WASHINGTON — The man identified as the shooter in the apparent assassination attempt Former President Donald Trump’s assassin was a 20-year-old man from a Pittsburgh suburb, not far from the campaign rally where one of the attendees was killed.
Authorities say Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire on the meeting for was assassinated by the Secret Service on Saturday, days before Trump was set to accept the Republican nomination for a third time.
An FBI official said Saturday night that investigators had not yet determined a motive. One attendee was killed and two bystanders were seriously injured, authorities said.
Relatives of Crooks did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN late Saturday that he was trying to find out “what the hell is going on,” but that he didn’t want to talk about his son until he spoke to police.
Crooks’ political leanings weren’t immediately clear. Records show Crooks was a registered Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show that on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn in, he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee.
Pennsylvania public court records show there have been no past criminal cases against Crooks.
The FBI released his identity early Sunday morning, hours after the shooting. Authorities told reporters that Crooks had no identification on him, so they used DNA and other methods to confirm his identity.
According to an insider who asked not to be identified to discuss the ongoing investigation, police found an AR-style rifle at the crime scene.
An AP analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the Trump rally scene, as well as satellite images of the location, shows the shooter was able to get close to the podium where the former president spoke.
A video posted on social media and located by the AP shows the body of a person in a gray camouflage jacket lying motionless on the roof of a building at AGR International Inc., a manufacturing facility just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump’s rally was held.
The rooftop where the person was lying was less than 150 meters (164 yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance at which a decent sniper could reasonably hit a human target. For reference, 150 meters is the distance at which U.S. Army recruits are required to hit a scaled human silhouette to qualify with the M-16 rifle.
Investigators believe the gun was purchased by the father at least six months ago, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
The officials said federal agents were still trying to understand when and how Thomas Crooks obtained the gun. The officials were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
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Associated Press reporter Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Mike Balsamo in Chicago and Colleen Long in Washington contributed.