What is the man’s name that shot Trump in the ear?
Executive summary
Thomas Matthew Crooks is the man identified by authorities as the shooter who fired at Donald Trump at a July 13, 2024, campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, with one bullet grazing Trump’s upper right ear; Crooks, age 20, fired eight rounds from an AR‑15–style rifle before being killed by a Secret Service counter‑sniper [1] [2]. The attack wounded several bystanders and killed one spectator, and investigators later found bomb‑making materials linked to Crooks [2] [3].
1. The name and the act: who shot at Trump that night
Federal and media reporting identified the rooftop shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20‑year‑old who opened fire on Trump from a nearby building during the rally, discharging eight rounds and grazing the former president’s right ear while also striking multiple audience members [1] [2]. Official after‑action accounts and contemporaneous reporting consistently use Crooks’ full name when describing the attacker and the sequence of events that followed the shots [1] [2].
2. The bullet that grazed the ear: immediate effects and medical detail reported
Accounts recorded that one bullet grazed Trump’s upper right ear — visible blood was reported and Trump himself described feeling the bullet “ripping through the skin” — but that he was otherwise unharmed and was quickly shielded by Secret Service agents after clasping his ear and taking cover behind the lectern [1] [4]. Journalistic reconstructions place the shooter roughly 135 meters away, within effective range for an AR‑15‑style rifle equipped with optics, which experts noted could deliver accurate fire at that distance [1] [5].
3. What happened to Crooks and the collateral victims
Within seconds of the first volley, local emergency responders and the Secret Service returned fire: a member of the Butler County Emergency Service Unit struck the shooter’s rifle, and twelve seconds later a Secret Service counter‑sniper fatally shot Crooks, ending the attack [1]. The shooting wounded three rallygoers — two later identified by name — and killed 50‑year‑old Corey Comperatore, who was reported to have shielded family members and was mourned as a hero by local officials [2] [3].
4. The suspect’s background and investigators’ findings
Reporting assembled a picture of Crooks as a young man with a limited social footprint and some troubling internet and school‑age behavior; investigators later reported discovering bomb‑making materials in his vehicle and at his home and a remote detonator on his body, details that fed early questions about motive and preparedness [2] [6]. Coverage stresses that motive remained unclear and that, in the absence of a manifesto or clear political declaration, a range of explanations — from personal pathology to political grievance — were offered by different commentators [2] [6].
5. Broader context: another attempted attack and political reverberations
The Crooks attack was not the only attempt against Trump in 2024: separate reporting and DOJ filings document a distinct attempted assassination on a Florida golf course later attributed to Ryan Wesley Routh, who was indicted and later convicted in a separate incident, underscoring an unsettling pattern of threats toward the former president [5] [7]. Political leaders, criminal‑justice observers, and media across the spectrum tied the Pennsylvania shooting to warnings about rising political polarization, while also warning against premature partisan narratives in the absence of a fully established motive [1] [6].
6. What the record does not (yet) resolve
Public reporting provides the who, the how and the immediate aftermath with consistent attribution to Thomas Matthew Crooks and corroborating details about wounds, deaths and countermeasures [1] [2] [3], but investigators and journalists acknowledged limits: definitive motive analysis remains contested and incomplete in the sources reviewed, and many psychological or ideological explanations floated in public debate are presented as speculative rather than proven [2] [6].