Thomas Matthew Crooks Was Labeled As 'School Shooter' By Peers

The nation is learning more about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who shot six to eight rounds at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend. The former president was grazed with a bullet, and while his face was bloodied, he suffered no other injuries.

Crooks, along with one other rallygoer, died in the incident, with two others left injured.

While the FBI continues to look into Crooks' background, those who knew the 20-year-old are speaking out, with one former classmate claiming his nickname was the "school shooter."

Crooks traveled an hour north of his home, scaled the roof of a building, and opened fire on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday.

The Secret Service shot and killed the 20-year-old on site, and now the FBI is investigating Crooks to find a possible motive. Investigators have confirmed that Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022.

They had not seen any indication Crooks had mental health issues. Federal Election Commission records indicate that a donor named Thomas Crooks, sharing the gunman’s street address, contributed $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a Democratic-aligned political action committee, on Inauguration Day in January 2021, when Crooks was 17.

The gun Crooks used was a legally purchased AR-style weapon. It traced to Crooks’ father.

A brief video posted on Facebook by Crooks’ school district in 2022 showed him participating in a computer coding course and explaining a coding concept to a fellow student.

“Those other kids would always say, ‘Hey, look at the school shooter over there!’” a former student told The New York Times. “They would tease him about his poor hygiene, his body odor. He was an easy target.”

A video that is making its rounds on social media shows Crooks being teased by classmates as one individual tugs on his pant leg as he sits at his desk.

Another former classmate, Jason Kohler, 21, told CNN that Crooks was bullied by other students and seemed to be a loner, having “no facial expression” when he walked through the school hallways. “He wasn’t, like, with the clique, so he always had, I guess, a target on his back," Kohler added.

Sarah D’Angelo said Crooks was “a quiet kid, not obviously political or violent in any way."

Crooks worked at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home less than a mile from his family’s home. “We are shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement as Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his job without concern and his background check was clean,” Marcie Grimm, the center’s administrator, said in a statement, per CNN.

A college of Crooks said, “It’s hard seeing everything that’s going on online because he was a really, really good person that did a really bad thing, and I just wish I knew why.”

Mr. Knapp, who retired two years ago as a guidance counselor, called Crooks as "a very good student,” adding that he had been enrolled in some honors and Advance Placement classes. “Not once did he ever get in trouble.”

Crooks allegedly sat alone in the cafeteria because his small group of friends had other lunch periods. “He liked the idea of being by himself because that was his human nature,” Mr. Knapp said.

According to Federal Election Commission records, a donor named Thomas Crooks, associated with the gunman's street address, contributed $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a Democratic-aligned political action committee, on Inauguration Day in January 2021, when Crooks was 17 years old.

However, Pennsylvania's voter database shows that a week after turning 18, Crooks registered to vote as a Republican.

A motive for the attempted assassination of Donald Trump is still unknown.