An assassination attempt on Donald Trump left the nation reeling, after a lone gunman opened fire on the GOP candidate for president, killing one and injuring several.
Trump was among the injured, but the minor wound to his right ear isn’t slowing the 77-year-old down much. In fact, it only seems to have incited him more, and his supporters are certainly taking the violence as a rallying cry. Its stirred our already-fraught political state into a frenzy, and people from every side of the political aisle have plenty of opinions on the matter.
Two lives were lost, in total, as a result of the continued scourge of gun violence on this nation, and neither of them were the intended target. Emotions are still high, in the wake of the incident, but we won’t get many answers from Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man who fired the gun.
What happened to Thomas Matthew Crooks?
Thomas Matthew Crooks was a registered Republican, a gun-lover, and a quiet enjoyer of all things history, according to those who knew him. He was also the perpetrator of violence at a mid-July rally for Donald Trump, and one of several victims of the gunfire that was exchanged on July 13.
Crooks fired an AR-15 rifle in the direction of the presidential candidate mid-rally, striking Trump and three other attendees, before the Secret Service intervened. Trump was grazed on the ear and quickly rushed to a nearly hospital, while rally attendees were still reeling from the attack.
Crooks only managed to get a few shots off before he was stopped by the Secret Service, but he still managed to kill one Trump supporter and injure two others before he was taken down. Corey Comperatore lost his life in the attack, and two others — David Dutch and James Copenhaver — were both injured, but a Secret Service sniper shot down Crooks before any more lives were lost.
Crooks was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper on the scene, leaving the public without answers to overarching questions about his motivations. Crooks was a registered Republican and a gun-loving American, and to many, it seems he would have had few reasons to enact violence on the Republican candidate for president. Regardless of his reasons for doing so, Crooks showed up to that rally intending violence, and died for his decision to pursue it.
