Trump rally gunman ‘didn’t want attention’ in school, classmates said

BETHEL PARK, Pa. — Before he climbed onto a rooftop and added his name to America’s bloody history of would-be presidential assassins, Thomas Crooks, 20, seemed to try to shrink from view.

Jim Knapp, who was the gunman’s guidance counselor at Bethel Park High School in the suburbs south of Pittsburgh, said Crooks chose to sit by himself at lunch in the cafeteria and look at his phone, instead of joining other students.

”He just wanted to stay by himself,” Knapp said.

In interviews on Monday, former classmates had similar recollections. They described Crooks as a smart but solitary student who walked through the halls with his head down and rarely raised his hand in class. But they said he did not make threats or act violently.

“He didn’t want attention, good or negative,” said Julianna Grooms, 19, who first remembered seeing Crooks when they were freshmen.

She and other former classmates have spent days texting one another, looking at old high-school photos and racking their memories for some clue about why Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, killing one attendee, critically wounding two others and grazing former President Donald Trump in the ear. Crooks was shot and killed by the Secret Service.

On Monday, federal investigators did not provide any new answers about the gunman’s motives or ideology, but said they had been able to access to Crooks’ cellphone and were analyzing it, along with his other electronic devices.

The FBI said it had finished searching the gunman’s home and car, and had interviewed nearly 100 rally attendees, law enforcement officers and other witnesses and received hundreds of photos and videos from the rally and other digital tips.

“That work continues,” the FBI said in a statement. “The investigation is still in the early stages.”

Investigators have said that Crooks had not been on their radar, and had not revealed any strongly held political beliefs in the posts and texts investigators have reviewed so far.

Crooks had lived in Bethel Park, the son of two licensed counselors. Jennifer Meredith, a cousin, recalled him as a quiet boy who listened to his parents, but she added that she had not seen Crooks since he was about 6 years old.

The gunman’s father, Matthew Crooks, registered a family coat of arms online, and said in a biographical statement that he had attended local universities, and was married with a son and daughter. He said that “family is very important to me,” and the design on his coat of arms reflected “the interconnectedness and unity found within the family.”

Grooms, the gunman’s former classmate, said she did not remember Crooks from elementary school or middle school, and said she believed he attended a different middle school than most of the students at Bethel Park High School. The Bethel Park School District confirmed that Crooks graduated from high school in 2022, but declined to release any other details about his school record.

“He was a very good student,” said Knapp, who retired two years ago as a guidance counselor. He noted that Crooks had been enrolled in some honors and Advanced Placement classes. “Not once did he ever get in trouble.”

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

He also disputed the suggestion that Crooks had been picked on, saying that the school paid close attention to students’ mental health. “He wasn’t being bullied,” he said.

Anna Dusch, 20, took an AP American government class with Crooks during their senior year, after classes had returned to normal following the pandemic-related disruptions of virtual learning, staggered classes and masking.

She said that Crooks always seemed to know the class material, but never revealed any political views in class.

“I would’ve never known who he was voting for,” she said. “He seemed to be really intelligent. If there was a fact to be said, he knew it.”

She said that Crooks seemed to keep to himself, but never gave her any reason to worry.

“He was a little bit odd, but I never would’ve suspected this,” she said. “I don’t think any of us knew who he was.”

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