On Saturday (13th July, local time), former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump was shot at during an election rally in Pennsylvania.
The assassination attempt, which was caught on camera, was carried out by a 20 year-old-man named Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park.
At the time of writing, the motive of the assassin remains unconfirmed. “This remains an active and ongoing investigation,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in a statement.
Shooting just happened at The Trump rally pic.twitter.com/Xs1dVL1H3T
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 13, 2024
Following the attack, Thomas was neutralised by the snipers deployed for the protection of the ex-President.
He was armed with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle and had positioned himself on a manufacturing plant’s roof, as per his modus operandi. The plant was about 200 feet outside the zone of Donald Trump’s rally.
The assassin did not have any criminal history, as evident from the public court records of Pennsylvania.
According to the voter status record [pdf] of Pennsylvania, Thomas Matthew Crooks was registered as a Republican i.e. the same party as that of Donald Trump.
20 year old Thomas Matthew Crooks registered as a Republican. Non-zero chance that this guy was an unhinged groyper pic.twitter.com/6SuJV3K3Dx
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) July 14, 2024
Interestingly, he had donated money through ‘ActBlue’, a Democratic party donation platform to a liberal group called ‘Progressive Turnout Project’.
The date of donation was January 20th 2021 i.e. the day Joe Biden took Office as the President of the United States. At that time, the attacker was 17 years old.
🔥🚨BREAKING NEWS: Thomas Crooks, the man who tried to kill Donald Trump donated to Joe Biden on Inauguration Day. pic.twitter.com/mwbKvsugAy
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) July 14, 2024
It has now surfaced on social media that Thomas Matthew Crooks graduated from the Bethel Park High School in 2022. A video of the graduation ceremony is available on YouTube.
The attacker was seen wearing spectacles and dressed in a black gown. In the same year, he also received $500 (~₹41760) from the National Math & Science Initiative.
It remains unknown as to what led him to the path of radicalisation in the past 2 years. OpIndia could not find his social media handles at the time of writing the report.
The attack carried out by Thomas Matthew Crooks led to the death of a Trump supporter and critically injured two others.
Donald Trump also sustained injuries and bled from his ears as a bullet whizzed past him.
The assassination attempt was condemned by world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Disclaimer: This is a developing story. The report will be updated as the investigation into the case unfolds.
