Trump shooting: Key details emerge about ‘outcast’ gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks

Key new details have emerged about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old shot dead after trying to assassinate former US President Donald Trump, with one former classmate describing him an “outcast”.

Meanwhile pensions giant Black Rock has confirmed it has removed an online advertisement featuring Crooks in a classroom in Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

Crooks opened fire as Mr Trump addressed a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, hitting the president by inches and wounding him in his right ear. Three others were hit by bullets, with one, named as Corey Comperatore, killed.

He first came to law enforcement’s attention at Saturday’s rally when spectators spotted him acting strangely outside the campaign event.

The tip triggered a frantic search but officers were unable to find him before he managed to climb on to a roof roughly 130 metres from where Mr Trump was speaking, where he opened fire. He was then shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.

The FBI said it believes Crooks, who had bomb-making materials in the car he drove to the rally, acted alone.

Jason Kohler, who said he attended the same high school but did not share any classes with Crooks, claimed Crooks was bullied at school and sat alone at lunch time.

Other students mocked him for the clothes he wore, which included hunting outfits, Mr Kohler said.

He told reporters: “He was bullied almost every day. He was just a outcast, and you know how kids are nowadays.”

Frederick Mach, a current captain of the team who was a few years behind him at Bethel Park High School, said Crooks had been unable to get on to its rifle team because he was such a poor shot.

In a video of the school’s graduation ceremony posted online, Crooks can be seen crossing the stage to receive his diploma, appearing slight of build and wearing glasses.

Crooks also featured briefly in the Black Rock advertisement, for which he was not paid, and which has been removed from their website, but which continues to be shared widely on social media.

In a statement, the company said: “The assassination attempt on former President Trump is abhorrent. We’re thankful former President Trump wasn’t seriously injured, and thinking about all the innocent bystanders and victims of this awful act, especially the person who was killed.

“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. We will make all video footage available to the appropriate authorities, and we have removed the video from circulation out of respect for the victims.”

Crooks worked at a nursing home as a dietary aide, a job that generally involves food preparation. Marcie Grimm, the administrator of Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, said in a statement she was “shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement.” Ms Grimm added that Crooks had a clean background check when he was hired.

A blockade was set up yesterday stopping traffic near Crooks’ house, about an hour’s drive from the site of the Trump rally.

Crooks’ political leanings are not immediately clear. Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day Biden was sworn into office.

Speaking at the White House yesterday, Mr Biden himself said: “I urge everyone – everyone, please, don’t make assumptions about his motives or his affiliations.

“Let the FBI do their job, and their partner agencies do their job. I’ve instructed that this investigation be thorough and swift.”

Mr Trump, who faces off against Mr Biden in November’s US Presidential election arrived in Milkwaukee today in advance of the Republican National Convention, sporting a bandaged ear.

In an exclusive interview, he told the New York Post: “The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle.

“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead.”