In the wake of the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, new details surrounding the incident seem to be coming forward each day. On July 13th, the former president held a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where shots rang out minutes into Trump’s speech. One bullet struck Trump in his right ear, and other rounds tragically struck audience members, killing one man. Secret Service snipers in the area were able to neutralize the shooter, who was later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. An investigation into Crooks’ motive is still underway, however new details surrounding Crooks as an individual are surfacing following the assassination attempt.
Fox News recently interviewed a former classmate of Crooks, named Vincent Taormina, who shared some interesting facts about his former classmate. Taormina stated to Fox News that Crooks showed disdain for the former president in years prior. Taormina described a past incident between him and Crooks where Taormina spoke about his Hispanic heritage and his support for Trump as a candidate. Taormina explained that Crooks questioned the correlation between his heritage and support for Trump, and even called his classmate, “stupid” for doing so.
Taormina further described Crooks as a “know-it-all” and was not a fan of politicians, especially during the time of the 2016 election. The former classmate of Crooks also stated that Crooks spoke his mind when he chose to. Crooks was described by Taormina as passionate while speaking about topics he was interested in. Taormina stated that Crooks often came off as arrogant when speaking about topics such as politics. As for the friends Crooks surrounded himself with, Taormina described them as “out there” and stated that the students would often miss school or attend home-schooling.
During his interview, Taormina shot down the narrative that Crooks was a victim of bullying, and was not a loner in school. As for the recent events, Taormina stated that the signs were there.
