A former classmate of the gunman who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump has spoken out on what he was like at school.
On Saturday (July 13), 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks nearly succeeded in his attempt to assassinate Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Crooks had positioned himself on the roof of a nearby manufacturing plant approximately 130 yards from the Butler Farm Show grounds, where Trump had taken to the stage.
Around 10 minutes into Trump's address, Crooks fired shots - grazing Trump’s ear and tragically killing one rally attendee.
Secret Service snipers quickly neutralized Crooks after he opened fire. He was found armed with an AR-style semi-automatic assault rifle and wearing clothing bearing the logo of Demolition Ranch, a popular gun-related YouTube channel.
Now it has been revealed that Crooks was "an easy target" for bullies throughout his freshman year at Bethel Park High School, according to 19-year-old former classmate Julianna Grooms.
Speaking to the New York Times, Grooms described Crooks as standing out in his freshman year, often wearing wide-legged jeans and SpongeBob SquarePants T-shirts. She noted that, like many others who knew him, Crooks preferred to keep to himself and avoid any kind of attention.
“He didn’t want attention, good or negative,” she explained.
Grooms also revealed an alarming nickname that other students called Crooks during classes: "School shooter".
“Those other kids would always say, ‘Hey, look at the school shooter over there!’” Grooms recounted. “They would tease him about his poor hygiene, his body odor.
"He was an easy target.”
Jason Kohler, another former classmate, echoed Grooms' observations in an interview with KDKA, stating that Crooks was "relentlessly" bullied during high school.
Newly surfaced video footage from a high school class shows a prankster pulling at Crooks’ pants leg while he repeatedly tells them to “stop,” eventually saying: “Stop, you’re pulling my leg,” as laughter is heard from behind the camera.
Following his experiences with bullying, Crooks abandoned his SpongeBob attire for more neutral clothing, sometimes opting for camouflage or hunting outfits.
These new outfits were less conspicuous in a region where hunting is popular and the school even had a rifle club, which Crooks tried out for but was rejected from due to being a “comically bad” shot, according to former classmates interviewed by The Post.
In a surprising revelation, Crooks previously appeared in a commercial for BlackRock, one of the world’s leading multinational investment companies.
BlackRock explained in a statement to Reuters on Sunday that Crooks was a student at Bethel Park High School and appeared in the 2022 ad alongside other unpaid students.
“In 2022, we ran an ad featuring a teacher from Bethel Park High School, in which several unpaid students briefly appeared in the background, including Thomas Matthew Crooks,” the company stated, confirming the ad’s removal.
