In the days, weeks, and months after the attempted assassination of Presidential Candidate Donald Trump in Butler, PA, on July 13, 2024, very little information was released by the FBI and law enforcement regarding his assassin, Thomas Crooks. After firing eight shots, killing Corey Comperatore, seriously injuring two others, and missing a fatal head shot of President Trump by millimeters, Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.

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On July 24, FBI Director Chris Wray told Congress the shooter was not known to the FBI prior to July 13, and they had discovered no motive for his desire to assassinate Mr. Trump.

But according to reporting by Miranda Devine in the New York Post, Crooks was quite active on social media, posting under his own name on 17 different accounts. Prior to 2020, Crooks’s online activity was supportive of Trump, anti-Semitic, and called for the murder of Democrats and immigrants.

A Change in Ideology

But Crooks’s tune changed in early 2020. He began calling President Trump a racist and his MAGA followers a cult. He called for terrorist-style attacks and assassinations of important people.

According to Ms. Devine’s source, “His radicalization, violent rhetoric, and obsession with political violence were all documented under his real name. The threat wasn’t hidden.”

Crooks remained active online for years, spewing hatred and violence. His accounts were finally removed the day after the shooting in Butler. By December 2024, the FBI had reported on none of Crook’s online activity to Congress and continued to frame him as far-right with no shift in ideology.

On November 14^, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel issued the following statement regarding Thomas Crooks…

“The FBI’s investigation into Thomas Crooks identified and examined over 20 online accounts, data extracted from over a dozen electronic devices, examination of numerous financial accounts, and over 1,000 interviews and 2,000 public tips.

The investigation, conducted by over 480 FBI employees, revealed Crooks had limited online and in-person interactions, planned and conducted the attack alone, and did not leak or share his intent to engage in the attack with anyone.”

Trump Shooter Involved in Furry Culture

It was only recently revealed to the public that Crooks posted on DeviantArt using they/them pronouns. DeviantArt is one of the big online hubs for the “furry” community, posting “furry” art, including “furry” pornography. A furry community is made up of people who create an animal character for themselves with human qualities.

A “furry” looks like walking and talking animals, or cartoon characters. Some furries dress up in full animal costumes, or fursuits. Others add animal accessories such as ears, noses, or tails to their bodies. The psychological term for this is anthropomorphism: attributing human characteristics to nonhuman entities, such as animals.

Furries create a “fursona” (replacing person with fur) for themselves. This is their animal identity, and it can blur the line between real life and the reality they create online.

According to Psychology Today, “There is no official definition of what a ‘furry’ actually is, although most furries would agree that they share an interest in fictional anthromorphic animal characters that have human characteristics and personalities and/or mythological or imaginary creatures that possess human and/or superhuman capabilities.” Think Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny.

Furries are primarily male (84%) and under the age of 25 (75%). Most (60%) identify as homosexual, and 1 in 8 furries identify as transgender—a 20 times higher rate than people who don’t identify as furries. Furries are also five times more likely to identify as LGBTQ+.

Furry fandom attracts the vulnerable and the bullied. They find freedom and acceptance in hiding their identity, creating a new one, and pretending to be something they are not.

Furries belong to what they describe as “Furry Fandom.” They mostly gather online, up to 2.8 million of them. It’s estimated that 10,000 furries or more attend Furry Fandom conventions to meet other furries in person. There is also a strong sexual undertone to furry fandom, where they prefer to have sexual encounters while dressed as a furry or with someone dressed as a furry.

Furry fandom and conventions have been around since the 1970s. But “furry” has been popping up in the culture more and more. For instance, furry culture is becoming increasingly visible in middle and high schools. You may have even seen “furries” at No Kings protests or protests against ICE dressed in their fursuits.

But now we are seeing furry culture attached to two recent acts of trantifa violence.

“Furries” Connected to Violence

Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin was in a relationship with a transgender female (man pretending to be a woman) who also identified as a furry. It’s alleged that Charlie’s assassin was a fan of online fetish sites, acting out “furry fantasies” and engaging in “furry porn.”

And now, it’s been revealed that Thomas Crooks was active on furry websites, such as DeviantArt and Discord, the platform used by Charlie Kirk’s assassin as well. Crooks used they/them pronouns online, a key indicator that he was struggling with his gender identity.

Crooks was also radicalized into believing that assassination was the only answer. Crook’s final online search before the shooting in Butler was for pornographic furry material with exaggerated male characteristics and female heads.

Was Crooks targeted and brainwashed into committing violence through his furry fetish? Was Charlie Kirk’s assassin?

The Hidden Danger of Furry Culture

For parents or grandparents, furries may be a “fad” they haven’t heard of before. But most likely, the children in your life know what furry culture is. Parents are often told it’s cute, harmless, or a creative expression. And certainly, a little girl who wants to wear a kitty-ear headband is not a member of a furry community.

But this human-animal transformation has been around for thousands of years and is closely tied to pagan rituals, i.e., ancient Egyptians and their jackal-headed deities. Other pagan rituals in other cultures called for humans to take on animal spirits to win battles.

But as parents and grandparents, we need to be aware of a child’s exposure to the furry culture. It may appear innocent enough, but there is a spiritual danger. There are those who would gladly take a child down a darker path.

Furry Fandom celebrates a sense of identity that contradicts biblical truth. While furries may appear silly on the surface, there is the subtle message – reinforced online and in many public schools – that you can be whatever you want to be, regardless of how God made you.

What often happens to the person is that their sense of worth and identity becomes tied to their “fursona”. They only feel empowered when they are presenting as an animal. This opens the door for them to act as animals. Violence and sexual immorality can be defined in their world by “natural” animal behavior, and not by how a person should act. They can feel justified to react to the world – and the people who oppose them – like an animal aggressively protecting its territory.

But furries are not animals, and beneath the furry suit or fursona is a real person made in the image of God. They are not animals trapped in human bodies.

This self-identity began with sexual preference, then moved on to gender identity and transgenderism. Today, this self-identity is now extending to species identity and becoming more popular.

But God does not make a mistake in creation. Furry culture is another lie of the Devil and a counterfeit to God’s perfect creation. Satan has rebranded ancient pagan rituals into cute furry animals. His strategy is to take God’s beautiful creation of being made in the image of God for a divine purpose and twist it into something confusing and counterfeit.

Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:23)

This is not just a cultural issue. It’s a spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of an entire generation. Furry culture is simply another frontline. We must reach out in love and compassion and show them their true identity is in Christ. It is here they can find the acceptance they are seeking. Every young person who turns to Christ is a powerful witness of what God can do and a powerful, truth-telling advocate for the Gospel.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, we know that you created humans to be image-bearers of God the Creator. You designed us for a relationship with You and to live according to Your design for us as humans.

Lord, we pay for these young people who are struggling with their confusion or feelings of rejection and unworthiness, and so turn to the furry community to find acceptance and affirmation. But Lord, we know this is a counterfeit identity and can lead these young people into deeper bondage and sin.

Lord, You know who these young people truly are, not their costumed “fursona”. You said, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you (Jeremiah 1:5). You know their hearts. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (I Samuel 16:7).

We pray You turn these lost souls away from their animal identity and draw them closer to You, their loving Father and Creator. Deliver them, O God, from these lies of the Devil. Break all relationships they have – either online or in person – telling them they can find their identity and happiness in the furry culture.

Reveal to them that they are Your beloved child and only You can make all things new in their lives. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Guide us in how to pray and what to say to speak the truth in love to any child we may know caught up in furry culture. When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. (John 16:13) In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

How is this article leading you to pray? Share your prayers and scriptures below.

Belinda Brewster analyzes cultural, political, and world events from a biblical worldview. Belinda’s passion is to equip, support, and encourage parents and grandparents who are courageously battling against the spiritual and cultural forces impacting children and grandchildren. Photo Credit: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images.