In the official version of events, Thomas Crooks acted alone when he climbed a rooftop and shot at Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, injuring the former president.
The trouble is, Americans are not buying the official narrative.
A DailyMail.com/TIPP Poll shows that voters by a wide margin say Crooks, 20, was not operating solo at the attack in Butler, Pennsylvania, and was part of a bigger conspiracy.
A staggering 67 percent of respondents said they believed the shooting was part of a plot, or that they were not sure exactly what happened on July 13.
More than a quarter of respondents also said a second shooter took a crack at Trump.
The nationwide survey of nearly 1,500 adults earlier this month shows how Americans increasingly doubt official narratives and subscribe to alternate versions of reality, which spread fast on social media.
Concerns about the shooting are doubtless heightened by the failure of the Secret Service to properly protect Trump, including by not securing a rooftop so close to his speaking podium.
Crooks, a nursing home aide, tried to assassinate the 78-year-old by firing an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle from a rooftop, 150 yards from his stage.
Trump’s right ear was wounded in the gunfire, and a 50-year-old man was killed. Two other spectators were critically wounded.
Crooks, a registered Republican, was shot and killed at the scene by a Secret Service sniper.
He left few clues about his beliefs or what motivated him to open fire at the rally.
Within minutes of the shooting, social media users were questioning what had taken place and putting forward their own theories.
Actress Amanda Seales was among those to suggest that Trump’s campaign team staged the attack, so the candidate could appear triumphant and win more votes in November’s elections.
‘That sh** was more staged than a Tyler Perry production,’ said Seales, the star of Insecure.
The firing noises sounded more like ‘popcorn,’ she added, and the blood trickling across Trump’s face was from ‘pellets’ used by movie make-up artists.
Meanwhile, on the political right, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones pushed the unfounded claim that the attack was a ‘deep state’ assassination attempt and a ‘failed coup.’
That theory was amplified in Proud Boys channels and has gained traction over the subsequent weeks.
Eli Crane, an Arizona Republican, and other GOP members have suggested that the shooting was part of a coordinated campaign by Democrats or shadowy government actors to try to stop Trump from reclaiming the White House.
Online theorists have claimed Crooks wasn’t the sole shooter, but that there was a second gunman near the rally venue.
Some claimed there was another person atop a water tower.
Other theorists have focussed on an unidentified woman in the crowd — wearing sunglasses, a white shirt and a black hat — appearing calm and collected as shots rang out at the rally.
While everyone else — including Trump — ducked down to the ground, in fear for their lives, the woman could be seen pulling out her phone and starting to film the event.
Many of the claims about the shooting emerged first on fringe social media platforms like 4chan before migrating to larger sites like X or TikTok, where they were seen by far more people.
Many of those rumors may contain exaggerations, missing context or outright falsehoods that evolve into conspiracy theories.
The misleading information is then amplified by online trolls, politicians, influencers, and people trying to hawk wares tied to the assassination attempt.
With few safeguards to stop bad information online, such claims can quickly spread, impacting the upcoming election and even persisting for years to come.
Congressional leaders have set up a bipartisan task force to probe the attack, and some top Republican lawmakers, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have urged their colleagues to ‘turn the rhetoric down.’
Johnson says he blames the shooting on ineptitude and not any coordinated effort to kill Trump.
Our survey shows that most Americans doubt or question the official narrative.
Nearly half of respondents — 45 percent — say Crooks was not working alone, and that others were involved in a plot.
Just 33 percent said Crooks was working solo, and 22 percent said they were not sure.
That shockingly amounts to more than two thirds of Americans not accepting law enforcement’s version of events.
Younger Americans and Republicans were more likely than others to suspect a conspiracy.
In a separate question, some 27 percent of voters said they thought a second shooter was involved in the attack.
Another 46 percent said this was not the case, and 27 percent said they were not sure.
The survey has a +/-2.7 percent error margin. It was carried out in early August by TIPP, which is noted for the accuracy of its polls.