FBI names Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, as ‘subject involved’ in Trump shooting

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is helped off the stage at a campaign event.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania as the “subject involved” in the attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump, it said in a statement on Sunday.

The shooting took place during a campaign rally at the Butler Park Showgrounds in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening.

In a social media post, Trump said he was “fine” after he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.” 

The former president was quickly whisked from the stage by Secret Service agents, his ear covered in blood. One attendee was killed and two others critically injured.

The political leanings of Crooks, who was shot dead by the Secret Service after the attempted assassination, were not immediately clear. 

Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on 20 January 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn in to office. Officials have not publicly disclosed a possible motive.

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Sunday that the airspace over the Bethel Park was closed “effective immediately” for special security reasons.

The US Secret Service has said its agents shot the suspected attacker after he fired toward Trump – who was speaking on stage at the time – “from an elevated position outside of the rally venue” in Butler county.

He thanked law enforcement officials for their “rapid response”.

Writing on Truth Social he said: “Mostly importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed and also to the family of [those] badly injured,” said Trump, who was taken to a hospital for evaluation and then reportedly discharged about 10.20pm local time.

“It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country.”