Everything We Know About The Man Who Tried To Assassinate Donald Trump

The failed assassins of American history are, to say the very least, an unusual bunch, yet they all had a self-professed reason. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was not only a member of the notorious Charles Manson family, but was also one of two people who tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford, claiming she wanted to protest the felling of California's redwoods. For sheer, bizarre irrationality, there may be nothing to compete with John Hinckley Jr.'s motive of impressing Jodie Foster by assassinating a president, whether that president was Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan. But one of the more striking things in the ongoing investigation into Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old man who attempted to assassinate former president Donald Trump at a 2024 campaign rally, is that no motive has yet been found.

Indeed, as the authorities and media piece together the unusual circumstances surrounding the attempted assassination of Trump, it's been difficult to get a clear picture of Crook's life and what drove him to his ultimately fatal — for him — try at murder. But we're not without some knowledge about Crooks, especially his troubled school life. Here's everything we know about Crooks so far.

Thomas Matthew Crooks was a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh, and he had lived there since childhood. He grew up in a well-off and archetypal nuclear family, and was living with them at the time of his death.

Crooks attended Bethel Park High School, and interviews with his teachers and classmates have resulted in an inconsistent picture of him as a student. It's generally been agreed that he was a bright student; he received a National Math & Science Initiative Star Award in 2022, the year he graduated from high school. There's also a consensus that he was a loner who kept to himself. But memories vary as to whether he was a victim of bullying (some say yes, some say no) or whether he was outspoken in his political views (some say not at all, others that he was quietly assertive). He participated in few school activities, but did try and join the rifle team; he was considered such a poor shot he was asked not to try again.

After graduating high school, Crooks enrolled in the Community College of Allegheny County and obtained an associate degree in engineering science in May 2024. He was working as a dietary aide at a state transitional care facility and was well regarded by his employers. Crooks' criminal record was also clean.

As of mid-July 2024, the investigation into Thomas Matthew Crooks' attempted assassination of Donald Trump is ongoing. It's been determined that the weapon he used — an AR-15-style rifle — was purchased legally by Crooks' father 11 years prior. The car he drove to Trump's rally was found to have an explosive device in the trunk. But why Crooks had these things, and why he used them the way he did, remains elusive. Unusual for a 20-year-old, his social media presence was almost nonexistent, and what little there was has yielded no answers for Crooks' motives. Cracking into Crook's phone, recovered at the scene of his death, has reportedly led only to modest leads.

There's little to go on in Crooks' family history or past activities either. He left only vague and inconsistent political footprints behind: Crook's father and sister are registered Libertarians, his mother is a registered Democrat, and he himself registered as a Republican shortly after turning 18. Some who knew him as a student say he never expressed any political views, but others remember him as interested in government and economics. A fellow mock debate student said that Crooks was quietly but consistently in the conservative camp, but his only reported political donation was $15 to a Democratic PAC. Neighbors recalled seeing Trump signs in the Crooks' lawn, and the Trump campaign targeted Crooks' father as a pro-gun swing voter in 2016.

Barring a major breakthrough in the case, we may never know the ideological motive behind Crooks' actions — assuming he had any. He may well have been out for infamy or chaos for its own sake.