Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh field office, updates reporters Saturday night about what investigators called "an assassination attempt" on former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally earlier in the day at the Butler County Farm Show grounds. Behind him to his left is Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police.
Oliver Morrison / 90.5 WESA
Oliver Morrison / 90.5 WESA
Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh field office, updates reporters Saturday night about what investigators called "an assassination attempt" on former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally earlier in the day at the Butler County Farm Show grounds. Behind him to his left is Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police.
The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, as the suspected gunman involved in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally Saturday in Butler County.
In a news conference hours after the shooting, federal and state investigators said they didn’t believe there was another threat in addition to the shooter at the rally. The Pennsylvania State Police did not rule out that the shooter could have received assistance but said they had found no evidence so far.
“At this time, we have no reason to believe that there is any other existing threat out there,” said state police Lt. Col. George Bivens.
Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI office in Pittsburgh, called the shooting an “assassination attempt,” but he also said investigators did not know what spurred the shooter to begin firing at about 6:11 p.m. during the rally at the Butler County Farm Show grounds.
“We are working tirelessly to determine what that motive is,” Rojek said. The FBI had received “no specific information about a threat” against Trump before the rally, he said.
Law enforcement officers returned fire, and the U.S. Secret Service later said its agents killed the gunman, but not before he shot and killed a rally-goer and critically wounded two other men, they said. Trump also was visibly bloodied in the attack and later posted on social media that he’d been shot in the ear.
“We have intelligence analysts as well working from our field office in Pittsburgh, working feverishly to attempt to identify the individual who did this and any motives behind why this was done,” said Rojek.
Bivens said state law enforcement was taking the lead on investigating the three civilian casualties, while federal authorities were taking the lead on the attempted assassination — although they were coordinating their efforts.
The officials said that out of an abundance of caution they had to neutralize some packages, such as bags that had been left behind, which potentially could have been bombs. That work slowed down the initial investigation, they said.
The FBI confirmed that it was their understanding that the assassination attempt originated from a building that was outside the security perimeter for the event, meaning that the shooter would not have had to get his belongings screened by the Secret Service. The investigators said they had a good idea of the kind of weapon the gunman used, but were waiting for confirmation. The Associated Press, however, reported that the gunman was armed with an AR-style rifle.
A witness interviewed by the BBC said he tried to alert law enforcement after he thought he saw the gunman climb on the roof of a building minutes before the shooting took place. Investigators said they had heard similar statements.
“We’re following up on those. I will tell you that I am aware of those. And I am aware that law enforcement had responded to a number of reports of suspicious activity,” Bivens said. “The specific response to this will be all part of the after-action. But yes, law enforcement was responding to check on several suspicious occurrences.”
Bivens said the FBI had not received any information about threats before the rally. While dozens of state police officers were part of the security for the event, the FBI was not present at the scene until after the crime took place to assist with the investigation, Bivens said.
The FBI encouraged witnesses who may have seen something or taken photos or video that could be helpful in their investigation to contact them by telephone or online.
“I’m sure there’ll be cell phone video,” Bivens said. “There’ll be all kinds of information that we’ll use to fully flesh out exactly what happened.”
He said such evidence would aid their investigation.
“Anyone that has specific information on that shooter, that would be very helpful as well to help us, assess motive,” he added. “And again, as I mentioned earlier, we are absolutely not taking for granted that this was a lone-wolf attack. And so we would be looking for any additional information that might point us toward anybody else that may have had a hand in this.”
The officials did not say how many law enforcement officials fired their weapons or who shot and killed the suspected gunman.
The Secret Service also is investigating how the gunman was able to get close enough to shoot and injure the former president — a monumental failure of one of the agency’s core duties.
The gunman fired multiple shots from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue,” the agency said.
An analysis by The Associated Press of more than a dozen videos and photos taken at the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get astonishingly close to the stage where the former president was speaking. A video posted to social media and geolocated by the AP shows the body of a man wearing gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant just north of the Farm Show grounds.
The roof was less than 150 meters from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M16 assault rifle in basic training. The AR-15 is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military M16.
Secret Service officials did not attend the news conference Saturday night; Bivens said they were not available to do so.
A police blockade around the Bethel Park residence of Thomas Matthew Crooks on Sunday, July 14. (Oliver Morrison/90.5 WESA)
Little was immediately known about Crooks. Voter registration records showed he was registered as a Republican. No one answered the telephone or responded to a message left at the home where he lived in suburban Bethel Park, and the neighborhood surrounding the home was quiet early Sunday. The only indications of a connection to Saturday’s events were police blockades preventing entry to the block in which the house is located.
But a person who identified herself as “Thomas’ Mom” posted a story to an Instagram account bearing Crooks’ name and a brief profile statement: “Life sucks/20 years old.” In the story, the writer said “Thomas was a great boy and did very well in school,” but added that he “was dealing with a lot of built-up anger from bullies.”
“I know what my son has done and I had no idea what built up all this anger . . . ” the writer posted before concluding: “Rip, His Mom.”
Julia Zenkevich, Christopher Ayers and Cindi Lash of WESA and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
We spotlight and uplift the creators around us, featuring amazing artists, musicians, authors, chefs, dancers, designers, photographers, and more.
