No, Trump rally shooter wasn’t ‘Maxwell Yearick’

Since former President Donald Trump survived a July 13 assassination attempt, social media users have shared numerous false claims about the identity of the shooter.

Now, Instagram posts floated another name and claim the shooter has ties to a left-wing protest movement.

"Now, it’s being reported that Thomas Matthew Crooks is NOT the alleged shooter, and that it is a guy affiliated with ANTIFA that was actually arrested back in 2016 for being involved in an Anti-Trump protest in Pittsburgh," the text in a July 14 Instagram post read. "His name is Maxwell Yearick."

A July 15 Instagram post included a screenshot of an X post, which read, "Roger Stone posted his sources are telling him the shooter was Maxwell Yearick, not Matthew Crooks. I think he’s right. The photo of the dead shooter matches Yearick, especially when you look at the ear." The post included a graphic image.

(Screenshot from Instagram)

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Yearick has not been linked by authorities to the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

Roger Stone, a former consultant for Trump, cited unnamed sources in claiming that Yearick was the shooter. "Credible sources insist that the shooter in the Trump attempted assassination is in fact Maxwell Yearick who first surfaced here," Stone’s July 14 X post read.

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Stone linked to an April 2017 article about Yearick and another person being sentenced to three to 12 months in jail. They pleaded guilty to simple assault and resisting arrest during an anti-Trump protest in 2016.

The FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement said the gun used for the assassination attempt was traced to Crooks’ father. The Secret Service shot and killed Crooks moments after he fired at the rally. 

The FBI believes Crooks acted alone. Its investigation into the shooting, which killed former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore and injured two others, continues.

We rate the claim that Yearick was the shooter who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump  Pants on Fire!