Newly uncovered information about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, reveals a troubling intersection of online subculture involvement, identity exploration and radical ideology.
Crooks, who engaged heavily in the “furry” community and used “they/them” pronouns, fired eight rounds from an AR-15-style rifle on July 13, 2024, narrowly missing Trump before being killed by a Secret Service sniper.
The attack claimed the life of rallygoer Corey Comperatore, 50, and seriously injured two others, highlighting the deadly consequences of unchecked radicalization in public online spaces.
Investigators documented that Crooks maintained at least 17 accounts across multiple platforms, including Discord, YouTube, Snapchat, Venmo, Zelle, Quora, Chess.com and Google Play.
Among these were profiles on DeviantArt, a hub for the furry community, under the usernames “epicmicrowave” and “theepicmicrowave.”
Crooks posted graphic content depicting anthropomorphized characters with muscular male bodies and sexualized female heads, according to the New York Post.
Analysts note that his immersion in this niche online culture coincided with periods of political exploration and heightened exposure to extremist rhetoric.
Crooks’ online activity was not confined to fandoms or identity-based communities.
Records show he communicated with users linked to extremist ideologies, including an account associated with a member of the Norwegian neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
Maoist slogans and explicit calls for political violence circulated in these exchanges, reflecting Crooks’ evolving radicalization.
Analysts observed that during 2020, Crooks’ commentary shifted sharply from pro-Trump to anti-Trump, suggesting a rapid ideological reversal occurring alongside engagement in online subcultures, signaling potential vulnerability to extremist influence.
Despite these digital footprints, federal authorities appear to have missed warning signs.
Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray testified that the bureau had no prior information on Crooks, while Deputy Paul Abbate acknowledged antisemitic and anti-immigration themes but omitted the full scope of Crooks’ social media activity.
Sources familiar with Crooks’ online history maintain that his radicalization and violent rhetoric were publicly visible for years, raising questions about federal monitoring practices and potential lapses in identifying high-risk individuals in public online spaces.
Crooks’ digital activity illustrates the convergence of identity exploration, niche online communities and extremist ideology.
His participation in the furry community and use of nontraditional pronouns coincided with a shift toward political radicalization, demonstrating how seemingly innocuous subcultures can intersect with violent networks.
Experts note that public expressions of extremist ideology within such spaces can serve as early warning signs, though monitoring these risks presents significant challenges for law enforcement tasked with preventing violence.
Observers draw parallels to other politically motivated attacks, including Tyler Robinson’s alleged assassination of Charlie Kirk, highlighting recurring patterns of radicalization across diverse online communities.
The Crooks case has renewed scrutiny of digital oversight, online subculture monitoring, and federal responsibility to detect emerging threats, emphasizing the complex interplay between personal identity, online interests and extremist behavior in modern violent extremism.
There remains much about Crooks’ life and the circumstances surrounding his July 2024 assassination attempt on Trump that is unknown, leaving conservatives and other observers critical of the FBI’s handling of the case with unanswered questions about potential warning signs, missed intervention opportunities and the agency’s overall response.
The Butler attack continues to fuel debate over congressional oversight, law enforcement practices, and strategies to identify and mitigate threats within public digital spaces.
