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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nA bullet grazed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s upper right ear, leaving him bloodied but not seriously injured. One rally attendee was killed in the gunfire and two others were “critically injured,” authorities later said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s what we know:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who is the shooter at the rally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the person behind the assassination attempt. Agency officials released little additional information, saying its investigation remains active and ongoing. They did not indicate what Crooks’ motive might have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is Crooks’ background?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crooks is registered to vote as a Republican in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, according to county voter records. His voter registration status has been active since 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal Election Commission records show that in January 2021, Crooks made a $15 donation to the Progressive Turnout Project, a group working to increase voter turnout for Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Born Sept. 20, 2003, Crooks does not have a criminal record in Pennsylvania, nor has he been sued there, according to state court records. There is no record of him in federal court databases, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n\n\n Crooks’ home address is listed in Bethel Park, a suburb in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, voter records show. That three-bedroom brick house has been owned since 1998 by Matthew and Mary Crooks, who appear to be his parents. Telephone calls to the couple were not returned overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Near the Crooks home, Dean Sierka, 52, said he had known Crooks and his parents for years, as neighbors separated by only a few houses. Sierka\u2019s daughter, Lily Sierka, attended school with Crooks from elementary school through Bethel Park High School, and said she remembers him as quiet and shy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dean and his daughter Lily said they would see Crooks at least once a week, often when Crooks was walking to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t have expected this,\u201d Dean Sierka said. \u201cThe parents and the family are all really nice people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Thomas Crooks graduated two years ago from Bethel Park High School, according to an online video of the ceremony, and was included in a 2022 local news article about recipients of a National Math & Science Initiative Star Award at the public high school, which enrolls about 1,300 students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jason Kohler attended Bethel Park High School with Crooks and said he remembers the 20-year-old sat alone at lunch and was \u201cbullied every day.\u201d Kids picked on Crooks for wearing camouflage to class and his quiet demeanor, Kohler, 21, said. Since hearing Crooks has been named as the shooter, Kohler has been speaking with classmates who knew him, most of whom are stunned by the news. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to comprehend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where is Bethel Park, Pennsylvania?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bethel Park is a suburb of Pittsburgh and home to more than 32,000 people \u2013 about one thousand fewer than four years ago, according to the latest Census estimates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The majority-white, mostly college-educated community has a median household income of $102,177. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Described as a charming retreat from the hustle and bustle of the big city to its north, Bethel Park boasts tree-line streets, friendly neighborhoods and a low crime rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bethel Park is about 42 miles south of Butler, where the Trump rally was held. The leafy suburban street was alive with law enforcement overnight amid a multi-agency response to the shooting. A member of the Allegheny County bomb squad told reporters his team was headed into the house around midnight, but did not say why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For hours afterward, the scene remained quiet, with deer passing under the police tape and an occasional neighbor stepping out of their house to see what was happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Wolf, a local construction superintendent who lives down the road, said he\u2019d talked with several worried neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople are scared,\u201d Wolf said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How did Crooks shoot at Trump?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crooks had been positioned on a rooftop more than 100 yards from the rally site, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said. Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle from the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joseph Price, special agent in charge of the ATF in Pittsburgh, said the weapon used by the shooter was a rifle.\u201cIt was nothing special,\u201d he said in an interview in the parking lot of the Butler Township Municipal Building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Law enforcement is following up on a \u201cnumber of suspicious occurrences,\u201d said Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police, including accounts from witnesses who said they tried to flag police about the activity of a person outside the rally moments before the shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/newspress-collage-4oqc011l0-1720961959551.webp?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1\")
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