The story of the 20-year-old who allegedly tried to assassinate former President Trump is becoming a little clearer, even if investigators have yet to determine his motive.
A YouTube video of the 2022 graduation from Bethel Park High School shows a few people clapping as Thomas Matthew Crooks, slim and wearing eyeglasses, is handed his diploma.
Relatives of the Pennsylvania resident, speaking out since he was shot dead by Secret Service agents on Saturday, said the former peers were wrong and that Crooks had been a quiet loner.
An individual who went to the school with Crooks, Jason Kohler, tells Fox News that he recalls Crook as “an outcast” constantly sitting alone and was a day by day casualty of harassing.
Crooks ate alone at lunch, Kohler said, and was taunted for being poorly dressed.
Julianna Grooms, who graduated a year after Crooks described him as the kid in high school that would wear camo all four years or spoke about hunting and acted awkward.
“If someone would say something to his face, he would just kind of stare at them,” Grooms told the Wall Street Journal. “People would say he was the student who would shoot up the school.”
“Those other kids would always say, ‘Hey, look at the school shooter over there!’” Grooms continued. “They would tease him about his poor hygiene, his body odor. He was an easy target.”
“He was a nerdy kid, but I don’t think he was as harshly bullied as some people are saying,” Mark Sigafoos, who shared two classes with Crooks, told the Inquirer. “He never wore trench coats or anything of the sort to school.”
“He never outwardly spoke about his political views or how much he hated Trump or anything,” said Sarah D’Angelo, another classmate of Crooks at Bethel Park High, told the outlet. During homeroom before classes began, she recalled him playing games on his laptop.
According to the Trib Details article on his graduation year, Crooks earned a National Math & Science Initiative Star Award in 2022. Sigafoos added that the classmate would assist him when he struggled with course material and was “very nice.”
Crooks also had a history of political statements in class, but tried to keep his personal belief separate.
“He definitely was conservative,” he told the Inquirer. “It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate.”
Crooks was employed through 2020, last working as a dietary aide at the state-licensed transitional facility Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
In a statement Sunday, center administrator Marcie Grimm said Crooks was not acting in his official capacity and had no prior record. According to team members then and as reported by ABC News, Crooks unsuccessfully tried out for the rifle club at his school but was turned down and told not to come back.
