It’s a hot Saturday in July. You've got a massive crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania, everyone’s sweating, and Donald Trump is on stage doing his thing. Then, out of nowhere, these sharp pops ring out. It sounds like firecrackers at first. But then the former president reaches for his head, ducks down, and the world basically stands still for a few seconds.
We all saw the footage. The blood on the side of his face. The Secret Service piling on top of him. The iconic fist in the air. But as the dust settled and the sirens started fading, the question on everyone’s mind was simple: who shot Trump in the ear, and how on earth did they get that close?
Honestly, the answer is both chillingly simple and incredibly frustrating. It wasn’t some international super-assassin or a complex sleeper cell. It was a 20-year-old kid from a quiet suburb who managed to exploit a series of security blunders that shouldn't have happened.
The Identity of the Shooter: Thomas Matthew Crooks
The FBI didn't take long to put a name to the face. The person who shot Trump in the ear was Thomas Matthew Crooks. He lived in Bethel Park, which is a pretty standard, middle-class town about an hour south of the rally site.
If you walked past him in the grocery store, you probably wouldn't have blinked. He was a dietary aide at a nursing home. He’d recently graduated from community college with an associate degree in engineering. People who knew him from high school described him as quiet—some said he was a "loner" who got bullied, while others just remember him as a smart kid who stayed under the radar. He even won a $500 math and science award.
He wasn't some career criminal. In fact, he had no prior record. No history of institutionalization. Just a guy who liked to spend time at a local gun club and, apparently, spent months planning something unthinkable.
A Secret Digital Life
While his "real" life seemed boringly normal, his digital footprint was a different story. Investigators eventually dug up a "secret double life" that he’d been living online.
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For months leading up to the Butler rally, Crooks was busy. He wasn't just scrolling TikTok. He was using encrypted email services and a VPN to hide his tracks. He was researching explosives. He was looking up the locations of various political events.
One of the most disturbing finds? On a gaming platform called Steam, he reportedly posted: "July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds." It’s the kind of thing that sends shivers down your spine when you realize how many people probably saw that and thought it was just some edgy gamer talk.
The Weapon and the Shot
Crooks didn't have to go to the black market for his gear. The rifle used in the attack was a DPMS Panther Arms AR-15–style rifle. His father had bought it legally way back in 2013, and then "transferred" it to Thomas in 2023.
On the day of the rally, Crooks didn't just show up and wing it. He’d visited the site a week prior to scope it out. He even flew a drone over the area about two hours before the shooting started to get a bird's-eye view of the security layout.
He managed to get onto the roof of the AGR International building, which was roughly 150 yards (about 137 meters) away from the stage. For a trained shooter, that’s a relatively easy shot. For someone who practiced at a local range like Crooks did, it was close enough to be lethal.
He fired eight rounds total.
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- One bullet grazed Trump’s upper right ear.
- Tragically, one spectator, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, was killed while shielding his family.
- Two other people were critically injured.
The only reason it wasn't a direct hit on the former president? Trump turned his head at the very last microsecond to look at a chart on a big screen. That tiny movement is basically the only reason we aren't talking about a very different historical outcome.
How Did He Get on That Roof?
This is the part that still makes people's heads spin. How does a 20-year-old with a rifle climb onto a roof with a clear line of sight to a former president?
The short answer: a massive breakdown in communication.
Local police had actually spotted Crooks acting suspiciously over 90 minutes before the shooting. They even took photos of him. He was seen with a rangefinder—the kind golfers use to measure distance. They knew something was off. But that information sort of got stuck in the plumbing of the security apparatus. It didn't reach the "inner circle" of the Secret Service in time to pull Trump off the stage.
The building Crooks used was technically outside the secure perimeter, but it was well within rifle range. The Secret Service later admitted that the roof was a known vulnerability, but they’d basically left it to local law enforcement to cover. And on that day, no one was actually on that specific roof.
The Aftermath and Investigation
The Secret Service counter-sniper team took Crooks out seconds after he started firing. But the fallout was just beginning.
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Kimberly Cheatle, the Director of the Secret Service at the time, ended up resigning after a pretty brutal congressional hearing where she called the incident the agency's "most significant operational failure" in decades. Multiple investigations followed—the FBI, a bipartisan House task force, and internal reviews.
By the time the FBI wrapped up its primary investigation in late 2025, they still couldn't point to a single, clear motive. Crooks didn't leave a manifesto. He didn't have a "Team Red" or "Team Blue" flag in his room. His search history showed he was looking up both Trump and Biden. It seems he was more obsessed with the act of a high-profile assassination than any specific political cause. He was looking for a "premiere," and he found it.
Lessons and Moving Forward
Looking back at who shot Trump in the ear, it's clear that the "lone wolf" profile is getting harder to spot. When someone is smart, quiet, and uses modern tech to hide their intent, the traditional red flags just don't wave as high.
If you’re following this story for the broader implications on security and public safety, here are the key takeaways from the final reports:
- Communication is everything: The gap between local police and federal agents was the biggest hole in the fence. New protocols now require a "unified command post" where everyone is on the same radio frequency.
- Technology is a double-edged sword: Crooks used a drone to plan his attack. Security teams now have to be just as good (or better) at using counter-drone tech to spot "eyes in the sky" before an event starts.
- The "Quiet One" Myth: We have to stop assuming that a lack of a criminal record equals a lack of threat. Radicalization often happens in the dark, behind VPNs and encrypted apps.
The events in Butler changed how political figures are protected in the U.S. forever. It was a wake-up call that came at a very high price, and while the "who" is settled, the "why" might always remain a bit of a mystery.
To stay informed on how these security changes are being implemented for future election cycles, you should keep an eye on the regular oversight reports published by the Department of Homeland Security. Understanding the technical failures of that day is the only way to make sure "premiere" events like this never happen again.