He was a young white man in his 20s, a registered Republican, preparing to vote for the first time in the US presidential election. From atop a building about 400 feet above, Thomas Matthew Crooks fired several shots at a Donald Trump rally. He struck the former US president in the ear, killed the man and wounded two people in the room in Butler, Pennsylvania, before he was shot and killed by police.
Despite all the media coverage of the attack around the world, little information has been released about Thomas Matthew Crooks. All indications are that the young man was an “ordinary” white boy. He had no criminal record or apparent motive for planning an attack of this scale.
Thomas Matthew Crooks graduated with honors from Bethel Park High School in 2022. He even received a $500 award from the National Math and Science Initiative.
It is known that the young man did not always have a Republican affiliation. When he was 17, he donated $15 (€13.7) to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for Democratic and left-wing politicians. The donation was intended for the Progressive Turnout Project, a national group that mobilizes Democrats to vote.