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The small Pittsburgh suburb of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, is in shock after the FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as the shooter at Donald Trump’s campaign rally. Crooks, armed with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle, opened fire on the former president while he addressed a crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania, resulting in the death of one audience member and injuries to two others. Crooks, a 20-year-old kitchen worker, was shot dead at the scene by a Secret Service sniper.
Neighbors in his affluent hometown are struggling to comprehend how a quiet young man could commit such an act. The FBI has confirmed Crooks as the “subject involved in the assassination attempt on the former president,” using DNA and facial recognition technology to identify him since he was not carrying ID.
Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022 and worked at a local nursing home. He was a registered Republican and had a membership at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a premier shooting facility south of Pittsburgh. The club’s owner and attorney expressed their condemnation of the violence and confirmed that access to the club is tightly controlled.
Investigators believe the weapon used in the shooting was purchased by Crooks’ father, although there is no indication he knew of his son’s intentions. On the day of the rally, Crooks bought a box of ammunition containing 50 rounds. Law enforcement also found suspicious devices in his vehicle, which bomb technicians secured and investigated.
The FBI has not yet identified Crooks’ motive and is conducting an ongoing investigation. Crooks’ family is cooperating with authorities, and the police have sealed off the road to his home. The investigation is exploring whether Crooks had planned the attack in advance and if he acted alone.
Former classmates and community members described Crooks as a quiet and intelligent individual with a passion for history and government. Some remembered him as a loner who faced bullying, while others saw him as a normal, albeit conservative, young man. The community is grappling with disbelief and trying to understand how someone from their quiet neighborhood could commit such an act.
