Trump injured in shocking rally shooting, motive still unknown

Thomas Matthew Crooks, identified as the shooter, lived in Bethel Park near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This city is about an hour's drive from the site of Donald Trump's rally in Butler on Saturday. The 20-year-old is believed to have arrived there in a car later found to contain explosives.

Crooks climbed onto the roof of an industrial building, more than 328 feet away from the stage. A few minutes later, he fired shots from there. One of them injured the former U.S. president's ear.

What motivated the young man? The FBI claims they do not yet know his motive. Investigators are convinced that he acted alone and that there is no longer any threat to public safety.

Investigators stated that they have so far found no ties between the shooter and any specific ideology and that they are still searching his social media and other resources for clues. They also found no indications of mental illness. The young man had no prior legal issues.

The shooter graduated from a local high school in 2022. "From the information I have gathered from people I know who went to school with him, he was a typical average kid – very calm, relatively intelligent," said Allegheny County Councilman Dan Grzybek in an interview with WESA, NPR's news station in Pittsburgh.

American media reported that he was one of 20 students who received a $500 award for his mathematics and other sciences achievements.

Jason Kohler, one of the former students from Crooks's school, admitted that the young man "did not fit in with the rest" and was "a target" of taunts. He was believed to have been bullied by other students for not being able to "fit in" with them.

Another schoolmate who recently worked with him at the same company claims, "He wasn't the most popular student but was not bullied either." He added, "He was skinny, nerdy, and knowledgeable." He added that in high school, Crooks "had a good group of friends, and from what I saw, he seemed happy."

"He was the nicest guy I knew," he assured.

Crooks's classmate Sarah D'Angelo told The Wall Street Journal that he had "a few friends" at school and that he often played on the computer before classes.

"He never openly spoke about his political views or how much he hated Trump or anyone else," she assured.

After finishing school, Crooks worked as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home less than a mile from his family's home. Employees who spoke to the media on condition of anonymity claim they had no complaints about him, that he did his job diligently, was calm, and had no legal conflicts.

"The Washington Post" reported, citing the state's voter registry, that the 20-year-old was a Republican voter.

According to the Associated Press agency, campaign finance reports show that on January 20, 2021, the day Joe Biden was inaugurated as president of the United States, Crooks donated $15 to a group mobilizing Democrats to vote.

A spokesperson for Allegheny County admitted that the 20-year-old was registered as a Republican voter. In reality, however, he voted only once: in the 2022 midterm elections. Therefore, this year's presidential elections would have been the first in which he could cast a vote.