Trump rally shooting: FBI names Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, as ‘subject involved’ | Donald Trump Pennsylvania rally shooting

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania as the “subject involved” in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, it said in a statement on Sunday.

The shooting took place during a campaign rally at the Butler Park Showgrounds in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening.

In a social media post, Trump said he was “fine” after he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.” The former president was quickly whisked from the stage by Secret Service agents, his ear covered in blood. One attendee was killed and two others critically injured.

The political leanings of Crooks, who was shot dead by the Secret Service after the attempted assassination, were not immediately clear. Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on 20 January 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn in to office. Officials have not publicly disclosed a possible motive.

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

The US Secret Service has said its agents shot the suspected attacker after he fired toward Trump – who was speaking on stage at the time – “from an elevated position outside of the rally venue” in Butler county.

He thanked law enforcement officials for their “rapid response”.

Writing on Truth Social he said: “Mostly importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed and also to the family of [those] badly injured,” said Trump, who was taken to a hospital for evaluation and then reportedly discharged about 10.20pm local time.

“It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country.”

Video from NBC News captured more than a dozen shots ringing out at the rally, with later ones apparently coming from agents protecting the president, who had been speaking on stage at the time.

A voice could be heard saying: “Get down, get down, get down!” Agents arrived to throw themselves on top of Trump as the gunfire continued and screams were heard from the crowd.

Audio from the network captured agent’s voices saying: “Shooter’s down. Shooter’s down. Are we good to move? We’re clear, we’re clear.”

As agents tried to move Trump off the stage at the rally, he said: “Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.” Agents can be heard telling the former president: “I got you. Hold on. Your head is bloody. We’ve got to move.”

Trump replied: “Wait, wait.” He then pumped his fist, mouthed the words: “Fight, fight, fight.”

And the crowd at the rally responded with cries of: “USA! USA! USA!”

Agents then whisked Trump away from sight. Video showed blood on Trump’s ear.

Local district attorney Richard Goldringer appeared on CNN and said one aspect of the attack that investigators were “going to have to figure out” was how the shooter managed to get close enough to aim a gun at Trump and fire repeatedly.

The most vivid early account of the shooting came from a Trump supporter who said he was outside the rally site but within hearing distance of the former president’s campaign speech when he saw a man carrying a rifle climb on to the roof of a nearby building.

The man, whom the BBC did not identify, said he and the people he was with started pointing at the man, trying to alert security and police to the “guy on the roof with a rifle”. But no police responded, and within a couple of minutes, the man fired several shots toward Trump.

At that point, the man told the BBC, Secret Service agents shot the attacker and “blew his head off”.

The shots appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service, the agency said. The FBI said it had taken the lead in investigating the attack.

At a briefing late on Saturday, FBI officials told reporters it was surprising that the suspect was able to fire multiple shots. The Secret Service did not have a representative at that briefing, which included FBI and state law enforcement officials.

Hours after the attack, the Oversight Committee in the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives summoned U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing scheduled for July 22.

“Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump,” the panel said in a statement on social media.

Trump supporters blasted the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting Trump as a former U.S. president.

“How was a sniper with a full rifle kit allowed to bear crawl onto the closest roof to a presidential nominee,” asked the conservative activist Jack Posobiec on social media site X.

Joe Biden, who spoke to Trump after the shooting, said he was grateful to hear Trump was “safe and doing well”. The president also urged the widespread condemnation of political violence.

“The Trump rally … should have been able to be conducted peacefully,” Biden said. “It’s just not appropriate.”

Biden arrived at the White House early Sunday after cutting short a weekend trip to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

The White House said he would receive a briefing from Homeland Security and law enforcement officials on the attempted assassination of Trump later in the morning.
Vice-president Kamala Harris was also to attend.