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The gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump Saturday was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks


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'Socially reserved Math geek': All about Thomas Matthew Crooks who shot at Trump

Crooks was shot and killed by the US Secret Service seconds after he allegedly fired shots at the former US president in the rally from a nearby rooftop.

Crooks lived about an hour away from where the shooting took place in Butler. He reportedly graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School. He received a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative, according to Aljazeera. Known to be a “quiet” student, Crooks would have for the first time on November 5 voted in a presidential election. He was a registered Republican, according to state voter records.

His schoolmates labelled him as "socially reserved" and did not recall him ever discussing politics or Trump but mentioned that he was often bullied at school. "He was quiet, but he was just bullied. He was bullied so much," a student told local US media.

Jim Knapp, who retired as the school counsellor from Bethel Park High School in 2022, told Reuters that Crooks had always been “quiet as a churchmouse”, “respectful” and kept to himself.

His was interested in building computers and playing games, one former classmate told Reuters.

“He was super smart. That’s what really kind of threw me off was, this was, like, a really, really smart kid, like he excelled,” the classmate was quoted as saying. “Nothing crazy ever came up in any conversation.”

After graduating, Crooks had been working at a nursing home.

A statement from the Bethel Park School District received by local ABC affiliate WJET-TV confirmed he studied and graduated there.

“Our school district will cooperate fully with the active law enforcement investigation surrounding this case, and as such, we are limited in what we can publicly disclose,” the statement read.

When Crooks was 17 he reportedly made a $15 donation to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians, according to a 2021 Federal Election Commission filing.

According to Reuters, the donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project, a national group that rallies Democrats to vote.

Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks (53) told CNN that he was trying to figure out what happened and would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before speaking about his son.

According to a report published by The New York Post, Crooks was a “comically bad shot”. His former classmates claimed that he tried out for the rifle team at Bethel Park High School, but was rejected.

They said the school’s range was 50 feet long and 21 feet wide. The Post said he once shot from the seventh lane, which was closest to the right wall and missed so he hit the left wall. “He tried out… and was such a comically bad shot he was unable to make the team and left after the first day,” a classmate was quoted as saying.

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