Who was Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate Donald Trump?

After investigating, FBI identified that Trump’s shooter was registered Republican

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Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump is assisted by the Secret Service after gunfire rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, US, July 13, 2024. — Reuters
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump is assisted by the Secret Service after gunfire rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, US, July 13, 2024. — Reuters

Former President Donald Trump was attacked at a campaign rally in Butler Town, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. As identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the shooter was a 20-year-old named Thomas Matthew Crooks.

He was shot and killed by the Secret Service right after he fired multiple shots towards Trump.

The US Secret Service said in a statement that the shooter "fired multiple shots towards the stage from an elevated position outside the rally" before being "neutralised" by agents.

State records show that the 20-year-old was a registered Republican, and the forthcoming elections would have been his first polling.

Additionally, NDTV reported, Crooks was a resident of Bethel Park in Pennsylvania, which is about an hour away from where the incident took place in Butler. He graduated from Bethel Park High School back in 2022.

As per the Tribune-Review, he was awarded a $500 star award from the National Math and Science Initiative.

At the age of 17, Crooks donated $15 for the Progressive Turnout Project, which encourages Democratic politicians to vote.

The FBI officials, on the other hand, reported that the shooter was caught armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. He was positioned on the roof of a building, about 130 yards away from the stage.

However, the motive for attacking the 78-year-old presidential candidate has not yet been revealed.