FBI believes shooter who tried to assassinate Donald Trump acted alone; Biden calls for nation to ‘dial the rhetoric down’

A defiant Donald Trump called for unity and resilience a day after surviving an attempted assassination at a campaign rally in Western Pennsylvania, while federal authorities worked feverishly Sunday to uncover more information about the background and motivations of the 20-year-old Allegheny County man named as the shooter.

The gunman, whom the FBI identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pa., opened fire Saturday evening from the rooftop of a building near the rally site at a fairgrounds in Butler, about an hour outside Pittsburgh, authorities said.

Former President Donald Trump told The Washington Examiner that he has rewritten the speech he was set to deliver at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Thursday after being the target of an attempted assassination at his rally Saturday.

“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he told the news outlet in an article posted Sunday evening.

President Biden on Sunday evening called on Americans to recommit themselves to using peaceful political rhetoric and striving for national unity following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

During a six-minute primetime address from the Oval Office, Biden said the shooting of his political rival during a rally in Butler, Pa. offers a chance for the nation to “dial the rhetoric down.”

Former President Donald Trump has arrived in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention a day after he was targeted in an attempted assassination at a campaign event.

Trump’s airplane touched down Sunday, the day before the four-day event kicks off with thousands of Republicans coming together to formally elect him as their 2024 presidential nominee.

Misinformation has spread widely in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

A whirlwind of conflicting conspiracy theories has blown across social media since the shooting Saturday by gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park,

A Pennsylvania Democratic official posted “A for effort” on Facebook Saturday shortly after former President Donald Trump was shot at his rally in the state. Defenders of the former president expressed outrage on social media, interpreting the post as mocking his assassination attempt.

But she said it was about her New York strip steak.

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, (R., Pa.), said he hoped the shooting would be the starting point for a change in political rhetoric away from personal attacks and towards policy disagreements. He said he hoped to be part of that change.

“I’d like to see us be more professional, be less personal, talk about policy, actually try to find common ground on what we can work on and advance,” he said.

At Zeidler Union Square, about a half mile from the convention center, a group of about 100 Trump supporters gathered with signs that said “PRAY 4 TRUMP,” and “GET WELL.”

Speakers led the group in prayers in the city’s oldest park. The event was organized by the conservative group Turning Points Action.

The U.S. Secret Service's security plan for the Republican National Convention will remain in place without additional changes following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, officials said at a Sunday news conference.

"During our extended planning efforts, we have accounted for various security scenarios that may arise, and we are confident in the plan we have implemented for the Republican National Convention," said the Secret Service's RNC coordinator Audrey Gibson-Cicchino. "That security plan will remain in place."

FBI officials say they believe the Trump rally shooter acted alone.

They have not yet identified an ideology, but they are combing through his social media feeds and the shooter’s weapons. So far, they have not found any threatening writing or social media posts.

Police have cordoned off all the surrounding roads that lead to the home of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man police say attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump. Authorities fatally shot Crooks after he fired multiple shots toward Trump, grazing the Republican presidential candidate in the ear. One spectator was killed and two others were injured.

Crooks’ family home in Bethel Park, a suburb just south of Pittsburgh, was surrounded by law enforcement and federal agents investigating the shooting. Public records show he lived in the neighborhood of Hillcrest, a seemingly ordinary lot of multi-sized single family homes. The roads that led to Crooks’ home were blocked by a police car on Sunday, with closed road signs dotting the street and a traffic attendant waving cars to a detour.

Not long before shots rang out, rallygoers noticed a man climbing to the roof of a nearby building and warned local police, according to two law enforcement officials.

One local police officer climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. Because the officer was gripping the roof’s edge, Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe said in an interview Sunday with The Washington Post, he didn’t have a gun in his hand and dropped back down to the ground.

The Republican National Convention was always going to be a celebration of former President Donald Trump and his pugilistic brand of politics and patriotism.

But the assassination attempt at his rally Saturday in Western Pennsylvania and images of him being escorted off stage, blood streaming down his face as he raised his fist, elevated his idolization among supporters who are prepared to give him a hero’s welcome this week when the party officially nominates him for president.

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate says threatening online rhetoric has been “ticking up” since the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

He says people are going online to pose as the shooter, who was killed by U.S. Secret Service.

State Rep. Stephenie Scialabba, a Republican from Butler County, was seated in the front row at Trump’s rally alongside other state lawmakers, members of Congress and Senate candidate Dave McCormick when shots began firing.

Scialabba heard people around her claim the popping was fireworks but then someone else yelled “mayday mayday.” The person behind her, she said, died and there was blood everywhere.

The Pennsylvania State Police released the names of the three attendees who were shot at former President Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday in Butler County.

The two surviving victims were identified as David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pa., and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pa. Both victims are hospitalized and in stable condition, according to state police. Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pa., was killed by the shooting.

Donald Trump will attend the Republican National Convention from day one, according to a post he made on Truth Social Sunday afternoon.

Trump said he had planned to delay his trip to the Milwaukee conference by two days in the wake of being shot at his Saturday rally.

Former classmates have recalled Thomas Crooks — the gunman who injured former President Trump and killed a local firefighter during a campaign rally on Saturday — as a loner, a constant target for bullies, and an outcast who wore “hunting” outfits to school.

But that wasn’t what Mark Sigafoos remembered of the quiet but friendly student he shared two classes with at Bethel Park High School.

During live remarks around 2 p.m. on Sunday, President Joe Biden said he had a “short but good conversation” with former President Donald Trump last night and that he is “sincerely grateful" that Trump is "doing well and recovering.”

Biden said Trump “already receives a heightened level of security," and that he’s “been consistent" in directing the Secret Service to provide Trump "with every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure his continued safety.”

President Joe Biden is postponing a trip to Austin, Texas, that had been planned for Monday after former President Donald Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania, the White House announced.

Biden will still sit for an interview with NBC's Lester Holt scheduled to air Monday evening, but it will take place at the White House instead of in Austin, according to an NBC spokesperson.

Max Ryan Smith, another Bethel Park High School graduate, recalled taking an American history course with suspected shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks as a sophomore. He said the assassination attempt had left the small, tight-knit community reeling.

“Everybody is in shock,” Smith said. “He was so quiet, I wouldn’t imagine him doing that. But I guess that was the same deal with Columbine.”

President Joe Biden will address the nation Sunday afternoon after a Situation Room briefing about the apparent assassination attempt on his predecessor, Donald Trump.

Biden is scheduled to speak at 1:30 p.m.

The multi-acre Butler Farm Show grounds where a gunman attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump during a rally on Saturday was secured and surrounded by police on Sunday as agents continue to investigate the shooting.

A few dozen journalists and spectators lined the perimeter of the vast property, located in a quiet Western Pennsylvania suburb about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. A massive American flag flew above the fairgrounds.

The man killed when shots broke out at former President Donald Trump’s rally Saturday was shielding his wife and daughters, a family member posted on Facebook.

His sister identified the victim on Facebook as 50-year-old Corey Comperatore.

Speaking to reporters in Butler County on Sunday morning Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, called for a cooling of political rhetoric and paid tribute to Corey Comperatore, who died at the rally.

The governor, however, declined to answer detailed questions about the shooting and rally security, noting that law enforcement would have updates.

Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick attended Saturday's rally in Butler, Pa., and was about to join Donald Trump on stage when the former president said for him to come up “a little later.”

“Had he not changed his mind, I think I would’ve been up on that stage,” McCormick said during an interview on CNN Sunday.

Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) called the shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Western Pennsylvania “horrific” and condemned the violence that occurred at an otherwise peaceful political rally.

“This is a terribly sad 24 hours for our commonwealth and our country,” Casey said during an interview on CNN Sunday morning. “We’re just grateful, despite the fact we lost a Pennsylvanian in this horrific shooting and we have two in the hospital, that President Trump was okay.”

Law enforcement officials tell The Associated Press bomb-making materials were found inside the vehicle of the man suspected in the Trump rally shooting. There were also bomb-making materials found at his home.

The two officials were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that investigators believe the weapon was bought by the father of Thomas Matthew Crooks, who’s been identified as the shooter, at least six months ago.

The officials said federal agents were still working to understand when and how Crooks obtained the gun and gather additional information about him as they worked to try to identify a possible motive. The investigation is focused on Crooks.

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa), who was in the first row of the rally with Rep. Mike Kelly (R., Pa.) and Republican Senate Candidate Dave McCormick, said there is “plenty of blame to go around” surrounding the heated political environment in the country in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“This president just gets vilified, President Trump I mean,” he said. “From fascism to Hitler to dictator … but I’m willing to state at the same time, we all need to take a responsibility to cool things down, to say what we mean but don’t say it mean, to not get personal, to have dialogue rather than attacks.”

The Tribune-Review reported that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspected gunman in a shooting at Donald Trump's Western Pennsylvania rally Saturday, graduated in 2022 from Bethel Hill High School, which has about 1,400 students.

In a recording of the graduation ceremony, Crooks, a slim young man wearing a black gown and classes, can be seen crossing the stage. He paused to pose for photos with a school official, amid modest applause, while accepting his diploma.

Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) said former President Donald Trump being shot at a rally in Western Pennsylvania was “a dark day for our nation” and called for political unity in the country.

“We just have to turn down the temperature,” Fetterman said during an interview on CNN, adding he was “grateful” Trump wasn’t seriously injured in what officials described as an assassination attempt.

The suspected shooter of former President Donald Trump was wearing a T-shirt from a popular Youtube channel that focused on firearms and explosives at the time of the would-be assassination.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Hill, Pa., can be seen in images confirmed by law enforcement wearing a T-shirt for “Demolition Ranch,” a channel boasting over 11 million subscribers. It typically features range footage of high-powered or exotic weaponry, skits and stunt challenges — like a video depicting hosts destroying a Hummer with gunfire.

In a post on Truth Social Sunday morning, former President Donald Trump called for unity after being wounded in what officials are describing as an assassination attempt at his rally Saturday.

“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.

At Gate B6 at Philadelphia International Airport, delegates headed to the Republican National Convention were processing the Butler rally shooting while looking ahead to the week of Republican Party events culminating in the nomination for former president Donald Trump.

“We need to be unified as a nation and a people and move forward,” Pennsylvania GOP chair Lawrence Tabas said as he waited for the flight. “Violence has no place in a political democracy and we just need to come together as a people.”

Former President Donald Trump returned to his club in Bedminster, N.J., early Sunday morning following Saturday's shooting at a rally in Butler, Pa., according to his campaign.

Trump is expected to arrive Monday for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which is beginning on schedule following the shooting.

Federal authorities on Sunday named Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa., as the gunman who shot at former president Donald Trump in what they described as an assassination attempt during a campaign rally a day earlier in Western Pennsylvania.

The incident — which interrupted the event that had drawn thousands to the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pa., just after Trump had taken the stage — left the former president with minor injuries, one spectator dead, and two others critically injured. Crooks was killed by the U.S. Secret Service shortly after he opened fire from the roof of a building near the fairgrounds, outside of the event’s security perimeter.

Attendees at former President Donald Trump’s Butler County rally on Saturday said security mirrored what they’d experienced at other Trump rallies.

But minutes into Trump’s speech someone opened fire, killing one person, placing two others in critical condition and minorly injuring Trump, who said his ear was struck by a bullet.

Former President Donald Trump had just begun his remarks at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., Saturday evening when a series of gunshots rang out followed by screams.

Secret Service agents rushed toward Trump and soon whisked the former president, whose face and right ear were bloodied, from the stage. Trump, who later reported he was shot in the ear, was said to be “fine” and safe and was being treated for his injuries.

President Joe Biden spoke with former President Donald Trump Saturday night after he was wounded in a shooting at a rally in Butler, Pa., Saturday, according to the White House.

No details of the call were released.

Former President Donald Trump suffered a minor injury in what law enforcement officials were investigating as an assassination attempt Saturday at a rally in Western Pennsylvania that drew thousands of attendees Saturday evening.

The suspected gunman and at least one member of the audience were killed after gunfire rang out shortly after Trump took the stage. Two spectators were also critically injured after the gunman fired from what the Secret Service described as an elevated platform outside of the rally.