Thomas Matthew Crooks' Teacher Sheds Light On College Life

Details surrounding Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man who shot at former President Donald Trump, continue to emerge as the investigation into a possible motive goes on.

The 20-year-old showed up at Trump's Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, July 13, firing off six to eight shots from an AR-style rifle, which Crooks' father legally purchased.

Over the past week, several former classmates of the 20-year-old have come forward, claiming he was bullied and picked on a lot. Now, one of Thomas Matthew Crooks' past teachers is weighing in.

The young man who shot at former President Donald Trump last Saturday had once seemed to be on a trajectory toward a bright future, according to his former teacher.

Crooks was known for his thoughtfulness and politeness during his time at Pittsburgh's Community College of Allegheny County. He graduated in May with an associate's degree in engineering. He was all set to continue his studies at Robert Morris University--a stark contrast to the shocking events that unfolded just days later.

One of his former teachers, who preferred to remain anonymous, was left in utter disbelief after the shooting. To make sense of it all, she revisited his old homework assignments and was struck by how Crooks consistently went "above and beyond" in his work, per Fox News.

She fondly remembered an awe-inspiring project he’d completed: a chess set designed specifically for blind players. It’s hard to reconcile such a thoughtful and inventive student with the recent tragic events."

"He 3D-printed it. He put the Braille on it," the teacher recalled. "He talked to experts in the field. He really took a lot of care."

Another colleague from Bethel Park described Crooks as someone with a clear and focused ambition for a career in engineering.

"It's just very, very, very unexpected," the employee said.

Crooks was killed after snipers took him down at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The chaos resulted in bullets grazing the former president’s ear and tragically claimed the life of former firefighter Corey Comperatore.

These latest comments come after Mr. Knapp, who retired two years ago as a guidance counselor, described Crooks as "a very good student." He noted that the 20-year-old had been enrolled in honors and Advanced Placement classes, consistently showing strong academic performance.

"Not once did he ever get in trouble," Mr. Knapp continued, adding that Crooks often chose to sit alone in the cafeteria since his small group of friends had different lunch periods. "He liked the idea of being by himself because that was his human nature," Mr. Knapp explained.

As the FBI delves into Crooks’ background, those who knew him are starting to speak up. One former classmate revealed that he was unsettlingly nicknamed the "school shooter," a nickname that now casts a chilling shadow over his past.

“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.”

Jason Kohler, 21, another former classmate, shared with CNN that Crooks was often bullied and appeared to be a loner. Kohler recalled how Crooks would walk through the school hallways with a vacant expression, detached from the social cliques around him.

"He wasn’t, like, with the clique, so he always had, I guess, a target on his back," Kohler noted, suggesting that isolation and bullying might have played a role in the events that unfolded last weekend.

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.”