A video and photograph of an internet troll is circulating on social media with users and news outlets misidentifying him as the reported shooter of former United States President Donald Trump, Thomas Matthew Crooks.
The photo shows a man's side profile in a blue T-shirt. BOOM found that the video and image were shared by a troll X account by the username '@jewgazing' after several pointed out the resemblance between him and Thomas Matthew Crooks. The user also posted a 10 seconds long video, where he says, "My name is Thomas Matthew Crooks. I hate Republicans, I hate Trump. And guess what, you got the wrong guy."
News outlet Republic used the video in a news bulletin reporting about the alleged shooter.
Click here to view an archive of the Republic's bulletin.
The video is also circulating on social media with many claiming that the shooter had previously publicly claimed hate against Trump.
In an assassination attempt that sent shockwaves across the world, a man fired multiple shots targeting former US President Donald Trump during his outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The incident killed one spectator and critically injured two others, stated the US Secret Service; the shooter was later neutralised. In a statement, the FBI identified the man as Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Trump suffered an injury to his right ear but survived the attempt after the was quickly rushed off stage by the US Secret Service agents.
Later a photo and video shared by a troll account started circulating, with many misidentifying the former as the gunman. The same was used by several news outlets including Times Now, News 24, One India, Gulf Today, Anandabazar Patrika to report about the shooter.
Fact Check
BOOM found several X posts suggesting that the man seen in the image is not Crooks but an X user @jewgazing.
The user had since made his account on X private.
We were able to find two archives of @jewgazing where the user calls out several handles for misidentifying him as the shooter. Click here and here.
This reporter got access to @jewgazing's X posts after sending a follow request. A glance through the posts clearly shows that he is not the deceased gunman. BOOM was however unable to independently verify the person running the X account.
Soon after an image of the alleged shooter from the rally started circulating, @jewgazing shared a side profile of his in a blue T-shirt and long hair to mock the shooter. Click here for an archive.
Later, he also quoted posts which mentioned the resemblance he had with the shooter.
In a post, he also spoke about the gunman's uncanny resemblance with him.
Later, when several users mistook him as the shooter, the latter called them out in consecutive posts.
The user also called out investigative journalist Laura Loomer after she misidentified him as the shooter. Loomer has since deleted the post.
Below is a screenshot of the same.
Further, we found an archived version of the X post featuring the same video made by the user. He later admitted to having made the video in an X post and states that it was a mistake.
Who is Thomas Matthew Crooks?
According to a BBC report, Crooks, 20, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper. The FBI said since Crooks was not carrying an ID, the investigators used DNA to identify him.
He was from Bethel Park in Pennsylvania, about 70km (43 miles) from Butler, the site of the attempted assassination, and appears to have graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper.
The CBS news also published a collage of two images of Crooks from his high school yearbook and graduation ceremonies.