The Truth About The Steam Message From Trump's Attempted Assassin

Last weekend, former U.S. President Donald Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. On Thursday morning, reports began circulating that connected a Steam account to the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. Crooks was killed at the scene after critically injuring two rally attendees and killing another, as well as leaving Donald Trump with an wound to his ear. Fox News reported that an investigation into the shooting uncovered a Steam account apparently belonging to Thomas Crooks. Included among the account's posts — which were shown in a briefing with multiple U.S. senators — was an ominous warning: "July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds." July 13, of course, being the actual date of the attack.

A report from CBS has now debunked this story, and it seems that this Steam account did not actually belong to Crooks, but rather an unidentified troll. On X (formerly Twitter), journalist Aric Toler has drawn attention to the fact that the owner of this account seemingly changed their display name the day after the shooting occurred, according to Steam ID.

Let's introduce the FBI and whoever worked on that Senate briefing to @steam_id pic.twitter.com/uYpaFj246T

— Aric Toler (@AricToler) July 18, 2024

Toler noted that the real Crooks didn't seem to have been very active on social media prior to the attack last weekend, adding, "Well, cross Steam off the list for now, with the FBI (or whoever contributed to that Senate briefing) getting fooled by an obvious fake. That said, I'm pretty certain he did have a Steam account, just not sure what the username is." The search for the gunman's actual Steam account continues, but it's very unlikely at this point that Crook posted any real actionable warnings to his account prior to the assassination attempt. 

The whiplash from the story has been felt all over social media, with onlookers baffled that someone would pounce on a deadly incident like this to make some cheap jokes on Steam. Others are shocked that this bizarre hoax made it as far as it did, while some gaming fans are confused as to why a government investigation into an attempted assassination is looking so closely at Steam. However, this last aspect actually makes a lot of sense, as multiple interviews have noted that Thomas Matthew Crooks was an avid PC gamer who often brought his gaming laptop to school. However, as of this writing, no clear connection has been drawn between Crooks' hobbies and the shooting at Trump's campaign rally. The search for the shooter's real Steam account is apparently ongoing, as federal law enforcement officials attempt to ascertain a motive for the attack on July 13.

As wild as this story is, it's also worth noting that this wouldn't be the first time that a gaming hoax has made its way into mainstream news. In 2022, a series of bad-taste memes resulted in gaming auteur Hideo Kojima being identified by several news sources as the gunman behind the assassination of former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe. Video game animation has also become so photorealistic in recent years that it's been mistaken for real-life footage in some cases. However, these types of hoaxes don't often reach the very top channels of a highly sensitive government investigation.