Here’s What We Know About The Trump Rally Shooter

In the hours and days following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally on Saturday, law enforcement officials and the public are looking for information about the shooter who killed one attendee and wounded three, including the Republican presidential candidate himself .

The FBI has identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks , a resident of suburban Pittsburgh who was killed by law enforcement on Saturday soon after opening fire from a rooftop near the rally. As of Sunday, law enforcement officials still have not shared a possible motive for the shooting.

Here’s what investigators have revealed so far in their probe of Crooks and the shooting — which they said they are treating as a case of attempted assassination and “possible domestic terrorism.”

He worked at a nursing home, where ‘his background check was clean.’

After Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, he began working as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

The facility learned on Sunday morning that Crooks was behind the shooting at Trump’s rally, according to a statement by administrator Marcie Grimm that was obtained by CNN .

The home is cooperating with authorities and can only give limited information due to the ongoing investigation.

“We are shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement as Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his job without concern and his background check was clean,” Grimm said in the statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Former President Trump and the victims impacted by this terrible tragedy.”

Records showed that Crooks had no criminal cases against him.

Police continue to block off roads around Thomas Matthew Crooks' home as the FBI carries out its investigation into the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

He does not appear to have an active social media presence.

As of Sunday, the FBI has not identified any underlying ideology or concerning social media posts from Crooks. In fact, Crooks did not appear to have much of a digital footprint at all.

Social media company Discord was one of the lone platforms to release a statement saying it found an account that may belong to Crooks, but it noted there was nothing concerning that would lead investigators to suspect any extremist ideology.

“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 or discuss his political views,” Discord said in a statement obtained by CNN . “Discord strongly condemns violence of any kind, including political violence, and we will continue to coordinate closely with law enforcement.”

It’s unclear where Crooks stood on the political spectrum.

The 20-year-old was likely not old enough to vote in the 2020 election, but records show that Crooks was a registered Republican in Pennsylvania at the time of his death.

However, according to federal campaign finance reports, Crooks gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021 — the day President Joe Biden was sworn into office.

A resident of the small town Crooks lived in told The Washington Post on Sunday that the community is very tight-knit, but that, until recently, people mostly refrained from talking about politics.

“We don’t talk about religion, we don’t talk about politics, we don’t talk about sexual orientation or whether or not you got a COVID shot,” Stephen Diethorn, who owns a diner in the area, told the Post. “The reason is it causes arguments.”

He was a member of a local gun club.

The Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, an area gun club, confirmed with CBS and NBC News that Crooks was a member and had been for at least a year. The group’s website notes that the club is on 180 acres of land and includes a rifle range of up to 200 yards.

“We can confirm that Mr. Crooks was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club,” Bill Sellitto, the club’s president, told the publications in a statement. “Beyond that, the club is unable to make any additional commentary in relation to this matter in light of pending law enforcement investigations.”

“Obviously, the Club fully admonishes the senseless act of violence that occurred yesterday,” it continued.

He used an AR-style rifle while having had no military training.

Authorities said they discovered an AR-style rifle they believed was used by Crooks, though the gun was actually purchased by his father. It’s currently unclear if Crooks was given the weapon, or if he had taken it without permission.

In addition to the rifle, authorities said they found a possible “rudimentary” explosive device in Crooks’ vehicle . The FBI has sent Crooks’ phone, the gun and the potential explosive to the agency’s lab in Quantico, Virginia.

Crooks’ father told CNN late Saturday that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on,” but that he would not speak about his son until after he spoke with law enforcement. The family is cooperating with the FBI, according to investigators.

Crooks had tried out for the rifle team in high school — not unusual in some parts of Pennsylvania — but was rejected for allegedly being a bad shooter, according to the team’s current captain who spoke to The Associated Press .

At the time of the shooting, Crooks was less than 150 meters from where Trump was speaking — a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with an M16 rifle, according to AP. Crooks appeared to not have ties to the U.S. military, according to Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder.

Images of Crooks’ body appear to show him wearing a gray T-shirt with a black American flag on the right arm. The T-shirt is from Demolition Ranch, a YouTube channel that posts videos of its Texas-based creator, Matt Carriker, shooting targets like human mannequins using handguns and assault rifles.

Carriker posted a photo of Crooks’ corpse on social media with the comment: “What the hell.”

He likely worked alone in opening fire on the rally.

The FBI said its agents believe that Crooks acted alone in carrying out the shooting and was likely not involved in a larger violent scheme with others.

“At this time, the information that we have indicates that the shooter acted alone — and that there are currently no public safety concerns at present,” lead investigator Kevin Rojek told reporters.

Investigators also said they have found no evidence so far of Crooks struggling with his mental health. The majority of people who have mental illnesses do not engage in violence against others — in fact, they are more likely to be victims of violence than to be perpetrators of it, according to the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns Hopkins University .