was dragged off the stage and shoved into a vehicle.
Mr Rojek said they had not identified a motive for what he called “an attempted assassination of our former president”.
According to public court records in Pennsylvania, Crooks had no prior criminal history and officials said they are still working to identify a motive behind the shooting.
This is the moment the president was injured while at least one stunned onlooker realised something had gone very wrong.
Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022 and received a $500 “star award” that year from the National Math and Science Initiative, The Tribune-Review in Western Pennsylvania reported.
In an online recording of the 2022 graduation ceremony, he can be seen walking across the stage as the crowd applauds him, before briefly posing with a school official and accepting his diploma.
Amid the ensuing chaos, Secret Service agents could be heard shouting “the shooter is down” and the gunman was later confirmed dead.
Trump was taken to the hospital for treatment before being released later.
Spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump was “doing well” and being checked out at a local medical facility, while the former president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, said his father “is in very good spirits.”
Trump flew back to New Jersey before spending the night at his golf resort in Bedminster.
In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump thanked the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies “for their swift response.”
“I knew immediately something was wrong because I heard a whistling sound, gunshots and immediately felt the bullet go through my skin,” she said on social media.
‘There was a lot of bleeding and then I realized what was happening.
“I want to thank the United States Secret Service and all law enforcement agencies for their quick response,” Trump added.
