On July 13, 2024, a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was injured and bleeding from his right ear, while one person at the rally was killed and two others were critically hurt. Secret Service agents quickly responded and shot Crooks dead. However, it was not the first; as documented by GreatGameInternational, this shocking incident marked the ninth assassination attempt on Trump’s life.
UPDATE: As this is an ongoing investigation, this page will be updated regularly as new information come in. Refer to the Table of Contents for easy navigation.
At a June 18, 2016, rally for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in Las Vegas, Michael Steven Sandford tried to grab a police officer’s pistol to kill Trump and stop him from becoming president. After his arrest, Sandford admitted his plan and was charged with disorderly conduct and being an “illegal alien in possession of a firearm” because he had rented a gun at a shooting range. On September 13, 2016, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to just over a year in prison. He served 11 months before being deported to the UK.
Sandford, a British citizen with a long history of mental health issues, sparked criticism of the UK’s mental health care system. Although the incident didn’t get much media attention in the U.S., it was the focus of a BBC documentary in February 2017.
On September 6, 2017, in Mandan, North Dakota, Gregory Lee Leingang stole a forklift from an oil refinery and tried to drive it toward President Trump’s motorcade during a visit. The forklift got stuck, and Leingang fled on foot but was quickly caught by police. In custody, he shocked authorities by revealing he intended to flip the president’s limousine with the forklift. They had assumed he was just stealing it for personal use. Leingang pleaded guilty to the attempted attack, stealing the forklift, and other unrelated crimes. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with his defense attorney citing a “serious psychiatric crisis.”
In Manila’s Rizal Park, a man linked to ISIL was arrested by the Philippine National Police for plotting to assassinate Trump during the ASEAN Summit in November, 2017. The Secret Service had been on high alert due to ISIL’s presence in the Philippines and numerous online threats against Trump. Just before Trump’s plane landed, they identified a serious threat from a man who had posted his intentions on social media. The Secret Service swiftly located and arrested him. The government kept the incident under wraps for a year before revealing it in a television documentary.
On October 1, 2018, an envelope containing ricin was sent to President Trump but was intercepted at a mailing facility. Similar letters, marked with “Jack and the Missile Bean Stock Powder,” were also sent to the Pentagon. Two days later, William Clyde Allen III, a 39-year-old Navy veteran from Utah, was arrested. He was charged with sending threats to the president and mailing threatening communications to U.S. officials. Allen pleaded not guilty to all charges.
BREAKING
Just a day before assassination attempt on Trump, a US Air Force helicopter used to transport VIPs and dignitaries around the D.C. area and also assigned President Donald Trump’s security was shot at from the ground over Virginia.https://t.co/gyAd01XvMv
A U.S. Air Force helicopter, used to transport VIPs including President Trump, was shot at while flying over Virginia, injuring a crew member in August of 2020. The UH-1N Huey helicopter, assigned to Joint Base Andrews just outside of Washington, D.C., was conducting a routine training flight roughly 1,000 feet above the ground before it was forced to make an emergency landing, after being struck by a bullet. The helicopter was assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron, which supports the movement of the president to and from Andrews, where Air Force One is also based.
TRUMP EVACUATED from White House press briefing room by US Secret Service. An agent locked the briefing room doors from the exterior. pic.twitter.com/El9Xi4lAlE
A day later in August of 2020, another assassination attempt on President Donald Trump was thwarted by the Secret Service when shots were fired outside the White House. After a press briefing, Trump revealed that someone was shot and taken to the hospital, but the Secret Service assured that the White House was never in danger. The incident heightened tensions, especially as Trump had promised to declassify the remaining JFK files. Interestingly, the incident coincided with Bob Dylan’s new song referencing the JFK assassination and the mysterious deaths of Kennedy family members, sparking further intrigue.
On September 20, 2020, Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier was arrested in Buffalo, New York, while trying to cross into Canada. The Canadian woman had sent a letter to Trump laced with ricin, urging him to drop out of the 2020 presidential race and calling him an “ugly tyrant clown.” She faced eight charges related to biological weapons and making threats across state lines, potentially leading to life in prison. On August 17, 2023, a U.S. court sentenced Ferrier to nearly 22 years for the ricin letter sent to then-President Trump.
In October 2020, Barry Croft Jr., a man from Delaware, was arrested for plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Shocking details revealed that he wanted to hang several politicians, including Trump. Fast forward to December 2022, and Croft was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his dangerous actions.
Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States and the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 election, was shot in the upper right ear on July 13, 2024, during a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, climbed onto a roof and fired eight rounds from an AR-15–style rifle before being taken out by a Secret Service sniper.
After the shot, Trump hit the ground but quickly got back up, bleeding from his ear. Surrounded by Secret Service agents, he asked for his shoes, pumped his fist in the air, and shouted “fight, fight” before being rushed to a vehicle. He was taken to the hospital and released in stable condition, then flew to New Jersey.
Sadly, one rally attendee was killed, and two others were critically injured. The incident is being investigated as an attempted assassination, marking the first time a U.S. president has been injured in such an attack since Ronald Reagan in 1981, and the first for a candidate since George Wallace in 1972.
Former President Donald Trump is set to be the Republican nominee for the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Just two days before the 2024 Republican National Convention, Trump held a rally on July 13, 2024, at the Butler Farm Show Grounds in Pennsylvania, aiming to win votes in this crucial swing state.
The rally, part of Trump’s campaign to secure Pennsylvania’s 19 Electoral College votes, drew an estimated 50,000 people according to Butler County Republican Committee chairman James E. Hulings. Despite concerns from U.S. Representative Mike Kelly about the venue’s capacity, the Trump campaign decided to go ahead with the location.
Security at Trump’s rallies is tight, with attendees screened for prohibited items, including weapons.
At 6:11 p.m. EDT during a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, former President Donald Trump was shot. Just six minutes into his speech, Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots from an AR-15–style rifle from a roof about 200 to 400 feet away, outside the security perimeter. A Secret Service sniper immediately took down Crooks.
One bullet hit Trump in the upper right ear. He ducked as Secret Service agents shielded him. After about 25 seconds on the ground, Trump stood up, blood on his ear and face, and asked for his shoes. He then pumped his fist, prompting the crowd to chant “U-S-A!” before he was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Three rally-goers were hit; one died, and two were critically injured. Among the injured was U.S. Representative Ronny Jackson’s nephew, who was grazed by a bullet.
On July 14, the FBI identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about an hour’s drive from the rally site. Crooks, a 2022 graduate of Bethel Park High School, had once won a $500 award from the National Math and Science Initiative and had no criminal record.
Although Crooks was a registered Republican, he made a small donation of $15 through the Democratic platform ActBlue on January 20, 2021. He last voted in the 2022 Pennsylvania elections. Photos showed him wearing a shirt linked to Demolition Ranch, a popular YouTube channel about firearms.
The motive for the attack remains unclear.
Trump rally shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club in Pennsylvania, which has a 200-yard rifle range, according to the club’s attorney. Attorney Robert Bootay confirmed Crooks’ membership but said the club cannot comment further due to ongoing investigations.
“The Club fully condemns the senseless violence that occurred yesterday. We offer our sincerest condolences to the Comperatore family and extend our prayers to all those injured, including the former President,” Bootay stated to CNN.
Bootay did not reveal when Crooks last visited the club or if he used the rifle range. Clairton is located 11 miles east of Bethel Park, where Crooks lived.
After being shot, Trump was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital. He left the hospital around 9:30 p.m. EDT, heading to Pittsburgh International Airport, and then flew to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, arriving early on July 14. Both Trump and a Secret Service spokesman confirmed he was safe.
The FBI, along with the Department of Justice, Secret Service, and ATF, is investigating the incident as an assassination attempt. This marks the first time a current or former U.S. president or presidential candidate has been shot since Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Trump released a statement on Truth Social, thanking law enforcement and the Secret Service, and expressing condolences to the victims’ families. He described the moment he was shot: “It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country. I heard a whizzing sound and immediately felt the bullet rip through my skin, causing much bleeding.”
In response to the shooting, the NYPD increased security at Trump Tower.
After the shooting, authorities retrieved Crooks’s body from the rooftop. He had no identification on him. The FBI and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division launched investigations and confirmed Crooks’s identity through fingerprint biometrics and DNA profiling.
Forensic experts found that three different guns were fired at the Trump rally. The first three shots matched gun A, the next five matched gun B, and the final sound came from a possible gun C. This analysis was done by Catalin Grigoras and Cole Whitecotton from the National Center for Media Forensics at the University of Colorado in Denver.
Audio analysis showed that the shooter was about 360 to 393 feet from the podium, according to forensics expert Robert Maher. The shots had a “crack-pop” sound, which happens when a bullet travels faster than the speed of sound and then you hear the gun firing. This means the shooter was about 110 to 120 meters from the microphone, with bullets traveling at 2,600 to 3,280 feet per second, Maher explained to CNN.
Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, posted a video on July 14 questioning the Secret Service’s failure to protect former President Donald Trump from the assassination attempt. He argued that this failure could mean one of two things: either the Secret Service is completely incompetent or they were involved in allowing the attack to happen.
On July 1, independent candidate for US Senate-NY 2024, Diane Sare warned of a possible attack on Trump. She warned of this in the context of the failed assassination attempt against Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who miraculously survived after being hit by several bullets on May 15. Like President Fico, former President Donald Trump is committed to bringing an end to the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
Just after the attempt to assassinate Donald Trump on July 13, something strange happened. The mainstream media started telling a story that felt like gaslighting. Rumors spread that reporters were told not to use words like “assassination” or “shooting” because the situation was “unclear.” Whether these rumors were true or not, a quick glance at the major headlines from that Saturday night made it clear something was off.
The legacy media is a pure propaganda machine. 𝕏 is the voice of the people. https://t.co/oTKsmrIMms
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 14, 2024
The New York Times just published this about Trump today.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 14, 2024
They are truly callous and despicable human beings. Not a shred of empathy. pic.twitter.com/zPmP4pj0bC
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One Response
Why is he not protected by bullet proof glass at these speeches?