NEWS
The Suspect Who Tried to Assassinate Trump Comes from here and Things to know About Him
Authorities identified the gunman as a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pa., a town about an hour’s drive from the site of the shooting
He was interested in chess and coding, and had recently received an associate’s degree in engineering science. High school classmates remembered him as an intelligent student who had few friends, but who never exhibited any glaring red flags. The nursing home where he had a job helping with meals said his work gave its staff no reason for “concern.”
And in an era when other people his age put troves of personal information online, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, left few clues about who he was, what he believed, or why he decided to drive to a Trump rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday and try to assassinate the former president
On Sunday, federal investigators said a gunman they identified as Mr. Crooks had used an AR-15 style rifle purchased by his father to open fire from a rooftop outside the rally where the former president, Donald J. Trump, was speaking. In a series of new details, F.B.I. officials said they were investigating the incident as a possible case of domestic terrorism, and that the gunman had left behind explosives materials in the vehicle he drove to the event.