Butler, United States:

A 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, Thomas Matthew Crooks, has been identified as the suspected shooter who tried to assassinate former president Donald Trump at a campaign rally this weekend.

Secret Service snipers killed Crooks on Saturday after he fired multiple shots at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, from a nearby rooftop.

As authorities seek to understand his motivations, here is what we know of the alleged gunman:

‘Quiet’

Crooks’ former schoolmates described him as a “quiet” student who often came across as “lonely,” ABC News reported.

But although he seemed “socially reserved,” a former schoolmate did not recall hearing him discuss politics or Trump, according to ABC.

Trump, 78, was hit in the ear at the rally. A bystander was killed and two spectators critically injured in the worst act of US political violence in decades.

Jason Kohler, who said he attended the same high school as Crooks, said the alleged shooter had often been bullied.

“He was quiet but he was just bullied. He was bullied so much,” Kohler told reporters.

He said Crooks had been made fun of for the way he dressed, noting that he would sometimes wear hunting outfits.

No military ties

Following the shooting, investigators found a “suspicious device” in Crooks’ car, which was inspected by bomb technicians and is being analysed.

They noted that explosive devices have been collected as evidence.

Authorities are now in the process of searching Crooks’ phone.

Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, told reporters Sunday that the gun used in the shooting was an AR-style semiautomatic rifle which was purchased legally.

Investigators believe the weapon used was purchased by Crooks’ father, but it was unclear how he accessed the weapon.

Rojek added that there were no indications so far of any mental health issues.

Crooks also did not have military affiliations, according to Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder.

The FBI told reporters that they are investigating the incident as an assassination attempt and also potential domestic terrorism act.

Acted alone

The shooter was believed to be working alone, according to the FBI, and officials said they have not identified an ideology associated with him.

His political leanings were not instantly clear.

News reports indicated he was a registered Republican, but also noted that he previously gave money to a Democratic-aligned progressive political action committee.

While social media platform Discord said it had identified an account that appeared linked to the suspect, this was “rarely utilized.”

A spokesperson added that “we have found no evidence that it was used to plan this incident, promote violence, or discuss his political views.”

The suspect’s father Matthew Crooks earlier told CNN that he was trying to establish “what the hell is going on” before speaking about his son.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Rivals Joe Biden and Donald Trump urged Americans to show unity Sunday after an assassination attempt on the Republican put the nation on edge in the run-up to the presidential election.

President Biden said he would address the nation from the Oval Office later in the day, a step only taken at times of grave crisis, after his 78-year-old predecessor was hit in the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now,” Biden said in brief remarks from the White House, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and his homeland security chief.

The 81-year-old Democrat said he had a “short but good conversation” on Saturday with Trump, his political nemesis whom he regularly brands as a threat to democracy.

Biden said the motives of the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, remained unknown and urged people not to make assumptions about his “afflations.”

A day after being rushed from the stage by Secret Service agents with blood streaked across his face, Trump made a similar call.

“In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United,” Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social network, adding that Americans should not allow “Evil to win.”

The tycoon added that it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening” and that he would “FEAR NOT.”

Trump’s wife Melania called the shooter a “monster.”

Security failure?

Secret Service snipers killed Crooks after he fired multiple shots at the rally from a nearby rooftop. A bystander was killed and two spectators critically injured in the worst act of US political violence in decades.

Biden said he had ordered a full review of security at the rally, as well as at this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee where Trump will be crowned the party’s presidential nominee.

Biden also praised the victim, named as Corey Comperatore, saying the victim “was protecting his family from the bullets.”

Questions are swirling about the motive of shooter Crooks, whose body was seen in television images on a low roof of a building, near a weapon understood to have been an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle.

Investigators had found explosive material in his car parked near the scene, US media said, while the FBI also searched his house.

The shooter, reportedly a registered Republican, was believed to be working alone.

His father Matthew Crooks told CNN that he was trying to establish “what the hell is going on.”

The shocking incident also drew criticism of security at the rally, particularly about how a presidential candidate could be targeted by a gunman around 150 meters away despite a huge Secret Service detail.

US Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi rejected “absolutely false” claims that it had refused additional protection for Trump ahead of the rally.

Shock waves

The attempt on Trump’s life sent shock waves around the world, but the effects on a tight US presidential race in a deeply divided country are uncertain.

Trump’s family has already been promoting images of the president raising a defiant fist to the crowd after the shooting.

Trump said that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear” and heard a “whizzing sound.”

His narrow escape has sparked conspiracy theories and finger-pointing by Republicans. Possible Trump vice presidential pick J.D. Vance claimed Biden’s campaign “rhetoric” had “led directly” to the attack.

US politics have become increasingly hostile, with Trump building his image around inflammatory verbal assaults, and many Democrats expressing fury and disgust at Trump’s rise.

World leaders expressed outrage over the assassination attempt, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying he condemned it “unequivocally.”

The United States has a history of political violence. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 while President Ronald Reagan was shot but survived an assassination attempt in 1981.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he is rushed offstage during a rally after an assisation attempt on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images via AFP

As he survived an assassination attempt by a whisker in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, Republican Donald J. Trump’s image underwent an abrupt makeover. From defending charges of being an instigator and an authoritarian-in-waiting, he will now be seen as a target of political violence.

Mr. Trump’s defiant response in the face of death with his fist raised against the backdrop of an American flag could blunt his Democrat rival Joe Biden’s strategy of a counter polarisation, and reinforce his messianic claims. The bid on Mr. Trump’s life could derail the wobbly script that Mr. Biden struggled to put together after his meltdown in the presidential debate on June 27.

Also Read : Trump rally shooting LIVE

Mr. Trump is seen as a divisive figure of U.S. politics, but Mr. Biden’s re-election bid is also premised on polarisation. With the Democrat base itself conflicted over his politics, Mr. Biden has raised the decibel on rhetoric on domestic and international questions to unify his party. All that adds up to a very elementary claim that Mr. Trump would be worse.

On two polarising domestic questions that can unite the progressives, Mr. Biden has raised the stakes since the debate — gun control and abortion decontrol. The Biden campaign has sought to corner Mr. Trump on both questions. The battleground States that turned by narrow margins in 2016, and 2020, are being addressed on these two questions which would not only charge up the Democrat base but also potentially swing women voters from the Republican side too. Against the backdrop of his accelerating gaffe train, Mr. Biden amplified his messaging on these two questions, contrasting himself with Mr. Trump in stark terms.

‘Washington Playbook’

But this has not stopped the chatter about his fitness to run for another term. In fact, it is growing into a clamour, being repeated by Democrat seniors and American strategists across the political divide. Mr. Biden has sought to talk up the Russia-China axis in recent weeks — though he mistook Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for ‘President Putin’.

Mr. Trump’s first term had significantly disrupted what former President Barack Obama had described as ‘Washington Playbook,’ — the standard, usually militarised response to most global events. By confronting China and appearing friendly to Russia, Mr. Trump’s first term had disrupted this playbook.

Mr. Trump’s first term institutionalised rivalry with China in U.S. strategy, and Mr. Biden turned it into a new cold war by talking up the danger of an axis between Russia and China. This focus on Russia and China also helped Mr. Biden skirt two foreign policy setbacks under his watch — the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan without achieving the stated strategic goals and Israel’s war on Gaza that has scattered the Democrats.

On all these points, Mr. Biden’s claim of legitimacy has been that he is the most effective counter to Mr. Trump and his instincts. The stark scenarios that Mr. Biden portrays involve a double barrel polarisation — a U.S.-led world order threatened by an authoritarian Russia-China axis and the U.S. democracy threatened by fascism fuelled by MAGA [Make America Great Again] Republicans.

Mr. Trump is a common factor in Mr. Biden’s campaign narrative, which shows the former President as a stooge of Mr. Putin. The gunman in Pennsylvania has not merely dismantled this grand narrative of Mr. Biden’s claim of his own inevitability despite his infirmities but also reinforced the talking points of Mr. Trump.

Trump’s narrative

Mr. Trump has always claimed that he is a victim of a deep state conspiracy that undermined his first presidency, and thwarted his re-election in 2020. He has also, repeatedly, alluded to “a divine plan” in his politics — a theme that got an instant boost in social media chatter after his miraculous escape from the bullet on Saturday. Mr. Trump’s other talking points — American weakness, leftist conspiracies, and his claims of being a fighter and a true patriot, all fall in place for a perfect storm of a campaign for him on the eve of the Republican National Convention that begins on Monday in Milwaukee.

Mr. Trump presents himself as a strong leader and accuses Mr. Biden of being weak. By appearing unruffled and combative with blood dripping from his bullet injury, Trump can claim to have lived up to his boast. In the coming weeks, he is sure to use this to amplify his politics.

The person who died in a shooting at former US President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday was identified as 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, according to his family’s posting on Facebook.

“The PA Trump Rally claimed the life of my brother, Corey Comperatore. The hatred for one man took the life of the one man we loved the most,” the victim’s sister said in the post on Sunday.

Comperatore previously served as the chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department, according to a report by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Butler:

The gunman who opened fire at a Donald Trump rally had explosives in his car, US media reported Sunday, as investigators probed the attempted assassination of the Republican presidential candidate.

The Wall Street Journal and CNN said that explosive materials were found in a car belonging to shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, which was reportedly parked near the campaign event venue in Butler, Pennsylvania.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Donald Trump said Sunday it was divine intervention that helped him survive an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, and called on Americans to unite.

“It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” the former US president and White House hopeful said on social media, urging fellow Americans to unite in “not allowing Evil to Win.”

Trump was hit in the ear in an assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally Saturday, in a chaotic and shocking incident set to supercharge political tensions ahead of the US presidential election.

The 78-year-old former president was rushed off stage with blood streaked across his face after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, while the shooter and a bystander were killed and two spectators were critically injured.

President Joe Biden, who is set to face Trump in November’s deeply polarized presidential election, said there was “no place in America for this kind of violence.”

“In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Sunday morning, confirming that he would attend the Republican National Convention, which begins on Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Butler, United States:

A gunman lays on his stomach on a rooftop with a rifle in hand, then screams ring out, a video published by US outlet TMZ on Saturday shows.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.

BREAKING: CLEAREST VIDEO OF THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS SHOOTING AT PRESIDENT TRUMP

A newly obtained video from TMZ shows the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, firing at former President Donald Trump before being shot. In the background, a woman is heard… pic.twitter.com/UxQTwPOMIU

— Only Mob King (@OnlyMobKing) July 14, 2024

The FBI identified the gunman, who was shot dead by the US Secret Service, as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from the US state’s Bethel Park, according to US media.

The video published by TMZ shows the alleged shooter laying on his belly on a rooftop and aiming a rifle.

“The guy has longer brown hair, and he seems to be wearing a grey shirt/khaki pants — and as you can see, he’s carefully trying to pinpoint a target from afar before pulling the trigger,” TMZ reported.

The man is not shown firing in the published footage. But a quick succession of gunshots is heard followed by screams from people off-camera.

“He’s turning this way, be careful guys,” a man is heard saying.

“Somebody got shot,” another voice says. “He’s right there, laying down.”

“Dude, that’s exactly why we need… Trump here,” another man is heard saying.

“Secret Service don’t (mess) around,” another man says.

A second video published by TMZ shows shaky footage of the same rooftop and a blurred body.

“You can see the guy there,” a person off-camera says. “I think they hit him because the guy, he looks dead.”

Another video posted by a TikTok user shows Trump touching his right ear just after multiple bangs are heard.

In the same frame, a security force sniper, positioned on a roof behind the Republican presidential candidate, is seen taking aim with a rifle mounted on a stand.

AFP did not independently verify the videos, and it is unclear whether the sniper fired the weapon.

Trump then crouches down behind the lectern as Secret Service agents move in around him. Screams are heard in the crowd.

He is later escorted off stage by agents.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he leaves the stage at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa.
| Photo Credit: AP

SpaceX and Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk on July 14 ‘fully’ endorsed Donald Trumpfollowing an assassination attempt on the Republican Presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania.

A bleeding Trump was rushed off the stage of the rally by the U.S. Secret Service after the shooting by a 20-year-old gunman who the FBI identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks. The gunman and a bystander were killed while two spectators were also critically injured.

Also Read | Trump rally shooting LIVE updates

“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Mr. Musk said in a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter, which he owns. Mr. Musk shared a video of Trump raising his fist and saying “fight, fight” after he was shot at while being escorted away by Secret Service officials.

A bullet pierced upper part of my ear, says Trump

Trump, after the assassination attempt said he was shot at during his rally in Pennsylvania and a bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear. In his first statement issued on the social media platform Truth Social, 78-year-old Trump thanked the U.S. Secret Service for saving his life. 

“I want to thank the United States Secret Service, and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response to the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania,” the former president said. 

“Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country,” he said. 

Elon Musk donates ‘sizeable’ amount to Trump campaign

Earlier, according to a Bloomberg report, Elon Musk gave a “sizeable” amount to the America PAC, that will be used in the reelection bid of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The owner of X’s donation towards Trump campaign comes months after he said he would not spend money on either the Trump or President Joe Biden as the two prepare for a new rematch for the White House.

Musk has also been critical of Mr. Biden on X, criticising the sitting president over his allegiance to unions and his immigrations policies.