Staff Reports
Meet Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old suspect the FBI connected to an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Oh, and let’s not forget—this “bright” and “nerdy” young man also managed to end the life of a father and volunteer firefighter and critically injure two others before the Secret Service put an end to his reign of terror.
Hailing from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, Crooks was no stranger to the town’s bougie middle-class neighborhood. This 2022 high school graduate had an overachieving academic record, topping it off with a National Math & Science Initiative Star Award. Yet, his outstanding grades didn’t paint the whole picture. Underneath the camouflage and hunting outfits he daily sported to school, lay a ticking time bomb.
Students at Bethel Park High School reminisced about Crooks as the “quiet” kid, just blending into the background. Sure, he might have worn a face mask longer than necessary and got bullied for it, but hey, what’s life without a little teenage angst? His classmates’ varying descriptions painted a conflicting picture: he was either an apolitical nerd or a potential threat lurking in the shadows. Sarah D’Angelo from CNN felt he was harmless, while Juliana Grooms saw him as a loner who might just “snap,” and boy, did he.
Trump Rally Shooter Described as “lonely” and “sweet” by those who knew him https://t.co/0cCNjoMoWh
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 16, 2024
Crooks was no sharpshooter either. Turned away by his school’s varsity rifle team, he found solace in the local shooting club, “Clairton Sportsmen’s Club,” where his dangerous hobby found a stage. This club later disowned his atrocious act, and rightfully so. But let’s not forget that their rifle range was a practice ground for this young calamity. Ironically, despite being a registered Republican and having donated to the left-leaning Progressive Turnout Project, Crooks’ political leanings were as confused as the rest of his life.
Fast forward to the day of the crime, where Crooks turned an AR-15-style rifle, legally owned by his father, into a weapon of chaos at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Positioned just 450 feet from Trump’s podium, Crooks pumped several rounds into the crowd, injuring Trump and killing an innocent soul. Despite having no known mental illnesses and minimal social media activity, he did have three rudimentary explosive devices and around 50 rounds of ammunition purchased that very day.
At this point, the FBI is still scratching its head, plowing through his phone and any other digital breadcrumbs trying to uncover a motive. Special Agent Kevin Rojeck has stated that they currently have no evidence linking Crooks to any extremist groups and believe he acted solo. No public safety concerns there, folks, just another day in America’s politically charged battleground.
So, while mainstream narratives try to disentangle the “why” behind Crooks’ rampage, one thing remains clear: America dodged a bullet, literally and figuratively, and it’s about time we started facing the ugly realities of our fractured nation.
