Trump Math Geek Shooter’s Classmate Reveals Gun Nut Was Bullied ‘So Much’ Every Day at School
Police radio transmissions revealed epic communication failures by the secret service.
July 15 2024, Published 7:14 p.m. ET
Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump over the weekend, was bullied "so much" in school, one of his former classmates claimed.
Crooks, whose photo was first revealed to the world by RadarOnline.com, fired a semi-automatic assault rifle from a rooftop nearby a Trump rally in Butler on Saturday. He grazed the GOP candidate's ear with a bullet and killed one other attendee. He reportedly managed to unload at least seven shots before being taken out by a Secret Service counter sniper.
Thomas Matthew Crooks was 'an outcast' at Bethel Park High School, a former classmate said.
A former student told NBC that at school, Crooks "would sit alone at lunch," calling him "an outcast" who "was quiet, he was bullied so much.”
The student continued: "You know how kids are, they are going to target him because they think it is funny. It’s honestly kind of sad, I don’t want to say this is what provoked it, but you never know."
Two other former classmates also told the New York Post that the gunman tried to get onto Bethel Park High School's rifle team a few years ago, but he didn't make the cut because he was a "terrible" shot — and purportedly made "off-color" jokes.
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One of Crooks' peers said of the gunman: “He tried out...and was such a comically bad shot, he was unable to make the team and left after the first day.”
But it wasn't just his inability to hit a target that concerned classmates and the rifle team's coach, according to the pair of Bethel Park high alums.
The other ex-student said: "We noticed a few things Thomas said and how he interacted with other people...He said some things that were kind of concerning. He made some crass jokes that weren’t appropriate when there are firearms in the school setting.”
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Crooks took several shots from a rooftop near the rally before being taken out by Secret Service.
Another source told the outlet: "You know, obviously, we’re using guns in a school setting, so you need to be very careful in that regard. Our old coach was a stickler, he trained Navy marksmen, so he knew people. He knew when someone’s not the greatest person."
After identifying Crooks as the gunman, federal agents descended on his home in Bethel Park — a suburb about 50 miles south of Butler — and discovered explosives in his van.
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Officials found explosives during a search of Crooks' vehicle, and more than a dozen guns at his home in Bethel Park.
Officials seized the vehicle along with other items to be forensically tested, hoping to shed light on what prompted the 20-year-old to make an attempt on the former president's life.
In his first official interview after narrowly escaping the shocking assassination attempt, Trump praised the Secret Service agents who jumped into action, saying: “They took him out with one shot right between the eyes. They did a fantastic job.”