Attempt 1
On July 13th, 2024, Donald Trump was holding a rally when an assassin attempted to kill Trump at 6:11 p.m. They only managed to damage his right ear, but they killed one supporter behind him and severely injured another. The Secret Service killed the assassin quickly and no one else was harmed.(ABC News, Yee, Santana, Whitehurst, Orsi) (AP News, Osborne, Katersky, Klein, Margolin, Rubin, Thomas) (YouTube, PBS [8:35])
(YouTube, PBS [8:35])
Background of Crooks
The shooter was later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks a few hours later on Twitter by various users and then officially confirmed the following day,(Twitter, @akafacehots) (Twitter, @OnlyModKing) with the firearm being obtained by his father.(BBC, By Debusmann, Bateman, McArthur) Notably, he was rejected from joining the rifle team at his high school because he “shot terrible,” said a former student.(Newsweek, Nicholls)
Lead-up to the shooting
Secret service and initial information
Local police at the time notified the Secret Service of a “suspicious person” before the rally before 5:45 p.m.,(NBC News, Ainsley, Dienst, Winter, Arkin, Fitzpatrick) with pictures,(WSB-TV, Ford) including ones that had him with a rangefinder,(Fox News, Ruiz , Rumpf-Whitten ) (Newsweek, Lewis) although it’s unknown if the Secret Service viewed the photos of Crooks or knew he had a rangefinder, and it also unknown what time they were notified of the “suspicious man’s” presence.(NBC News, Ainsley, Dienst, Winter, Arkin, Fitzpatrick)
Quote
It is not clear what time the Secret Service was notified and whether it was before Trump took the stage on the grounds of the Butler Farm Show, a venue roughly 36 miles north of Pittsburgh. The U.S. official said the Secret Service was told of a suspicious person before local police discovered Crooks on the roof of a nearby glass research company’s building. That discovery occurred shortly before Crooks opened fire, according to two law enforcement sources.(NBC News, Ainsley, Dienst, Winter, Arkin, Fitzpatrick)
Local officers on scene
The officer who initially saw him as suspicious began to look for Crooks and noticed him on the rooftop. Once he was about to get onto the roof, Crooks pointed the gun at the officer and so they backed down.(YouTube, CBS Pittsburgh [1:18]) Crook’s was also noticed on a rooftop by another Beaver County ESU member around 30 minutes before the shooting at 5:45 p.m.(WSB-TV, Ford) The ESU member took one picture around 30 minutes before and the second one 26 minutes before of Crooks, but did not notice a firearm at the time.(WSB-TV, Ford)
Later on in an interview on the news, the sheriff of Beaver County mentioned that they had “no threats [that] we were aware of.”(YouTube, CBS Pittsburgh [2:40])
False identification from troll
A video surfaced supposedly from Crooks himself, but it was later confirmed it was a troll named “@jewgazing.”(Twitter, @lamps_apple) (Twitter, @lamps_apple) (Twitter, @ThePatriotOasis)
Attempt 2
On September 15th, 2024, shots were made against Donald Trump on a golf course.