It was a Saturday that didn't feel like history until it did. July 13, 2024. Butler, Pennsylvania. The heat was thick, the crowd was loud, and then—the pops. Most people there thought it was firecrackers. It wasn't.
When we talk about what happened to trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, we're talking about a 20-second window that changed everything. But the aftermath? That took over a year to actually untangle. Honestly, the FBI only officially put a bow on the investigation in November 2025.
The Roof and the Final Seconds
Thomas Crooks didn't just stumble onto that roof at the AGR International building. He’d been planning. He bought a ladder. He flew a drone over the site just hours before.
He fired eight rounds. One grazed Donald Trump’s ear. One killed Corey Comperatore. Two others were critically hurt. Then, the counter-response happened.
It was fast. Brutally fast.
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Four seconds after Crooks opened fire, a local officer from the Butler County Emergency Service Unit managed to hit Crooks’ rifle. That probably saved lives by jamming his gun. Twelve seconds later, a Secret Service counter-sniper ended it. Crooks was killed instantly by a single shot to the head.
What the FBI Finally Found (and What They Didn't)
For a long time, there was a massive information vacuum. People were spiraling into conspiracy theories because the motive seemed... non-existent.
The FBI’s final report, released late in 2025, basically tells us that Crooks was a "lone wolf" who was obsessed with mass violence and famous targets. He wasn't some political zealot for one side or the other. He had searched for information on both Trump and Biden. He looked up the distance Lee Harvey Oswald was from JFK.
Basically, he wanted to be famous for something terrible.
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- Online Life: He used encrypted emails like Mailfence and VPNs (Mullvad) to hide his tracks.
- The Family: His parents actually called the police the day of the shooting because they were worried about him. They knew something was off, but they didn't know he had the rifle.
- Explosives: He had remote-detonated bombs in his car. He planned to cause a distraction or a secondary massacre.
The Second Guy: Ryan Wesley Routh
You can't talk about what happened to trump shooter history without mentioning the second attempt in West Palm Beach. This one felt different. Ryan Wesley Routh didn't even get a shot off, but his story is wilder in a lot of ways.
Routh spent nearly 12 hours hiding in the bushes at the Trump International Golf Club. A Secret Service agent saw the barrel of his SKS rifle poking through the fence and opened fire. Routh bolted, jumped in a black Nissan Xterra, and led police on a chase before getting pinned down on I-95.
Unlike Crooks, Routh is very much alive. Or he was, until his trial took a dark turn.
The Trial and the "Pen Incident"
Routh’s trial in September 2025 was a circus. He fired his lawyers. He tried to represent himself. He even filed a motion suggesting the whole case should be decided by a golf match between him and Trump.
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On September 23, 2025, the jury found him guilty on all five federal counts. As the verdict was read, Routh flipped out. He grabbed a pen and tried to stab himself in the neck right there in the courtroom. U.S. Marshals tackled him before he could do real damage.
Current Status of Ryan Routh (as of January 2026):
He is currently sitting in a federal cell awaiting his formal sentencing. That's set for February 4, 2026. The Department of Justice is pushing for life in prison. They aren't playing around, especially after finding that "Dear World" letter where he literally offered $150,000 to anyone who could "finish the job."
What We’ve Learned Since
The Secret Service took a massive beating in the press and in Congress. Rightfully so. Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned. The agency had to completely overhaul how they handle perimeter security.
We now know that local police actually saw Crooks 90 minutes before he fired. They even took a picture of him. There was a massive breakdown in communication where the Secret Service didn't get the "suspicious person" report in time to get Trump off the stage.
Moving Forward: Safety Steps
If you find yourself attending high-profile political events, the landscape has changed. Security is tighter, but the "see something, say something" rule is more literal than ever.
- Monitor Local Alerts: Law enforcement now uses more localized broadcast pings for security updates during rallies.
- Report suspicious gear: In both cases, the shooters had rangefinders or cameras that looked out of place.
- Check the Perimeter: If you're outside the "hard" security zone (the magnetometers), you're in a higher-risk area.
The story of the Trump shooters is one of missed signals and quick endings. One died on a roof in Pennsylvania; the other is likely going to spend the rest of his life in a concrete box.