Thomas Matthew Crooks

Thomas Matthew Crooks, identified by law enforcement and the FBI as the gunman who opened fire while former President Donald Trump was speaking at a rally Saturday, registered to vote as a Republican as soon as he turned 18, and also contributed to a Democratic political action committee.

Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper within moments of sending a volley of rounds toward the podium in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was holding a campaign rally. Law enforcement officials are treating the shooting as an apparent assassination attempt.

Public records show Crooks registered to vote in September 2021, the month he turned 18. He registered as a Republican. Federal Election Commission records show he donated $15 to ActBlue, a Democratic political action committee, eight months earlier on the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Crooks last voted in the November 2022 general election.

Crook’s father, Matthew Crooks has declined to comment to the media, saying he is waiting to speak to law enforcement. Records show Matthew Crooks and his wife, Mary, are both licensed counselors in Pennsylvania. They also have a 22-year-old daughter.

Records show Matthew Crooks is a registered Libertarian, while Mary Crooks is registered as a Democrat. Their daughter is registered as a Republican.

The Crooks live in Bethel Park, a middle-class suburb of Pittsburgh about 35 miles south of where the rally was held. Shortly after the FBI identified him as the apparent shooter, The New York Times and other outlets turned up video showing a young white man named Thomas Crooks receiving his diploma from Bethel Park High School in 2022.

Online records indicate that the Crooks and their extended family have long lived in the Pittsburgh area. Thomas Crooks’ paternal grandfather was a barber and his paternal grandmother was an accountant.

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