20-yr-old Trump shooter was first-time voter

Thomas Matthew Crooks. Pic/X

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who authorities say attempted to assassinate former president Donald Trump was a 20-year-old registered Republican who would have voted for the first time in the presidential election in November. He lived in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bethel Park, about 56 km south of the Trump rally site where law enforcement officials said he fired at Trump, the presumptive presidential candidate of the Republican Party.

A person is removed by police from the stands after the firing incident in Butler, Pennsylvania. Pic/AFP

Crooks was shot dead by the Secret Service personnel soon after he fired a volley of shots at Trump from an "elevated position outside of the rally venue". He had previously made a small contribution to a Democratic-aligned group, CNN reported, quoting public records. He graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, according to a local media report and a video of the school's commencement. Crooks was registered to vote as a Republican, according to a listing in the voter database.

‘Saw him run from roof to roof'

Two witnesses at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania, claimed to have seen the shooter, with one recalling how the gunman moved from roof to roof, apparently scouting for a perfect perch to shoot at Trump. Thomas Matthew Crooks getting close enough to shoot and injure Trump is seen as a huge failure of the security agencies tasked with providing cover for him. According to an attendee Ben Macer, he was up along the fence line and "saw the guy move from roof to roof", CBS News reported. Macer said he told an officer the shooter was on the roof. When I turned around to go back to where I was, the gunshots started, and then it was just chaos," he said. Butler resident Ryan Knight, said he saw the suspected shooter atop the American Glass Research building. "I was right beside the AGR building, which had the shooter on it," Knight said.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever