was he a member of the far-left antifa group did he shoot on behalf of transgender people or was there a deeper conspiracy at play the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump on July 13th 2024 left the nation stunned and searching for answers as details emerged about the 20-year-old gunman more questions than answers surfaced about his motives and how he managed to get so close to a presidential candidate it was a sweltering summer day in Butler County Pennsylvania rif right there obviously got it so the bike in the back is he on that bike we don't know we don't know I don't treating that as suspicious device one second I believe the sniper that seen these and sent up pictures is right inside this building Michelle is Greg in there all right so if you go to that window that's open y for Greg that's the sniper that sent the original pictures and seen him come from the bike and set the book bag down and then lost sight of them okay he's the one that sent the pictures out I don't know if you got the same ones I did I think I did yeah he's like got his glasses on and his uh so we had the picture of that I got that okay and then this was this is his bike with the stuff and our sniper seeing him walking away from that I believe okay but he would be right inside that window he's the one that physically seen this sent the pictures and C it out okay so so and we have somebody to detain correct people detained on our guy that was just up here told me that there's a guy detained was the owner of the bike and I said no I that's the owner of the bike basically we've been up here so we wouldn't know that information we just hold ass we got over is that all your stuff yeah so someone came up looking to treat him gas is off to the building just so you know yeah I I was I talked to they were those people detained filing maybe they were involved maybe they think you know the guys that saw them filming were like oh they were filming us and then filming the guy up on the roof and then filming us and then when shots started firing they like tried to run away like is that what everybody would do that has a phone you know I'm not saying they weren't involved but you know what I mean like right now right right so so I got no problem detaining I'm just trying to detain those guys find out what they know who they are whatever I I'm trying to get clear information to relay back to DC we have one shooter deceased three victims in the crowd is that you guys hearing that too that I'm not that I'm not sure so I heard one deceased two life fighter I know two helicopters take off despite the 90° heat thousands of trump supporters gathered at the boat Butler Farm Show Fairgrounds to see their political hero speak Butler County had strongly supported Trump in the 2020 election making the crowd one of the most welcoming in the nation but things were about to take a sudden deadly turn at 6:03 p.m. Donald Trump took the stage to thunderous Applause the likely Republican nominee for the 2024 election gave his typical campaign speech criticizing illegal immigration and promising to make America great again just 6 minutes later at 6:09 p.m. alert members of the crowd noticed something am Miss video footage showed people pointing to the roof of a nearby building roughly 410 ft from the stage where Trump was speaking look they're all pointing someone's on top of the roof a person can be heard saying as Law Enforcement Officers walk around the building there he is right there right there see him he's laying down another witness later described the horrifying scene we noticed a guy crawling you know bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us 5050 ft away from us he had a rifle we could clearly see him with a rifle for two agonizing minutes the crowd tried to alert authorities to the danger but it was too late at precisely 61133 seconds p.m. As Trump was mids senten discussing immigration policy the first shot rang out two more shots quickly followed the crowd erupted into Panic as Secret Service agents swarmed the stage tackling the former president to the ground well want to really see something that said take a look at what happened down what we doing what are we doing in the chaos that followed three more rapid fire shots were heard Secret Service snipers positioned around the venue returned fire 15 seconds later a final shot silenced the gunman for good as agents rushed Trump to safety it became clear he had been grazed in the ear by one of the bullets blood ran down the side of his face as he defiantly raised his fist to the crowd seemingly mouthing the word fight but the former president wasn't the only casualty in the crowd below 50-year-old Cory comor lay dead shot in the head while trying to protect his family two other rally goers David Dutch 57 and James copenhaver 74 were critically wounded As Trump was whisked away to a nearby hospital the nation held its breath who was behind this Brazen assassination attempt and how did he get so close in the early hours of July 14th the FBI identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew krooks a 20-year-old from bethl Pennsylvania as investigators researched his background a picture emerged of a seemingly ordinary young man with no clear motive for such an extraordinary act of violence krooks had recently graduated from a local community college with an associates degree in engineering science he worked as a dietary aid at a nursing home and rehabilitation center to all all outward appearances he was just another face in the crowd but as the investigation deepened rubbling details began to surface searches of krook's home and vehicle turned up improvised explosive devices records showed he had purchased 50 rounds of ammunition on the very day of the shooting perhaps most horrifyingly it emerged that krooks had asked to borrow his father's AR-15 style rifle that morning claiming he wanted to go to a shooting range his father having allowed such requests in the past thought of it as conspiracy theories swirled online investigators worked to piece together krook's movements and motivations in the days and weeks leading up to the shooting was he radicalized by extremist ideology did he have accomplices or was this the act of a disturbed loner these questions would haunt the investigation in the weeks to come as officials struggle to explain the catastrophic security failure US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandra mayorcas admitted in an interview that a direct line of sight like that the former president of the United States should not occur he promised a full independent investigation into the incident as the 20124 Republican National Convention looms just days away officials scramble to review and revamp security protocols the attempted assassination has exposed gaping holes in the protection of high-profile political figures but even as the mechanics of the security breach were dissected the core mystery remained what drove Thomas Matthew krooks to violence as as days turned to weeks a clearer picture began to emerge one that was in many ways more disturbing than any Grand conspiracy Thomas Matthew krooks appeared to be driven not by ideology or grievance but by a desperate desire for fame intelligent but socially isolated he had drifted through life largely unnoticed the assassination attempt investigators concluded was his bid for immortality he didn't care about Trump's policies or the fate of American democracy he simply saw an opportunity to make his mark on History consequences be damned in the end the assassination attempt that nearly claimed Donald Trump's life served as a wakeup call on multiple fronts it exposed dangerous weaknesses in VIP security protocols it highlighted the need for better Mental Health Resources and early intervention and it forced Americans to confront the poisonous state of their political culture