Soon after the assassination attempt on the former US President, Internet users and media from different countries distributed a portrait of the alleged shooter and a video that he allegedly recorded before the attack. We have verified the accuracy of such messages.
On July 13, 2024, Donald Trump, former US President and Republican candidate in the upcoming November elections, spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Unknown during the event opened fire across the stage where the politician was. One person died, two were hospitalized in critical condition, and Trump was slightly wounded in the ear. The attacker was eliminated by Secret Service agents - how established FBI, he turned out to be 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a resident of the city of Bethel Park located in the same state.
Soon, the media, Telegram channels and ordinary Internet users distributed a photo of the allegedly killed shooter and a video message that he allegedly recorded before the attack. “My name is Thomas Matthew Crooks, I hate Republicans, I hate Trump, and you know what, you got the wrong guy.” — says the man in the video.
Among the Russian-language media that published these footage, — "Gazeta.ru", "Russian newspaper", Lenta.ru, Life, TV channel360", "Business week" And "Version" The news was actively spread on Telegram — in particular, the video was posted by channels Ax Live"(2.3 million views at the time of writing this analysis), Mash (963,000), "Live broadcast» (678,000) and Readovka (500,000).
On the evening of July 13, even before the FBI officially announced the identity of the shooter, internet users started publishing his photo. It was probably made shortly before the assassination attempt on Trump.
Later, when the name of the attacker had already been named, the media found Crooks' school photos and videos.
Between two people there are noticeable differences in the shape of the nose, eyebrows, ears and chin. Even the build is different - the identified Crooks is much thinner.
As fact checkers from the Lead Stories project found out, the first photo of a man in a blue T-shirt from the back published on social network X by user @jewgazing July 13, 2024 at 10:32 pm ET (July 14, 2024 at 05:32 Moscow time). The post was accompanied by the caption: “Urgent: Trump shooter identified.”
About two hours later he posted and a video that went viral.
At the time of writing this analysis, both publications are not available to third-party users, but, thanks to archival copies of the profile, you can restore the sequence of events.
Shortly after a photo of the alleged shooter in a gray T-shirt began to circulate on X, one social media user posted the photo with the caption: “Of course the shooter was a beta male. I'm not surprised." Another blogger commented on the post, writing: “Bro, this is a photo of @jewgazing.” In turn, @jewgazing himself responded to this tweet with the words: “I should delete all my selfies as quickly as possible...”
However, after another hint addressed to him, the blogger, apparently, decided to joke and posted photos and videos that later became viral. The photo shows that @jewgazing is trying to repeat the angle and facial expression of the shooter from the photo that has already gone viral. To create an additional effect, he published a screenshot of an online store page that sold the same T-shirt as Crooks. “Planning something fun,” @jewgazing added to the picture.
After his photos and videos went viral on social media, @jewgazing retweeted several entries where his image was used as a portrait of Crookes. The social network user mixed up the reposts with humorous comments like “Not a good day for dudes with long blond hair.” However, @jewgazing then made the account private.
The fact that these are his personal videos and photos is evidenced by screenshot another photo of him.
Thus, the photos and videos that went viral on the Internet do not depict Thomas Matthew Crooks, who shot Donald Trump on July 13, but a user of the social network X with the username @jewgazing. Apparently, he decided to joke about his similarity with Crooks, which was noticed by other users of the platform, but did not expect his publications to go viral.
Cover photo: social networks
Read on topic:
- CNN. How assassination attempt unfolded minute-by-minute
- Associated Press. In the wake of Trump’s attempted assassination, investigators search for clues around the motive
- Is it true that a listening device was discovered in Trump’s residence in the spring of 2024?
- Did Trump say that the US would face a “bloodbath” if he lost the presidential election?
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