The picture is an icon of the 21st century to many.

The 47th President of the United States of America,

being swept away by the Secret Service as he raised a fist,

blood cascading across the right side of his face.

Captured by Evan Vucci, a photojournalist for the Associated Press,

the attempted assassination of Donald Trump came as a surprise to many in July of 2024.

On July 13th of last year, Donald Trump, then a former president of the U.S.,

and presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the upcoming 2024 presidential election,

survived an assassination attempt while speaking at an open-air campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.

As eight rounds were fired from 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks' AR-15-style rifle from

the roof of a nearby building, Trump clasped his ear and took cover behind the lectern,

where Secret Service agents shielded him until Crooks was killed seconds later by the

counter-sniper team of the U.S. Secret Service.

While Trump was then taken to Butler Memorial Hospital to be treated and news outlets

everywhere began reporting on the incident, the world was left wondering,

who exactly was this kid?

Certainly, Thomas Crooks was not a special operation sniper, but who was he?

I wanted to do this video because I realized

that nobody ever really talked about Thomas Crooks. Now, there have been scattered reports

and some small pieces of journalism that have taken the dive into Thomas' background, but this

wasn't really something that I ever saw discussed widely. There were no documentaries about the

alleged shooter. There were no continued news articles diving into his background. I mean,

...