--- title: "FBI Cracks Phone of Man Who Shot Trump" description: "It took a few days, but the FBI has finally cracked the phone of the now-deceased 20-year-old man who shot at Donald Trump." date: "2024-07-16" modified: "2024-07-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/fbi-cracks-trump-shooter-phone" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "donald trump" - "encryption" - "smartphones" - "the digest" --- # FBI Cracks Phone of Man Who Shot Trump ![It took a few days, but the FBI has finally cracked the phone of the now-deceased 20-year-old man who shot at Donald Trump.]() *\Image: Jeff Swensen via Getty\* ## Who Was Phone It took a few days, but the FBI has finally cracked the phone of the now-deceased 20-year-old man who wounded Donald Trump during a Pennsylvania rally over the weekend. In a [press release](), the bureau said that it had "successfully gained access" to the phone that belonged to would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, a [one-time nursing aide]() who was shot and killed by Secret Service agents moments after his attempt on the former president's life. While it remains unclear how the FBI got into Crooks' phone, the agency's first statement after the shooting acknowledged that "suspicious devices" found in his home and car had been sent to the FBI Laboratory for processing. Despite [ample misinformation]() and [rumor mill churn](), there's [not all that much known about Crooks]() besides what he did for a living, that he was a registered Republican, and that he'd once donated $15 to a progressive cause on ActBlue. Those few facts paint a disparate picture of a youthful shooter who had never been old enough to vote for president — and who now never will. ## Prior Battles While the drama surrounding Crooks himself continues to play out, it seems there is far less back-and-forth surrounding his digital privacy than we've seen with those who committed political violence in recent years. As we learned after the 2015 San Bernardino mass shooting, for example, Apple CEO [Tim Cook went toe-to-toe with the FBI]() and refused to unlock an iPhone that belonged to one of the then-suspected shooters. That refusal resulted in a [drawn-out battle]() that ultimately became moot when a mysterious Australian hacking firm known as [Azimuth did the feds' dirty work]() — and ended up, in turn, getting sued by the FBI. In the near-decade since San Bernardino, there was a single additional instance when [Apple refused]() FBI requests to unlock a terror suspect's phone, but for the most part, we've not heard of CEOs choosing to hold their ground on encryption the way Cook did back at the end of 2015. We don't know, of course, whether Crooks even owned an iPhone or how the FBI gained access to his handset — but at this stage, it doesn't seem like breaching encryption was any trouble. **More on the would-be assassination:** [*Elon Musk Says People Have Tried to Kill Him, Muses About Building* "*Flying Metal Suit of Armor*" *as Defense*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()