FBI Confirms ‘Assassination Attempt’ at Trump Rally, IDs Shooter
The FBI said early Sunday that the shooter at former President Donald Trump’s rally was 20-year-old Pennsylvania resident Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park. The FBI is calling the shooting “an assassination attempt.”
The bureau has not yet released a motive. Late Saturday night, FBI special agent Kevin Rojek said agents and intelligence analysts were “working feverishly” to verify the suspect’s identity and determine the motive.
The bureau and the Pennsylvania state police held a joint press conference late Saturday evening to share more information about the shooting and investigation. The shooter — who was killed at the scene — injured the former president, killed one attendee, and critically injured two others before being neutralized by law enforcement. The FBI did not identify the type of weapon used by the shooter.
Pennsylvania state police said they have identified the rally attendee killed and the other two spectators who were injured, but they are “not prepared to release” that information yet — citing a desire to give the victims’ relatives time to notify their extended families.
The Secret Service — which led security for the event, per the state police — did not participate in the press briefing.
Lt. Col George Bivens, speaking on behalf of the Pennsylvania state police, briefly defended the Secret Service, telling reporters that “it is incredibly difficult to have a venue open to the public and to secure that against any possible threat, against a very determined attacker, that’s a huge lift to try and do it.” He said the ongoing investigation “will really give us an opportunity to take a look at where any failures occur and what can be done better in the future.”
Rojek said the FBI had deployed bomb technicians because “there was identification of suspicious packages around where the shooter was.”
According to one witness who spoke to the BBC, attendees gathered outside of the rallygrounds spotted the gunman as he crawled across a rooftop, and attempted to alert authorities.
“We noticed a guy bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us, probably 50 feet away,” the man told the BBC. “So we’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof… we could clearly see him with a rifle.”
“We were telling the police, we were telling the Secret Service,” he explained, adding that the Secret Service “blew” the gunman’s “head off,” after he opened fire.
On Saturday House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the House of Representatives will “conduct a full investigation of the tragic events today.”
“The American people deserve to know the truth. We will have Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP.”
