The family of the 20-year-old who came close to killing Trump was profiled in a database compiled by the former president’s 2016 campaign.
The father of the 20-year-old man who came close to killing Donald Trump at the weekend was reportedly profiled by the former president’s 2016 campaign.
Authorities identified Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the gunman who opened fire from a nearby rooftop as Trump spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. The Republican presidential nominee was rushed off stage after a bullet grazed his right ear, and one rallygoer was killed and two critically injured before Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents.
The AR-15 style rifle used in the shooting belonged to his father, Matthew Crooks, who bought it in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, in 2013, The Associated Press reported. Matthew Crooks was included in a database that Trump’s 2016 campaign built profiling millions of voters in key battleground states as part of a secret effort to identify gun owners who could be targeted with messages about gun rights ahead of the 2016 election, according to News.
