A Hispanic ex-classmate of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks said he insinuated he was stupid for supporting former President Donald Trump in an interview with Fox News Digital. Vincent Taormina told the outlet that Crooks, 20, was “passionate” about politics but hated “all” politicians.
“He just did not like politicians, especially with the choices that we’ve had. He did not like our politicians,” Taormina said, adding that in 2020, when Crooks would have been around 16 years old, he “disliked all of them.” Taormina did not specify when he spoke to Crooks about Trump but said, “I brought up the fact that I’m Hispanic and, you know, I’m for Trump. And he said, ‘Well you’re Hispanic, so shouldn’t you hate Trump?’” He said he told Crooks that Trump was a great president, and Crooks “insinuated that I was stupid.”
“He was a know-it-all,” he added. “He acted like he knew everything, especially politics-related. He was real smug, arrogant whenever he was talking…It got under my skin a lot,” Taormina added. He said Crooks was not a loner or bullied and had a friend group who were “definitely the type, and they did make threats to shoot up our school.”
Fox News reported on Wednesday that investigators have not found evidence of a particular ideology Crooks held, but that he had written on a gaming platform called “Steam”: “July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds.” Authorities have also reportedly found a few internet searches by Crooks in July of “Trump,” “Biden,” “when is DNC convention,” and “July 13 Trump rally.”
Witnesses at the Butler, Pa., rally site where Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump on Saturday reported seeing him on the roof of an adjacent building before he opened fire. It has since been revealed that police were stationed inside the very building the attacker climbed, but not on the roof, for some reason.
In the 48 hours preceding the attack Crooks visited several locations in his suburban Pittsburgh neighborhood. A law enforcement official reported to CNN that on Friday, Crooks practiced shooting at a range where he held a membership. The next day, he bought a five-foot ladder from Home Depot and 50 rounds of ammunition from a gun store, but subsequent reports said he did not use the ladder to get on the roof of the building where he fired at the former president.
Crooks then drove his Hyundai Sonata to a rally for the 2024 Republican nominee in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he joined thousands of attendees. He had an improvised explosive device hidden in his car’s trunk, connected to a transmitter he carried. Using his newly purchased ladder, Crooks scaled a nearby building and eventually opened fire on the former president.
Investigators are now piecing together Crooks’ actions before the attack but are stumped by the lack of clear motives. Despite thorough searches of his digital and personal life, no political or ideological reasons have emerged. His interests appeared to center around computer coding and gaming.
A troubling discovery was made when a remote control detonator was found on Crooks, along with explosives in his car. This suggests he might have intended to set off an explosion as a distraction during the shooting. He used an AR-style rifle legally purchased by his father, Matthew Crooks, who owns over 20 firearms. The investigation into how Crooks assembled the explosives in his car is ongoing, with no evidence yet found of him researching bomb-making online.
Crooks and his father were members of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a gun club located about 25 minutes from their home where they frequently went shooting together. The club has around 2,000 members and features a 200-yard-long rifle range set within 180 acres of wooded hills south of Pittsburgh. According to CNN, the range is longer than the distance between Crooks and Trump during the shooting incident.
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