The suspected gunman who tried to assassinate former US president Donald Trump during his rally speech in Pennsylvania has been pictured.
The FBI named him on Sunday as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Bethel Park is around an hour’s drive (approximately 43 miles away) from where the rally was held.
Images believed to be of the gunman have surfaced from when he was at high school. His yearbook photo and graduation video show a thin young man with glasses and straight brown hair.
Other videos found by i appear to show him helping out in a computer technology lesson and taking part in an economics class.
One man in the year below Crooks, who did not wish to be named, told i: “I did know of him but I never really talked to him. He was in the grade above me. He was just a quiet kid.”
Jason Kohler, who said he attended the same high school but did not share any classes with Crooks, said Crooks was bullied at school and sat alone at lunch time. Other students mocked him for the clothes he wore, which included hunting outfits, Kohler said.
The motive of the attack remains unclear at this stage.
The gunman attacked the Republican candidate from an elevated position outside the rally at a farm show in Butler, Pennsylvania, the FBI said.
Witness testimony and footage suggests that he shot from the roof of a building about 120 metres away from the stage where Mr Trump was speaking from around 6.02pm (11.02pm UK time).
A video posted to social media and geolocated by i shows the body of a person wearing a grey t shirt and beige shorts lying motionless on the roof of a building at American Glass Research International Inc., a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where the rally was held. The person does not appear to be wearing any protective gear.
It is not clear if he is dead, injured or otherwise incapacitated at the time of the filming. An onlooker can be heard on the video saying “You can see the guy there. I think they hit him.. The guy, he looks dead.”
Crooks is believed to have fired eight shots from outside the area secured by the Secret Service, according to analysis by the New York Times.
Photos verified by i showed the gunman appeared to be wearing a T-shirt promoting a pro-gun YouTube channel called Demolition Ranch, which tests and reviews weapons. It has over 11 million subscribers.
Videos on their channel include “Shooting EVERY GUN I own as FAST as I can!!!!” and “I Sawed-Off a .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle…”.
The verified Facebook account for Demolition Ranch appeared to confirm the suspect was wearing one of their shirts, sharing a photo of the motionless suspected gunman where the logo of his shirt is partially visible, with the caption “What the hell”.
In the images he was bleeding from the head and surrounded by law enforcement officers. Local police indicated after the incident that they did not believe the suspect had any accomplices.
Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col George Bivens said: “At this time we have no reason to believe there is any other existing threat out there.
“We are doing everything we can to make sure that this is thoroughly investigated and that if there is any information developed that anyone else was involved, that between PSP [Pennsylvania State Police] and the FBI that will very quickly be followed up on.”
A state voter registration record retrieved by i shows Crooks was registered as a Republican.
When he was 17, he appears to have donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project through the Democratic donation platform ActBlue in January 2021, according to federal campaign finance records seen by i. The Progressive Turnout Project aims to increase voter turnout for the Democrats and also runs a Stop Republicans campaign “dedicated to resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy”.
The voter record includes Crooks’ date of birth as 20 September 2003, making him 20, the same age as set out in the description circulated by the FBI.
It also includes a home address. i was able to geolocate local news footage showing a police search of the suspect’s home and confirm it matched the address on the voter record.
The property is located in a quiet, suburban neighbourhood, just around the corner from a school.
Homes here have big, grassy front lawns and a good sized yard in the back – with Google maps showing several have small pools. One of the tree-lined roads is cordoned off and news crews film around the corner from the house as it is searched by US security.
The house is listed on property website Zillow as a three bed home worth around $250,000. The bungalow is more modest than some of the others on the same road and appears to be slightly less well looked after, with large items left out on the porch.
Crooks appears to have graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, which has about 1,400 students, according to social media posts and local news reports.
He tried out for the school’s rifle team but was turned away because he was a bad shooter, the Associated Press quoted Frederick Mach, a current captain of the team who was a few years behind Crooks at the school.
He received a $500 “star award” that year from the National Math and Science Initiative, according to The Tribune-Review in western Pennsylvania.
An online recording of the graduation ceremony showed Crooks crossing the stage to accept his diploma before turning to smile for the camera.
Other videos found by i appear to show him bent over a computer screen wearing a black hoodie while explaining an IT program he worked on to another student. A second video sees him seated at a table with other pupils during an economics class.
i also uncovered the programme handed out during Crooks’ graduation which noted he had attained “Silver Cord High Honors (based on QPA of 3.75 to 4.00)”. This is below the “Gold” and top level.
Meanwhile the New York Times reported that Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, which features a 200-yard rifle range, confirmed that Thomas Matthew Crooks had been a member.
“I can confirm that Mr. Crooks was a member of Clairton Sportsmen’s Club,” a statement released by the club’s legal counsel, Robert Bootay, said. “Beyond that, the Club is unable to make any additional commentary in relation to this matter in light of pending law enforcement investigations”.
Crooks appears to have little social media presence, or his accounts may have been swiftly shut down.
Discord, a forum popular with gamers and fringe groups, confirmed to i Crooks had a profile on the platform but that it was not used to plan the shooting.
A spokesperson said: “We have identified an account that appears to be linked to the suspect; it was rarely utilized and we have found no evidence that it was used to plan this incident, promote violence, or discuss his political views.
“Discord strongly condemns violence of any kind, including political violence, and we will continue to coordinate closely with law enforcement.”
His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but would “wait until I talk to law enforcement” before speaking about his son.
The suspect was shot dead by the Secret Service after the assassination attempt.