Man pretended he was Trump rally shooter in a viral video | Fact check
The claim: Video shows Trump rally shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks
A July 14 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows a man with long blond hair and glasses sitting in his car.
“My name is Thomas Matthew Crooks," says the man. "I hate Republicans, I hate Trump and guess what? You got the wrong guy.”
The post's caption reads, “This is Thomas Matthew Crooks. He is 20 years old & he’s from Bethel Park Pennsylvania. This is the guy that tried to assassinate President Trump today in Butler Pennsylvania make it go viral they keep taking it down.”
The Facebook post was shared more than 800 times in two days.
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Our rating: False
Thomas Matthew Crooks, identified by authorities as the rally shooter, was killed at the scene. The video does not show the shooter who opened fire at former President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally. A social media user made the video as a hoax and posted it on X, formerly Twitter.
Social media user posed as Crooks
Less than 10 minutes after Trump began his speech at his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, shots rang out and the former president was rushed off stage bleeding from his ear. One crowd member, Corey Comperatore, was killed, and two other rallygoers were critically injured.
Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was killed within moments by Secret Service agents at the scene. He was a registered Republican but made a $15 donation to the Progressive Turnout Project, a group working to increase voter turnout for Democrats, in January 2021, as USA TODAY previously reported. His motive for the shooting is not yet known.
But the man in the video isn’t Crooks. He’s a social media user on X who admitted to making the video as a hoax. He shared the video claiming to be Crooks shortly after the shooting but quickly deleted it, according to BBC verification journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh. The user then wrote in a July 14 post, “I’m not Thomas I’m not the shooter I’m not anyone, just making that absolutely clear.”
Fact check: Officials identified Trump shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, not Mark Violets
The X user wrote a series of other posts that day clarifying he is not Crooks, including one in which he said he “made a joke but it’s serious now” and that he “shouldn’t have posted that video.”
As of July 15, the user had changed his profile name and reshared posts from other people about the since-deleted video. His prior posts attempting to clarify he isn't the shooter remain active on that account.
USA TODAY could not reach him for comment, nor the Facebook user who shared his video.
Our fact-check sources:
@Poopy_Tool_Fan, July 14, X post (archive)
@Poopy_Tool_Fan, July 14, X post (archive)
@Shayan86, July 14, X post
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, man in viral video isn't Thomas Matthew Crooks | Fact check
