AAP FACTCHECK – The gunman behind the assassination attempt of Donald Trump was pictured at a synagogue, according to social media posts.
This is false. A facial recognition expert and the synagogue in question have both confirmed the photo does not show Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old man identified as the shooter by the FBI.
Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have circulated widely online in the aftermath of the shooting.
“The ALLEGED shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, at the Jewish Synagogue “Congregation B’nai Abraham”, Butler, PA,” one Facebook post states, showing an image of a man at the synagogue.
“Oh he’s JEWISH! I couldn’t put my finger on it,” another post reads, showing a zoomed-in version of the same image.
The synagogue confirmed this image does not show Crooks.
“Thomas Crooks has never been a member of Congregation B’Nai Abraham, nor has he ever attended any event or service at our synagogue,” representatives of the synagogue told AAP FactCheck.
“The person in the photo that is being circulated, that was taken from our Facebook page, is known to us and is not Thomas Crooks.”
A facial recognition expert said the image from the synagogue did not match other known images of Crooks.
Dr Reuben Moreton, a specialist in digital forensic and biometric research affiliated with The Open University, compared the synagogue photo and a confirmed photo of Crooks at a similar angle taken from an advertisement for investment company BlackRock.
Dr Moreton told AAP FactCheck that due to a number of differences in the facial structure as well as identifying marks on the neck, the two photos show different people.
He pointed to differences in the angle of the root and tip of the nose between the two men and said they have different chin shapes.
He also said there are multiple differences in the left ear including: “the tragus and crux of the antihelix (area around the opening of the ear), the shape of the helix (curvature of the top of the ear) … the antitragus, intertragic notch and auricular furrow (area above the ear lobe)”.
Dr Moreton also identified a mark on the neck of the person in the synagogue photo “that was not observed in any image of Thomas Matthew Crooks”.
Based on this analysis, Dr Moreton concluded “the findings provide strong support for the proposition that the individual depicted in the synagogue image and Thomas Matthew Crooks are different people.”
At the time of writing, there’s no evidence to support claims that Crooks was of Jewish faith, and his ideological motive remains unclear.
State voting records indicate he was a registered Republican and once made a $US15 ($A22) donation to a Democrat-aligned political group, US media reports.
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked other posts misidentifying the shooter involved in the assassination attempt.
The Verdict
False – The claim is inaccurate.
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