FAKE: Matthew Crooks, who shot at Trump, supported Ukraine on his Instagram

A screenshot allegedly of the Instagram page of the shooter who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump is being spread online. In one of the photos, he expresses support for Ukraine. “Ukrainianism kills. It’s like a contagious zombie virus,” propagandists comment.

However, this is fake. The reasons for the assassination attempt are still under investigation, and the Instagram page with the supportive post belongs to a namesake of Crooks.

On July 13, at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, there was an assassination attempt on former president and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. Gunshots were heard during Trump’s speech while he was on stage. A bullet grazed the upper part of his right ear. The suspect in the attack was killed on the spot by U.S. Secret Service officers.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the name of the shooting suspect — 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, located about an hour’s drive from the rally venue. Currently, law enforcement is trying to determine the motives for the assassination attempt. The FBI believes the attacker acted alone; however, he left no written statements or other clues that could explain his motivation.

The assassination attempt and the mystery surrounding Thomas Matthew Crooks have sparked various conspiracy theories in American society and abroad. In Russia, a “Ukrainian connection” to the crime has already been suggested. For example, collaborator and so-called “deputy” in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation from the temporarily occupied Crimea, Sergey Tsekov, called on the U.S. to consider the possibility of Ukrainian special services being involved in the attempt, alleging that Ukraine might be behind it since the “Kyiv regime” had repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with Trump’s promise to end the war if reelected. The FBI has not made any statements regarding Ukraine’s involvement in the assassination attempt.

Propagandists claim that the Instagram page in the screenshot belongs to the shooter. The account indeed belongs to a man named Matthew Crooks from Pennsylvania, but it is an entirely different person. We found this man’s profile on LinkedIn. According to Matthew Crooks’ resume, he owns a flea market named Allott of Stuff — the logo of this online platform is the same as the cover photo of the Instagram page from the propagandists’ post. Therefore, the Instagram page and the LinkedIn profile belong to the same person.

Matthew Crooks from Pennsylvania, who owns these accounts, and Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to assassinate Trump, have different middle names.

In the U.S., there are no patronymic names. Instead, “middle” or “second” names are used. These are usually given in honor of a relative or another significant person for the family, although this is not a requirement. Middle names are a substitute for the traditional patronymic names familiar to us. There is no limit to the number of middle names.

The shooter’s name is Thomas, and his middle name is Matthew. The Instagram page belongs to a man named Matthew. Information about his full middle name is not available online, but his LinkedIn profile indicates that it starts with the letter “A.”

The shooter of Donald Trump was 20 years old. He graduated from high school in 2022. Two months before the assassination attempt, Crooks graduated from the Community College of Allegheny County. He worked as a dietitian assistant in a nursing home rehabilitation center in Bethel Park.

Meanwhile, the Instagram account owner works as a massage therapist at Massage Envy in Connoquenessing and runs the online store Allott of Stuff. This man is significantly older than the shooter — he was already attending Pittsburgh Technical College in 2003.

With such fakes, Russian propagandists attempt to discredit Ukraine among Western audiences and portray its leadership as resorting to terrorism. Previously, we debunked information that one of the attackers at “Crocus City Hall” turned out to be a Ukrainian citizen.