The FBI said Sunday it has identified a suspect but has not yet established a motive for Saturday’s assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump, one of the highest-profile acts of U.S. political violence in decades.
The law enforcement agency said 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was the “subject involved” in the shooting, which occurred during a political rally in the nearby Pittsburgh suburbs.
Crooks was a registered Republican but had also made a recent $15 political donation to a liberal group, according to public voter records cited by several media outlets.
At least one spectator was killed and two others were critically injured in the shooting, which occurred in a large, uncovered outdoor space in a rural area.
In Photos: Trump whisked from stage at rally following apparent assassination attempt
About six minutes after Trump took the stage, several gunshots rang out — prompting the former president to reach for his right ear and then duck behind a riser before being surrounded by Secret Service agents.
In a social media post, Trump said he was “fine” after being shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear. He was released from the hospital late Saturday.
On Sunday morning, in another post, Trump said, “Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness.”
Trump said he looked forward to speaking to the country on Thursday at the Republican National Convention from the midwestern city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as he is formally nominated for president for the third straight election cycle.
According to witness accounts and videos posted online, the shooter was seen holding a rifle and crawling up the roof of a nearby building moments before the shooting began. Several bystanders can be heard yelling in an attempt to get the attention of police, who later shot and killed the suspect.
The incident is raising questions about the level of Secret Service protection provided to Trump.
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives said they will launch a “full investigation” into the incident and asked Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle to attend a hearing on the matter.
In a letter posted late Saturday on social media site X, formerly Twitter, the Republican-led House Committee said “Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump.”
Alex Gray, a former official in Trump’s National Security Council, said the shooting shows that Trump’s Secret Service protection was “paltry compared to the threats he was facing.”
“They need to immediately upgrade his detail to the fullest level possible that is befitting of a president — and not a former president, but a current president,” Gray said.
Earlier Saturday, Kevin Rojek, FBI special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh field office, told reporters that “it is surprising” that the gunman fired four or five times before he was shot dead.
Trump, who later traveled back to his home in New Jersey, has said little about the assassination attempt, other than that it is “incredible that such an act can take place in our country.”
Late Saturday, the White House said Biden had spoken to Trump – though it did not immediately give details of the conversation. The administration also said he was returning to the White House in the early hours of Sunday, instead of remaining at his Delaware home as planned.
'It's sick'
Shortly after the incident, Biden spoke to reporters, calling the incident “sick.”
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence,” he said. “It's sick. It's sick. It's one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”
The Biden campaign also said, in a statement, that it is “pausing all outbound communications and working to pull down our television ads as quickly as possible.”
Analysts warned the assassination attempt could upend a fiercely fought presidential campaign, intensify heated political rhetoric, and further divide American society.
“This is an exceptionally dark day in America — an exceptionally dark day in our democracy. Possibly the most serious act of political violence we've seen since 9/11 at least,” said Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“We are talking about a serious credible assassination threat on the former leader of the free world who is actively campaigning for the presidency ... it’s really scary and frightening to think about what the next steps are in this story,” he told VOA.
“Today the world changed,” said George Washington University professor Casey Burgat.
“The attempted assassination of former President Trump will not only have profound consequences on this election but also on the broader state of American politics.
“The incident will further deepen partisan divides while also sparking a critical dialogue on the nature of political discourse and violence in modern American politics,” he added.
“There will be partisan finger-pointing about how and why this happened, but across the political spectrum, we will rightfully hear a unified rejection of all political violence. I can only hope the latter wins out.”
VOA's Katherine Gypson and VOA Serbian Service contributed to this story.
