close
close

Thomas Matthew Crooks wore influencer merch while filming

Thomas Matthew Crooks wore influencer merch while filming

A popular gun influencer said he was “shocked and confused” to discover that Trump’s shooter was wearing one of his branded T-shirts at the time.

“It sucked to see that. It was tough,” Matt Carriker said in a video released Monday, which was viewed more than a million times in its first four hours.

Lone gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was seen in at least two separate images of the shooting wearing a gray T-shirt with an American flag on the sleeve and the word “Demolitia” stretched across the chest and back, consistent with merchandise Carriker sells through his Demolition Ranch online channel.

Thomas Matthews Crooks, 20, was wearing a T-shirt from a popular YouTube channel, “Demolition Ranch,” when he shot Trump. Obtained by NY Post

One of the widely circulated photos — also shared by Carriker — showed several armed Secret Service agents standing over Crooks’ body moments after he was fatally shot following the assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

“As many of you know – and we were shocked and confused to learn – the shooter who attempted to assassinate Trump was wearing merchandise from my channel, a Demolition Ranch t-shirt,” Carriker told his 11 million subscribers.

“We don’t vet the people who buy our shirts… I wish we could,” Carriker said. “I would like to prevent those types of people from buying, wearing or being associated with this garment.”

“I wish he couldn’t get a shirt, but it happened,” said Carriker, a Texas-based veterinarian who runs two gun chains.

“I think the difference between a shooter wearing a pair of Nike shoes and a shooter wearing my T-shirt is that brand is much more personal to me than Nike is to its executives,” he said. “Seeing my name next to the shooter’s name … I wish we could stop that from happening.”

YouTuber Matt Carriker said he was “shocked and confused” to see his t-shirt on the dead shooter’s body. Obtained by NY Post
Carriker confirmed that Crooks was wearing one of the “Demolitia” T-shirts he sells on his social media pages. BUNKER MARKING COMPANY
“I would have preferred that he couldn’t get a shirt, but it happened,” Carriker said. Youtuber/DemolitionRanch

The YouTuber said he was inundated with calls from media and other interested parties asking if he had ever met Crooks, but insisted the shooter was apparently just a fan who had purchased a shirt from his online store.

Not much is known about Crooks, but former classmates previously told the Post that he was kicked off his high school shooting team because he was “comically bad” with a gun — as well as for making crude and disturbing jokes.

Crooks narrowly missed Trump as the presidential candidate spoke at the rally, brushing the politician’s ear.

Crooks was killed by Secret Service agents seconds after trying to kill Trump. AFP via Getty Images

One member of the public was killed and a second was seriously injured.

The crooks apparently snuck to the top of a nearby building and crawled to their final position with rifles in hand to line up for the shot, while people below attempted to alert nearby police officers of the situation.

According to police sources, the man fired at least five to seven shots at the former president before being killed.

An AR-type rifle was later recovered.

According to voter records, Crooks was a registered Republican. It is unclear why he shot the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.