By Lily Barr
When Crooks fired shots from 443 ft away at Donald Trump on July 13th at his Pennsylvania rally, one question was on everyone’s mind. Why? The answer is, unfortunately, not particularly clear. That being said, some motivation can be gleaned. An article like this inherently requires a lot of speculation. Due to this, I will split it up into 3 main categories: definitive facts, family and friends testimonials, and my personal theory involving his life and motives. I implore you to make your own theories and, of course, take mine and any secondhand information with a large grain of salt.
Thomas Crooks was born September 20, 2003 near Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The area is upper middle class and both of his parents are licensed professional counselors. He was an above average student in terms of grades. He was also studying computer science. In 2022, he graduated and won five hundred dollars from the National Math and Science Initiative. Crooks also got into University of Pittsburgh and Robert Morris University, but ultimately got an associate degree in engineering from Community College of Allegheny County.
In terms of personal politics, he donated fifteen dollars to the Progressive Turnout Project on ActBlue at age 17. When he turned 18, he registered to vote as a Republican. Prior to the shooting, he searched for public appearances of Trump, President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, and the DNC and RNC. On the day of, he searched “How far was Oswald from Kennedy”. He also searched for information on the attempted assassination of Robert Fico. He also bought large amounts of firearm supplies and bomb making materials. Finally, he also searched for “major depressive disorder” and had a picture of the Oxford shooter, Ethan Crumbley, saved on his phone. The gun used was bought by his father in 2013, and legally transferred to him in 2023. His father was a Libertarian and his mother was a Democrat.
This is where the trail of objective evidence ends, the following information has been taken from testimonials and shouldn’t be taken at face value. School officials and classmates said he was quiet and often bullied for his ‘quiet demeanor, body odor, as well as for wearing camouflage hunting outfits and surgical masks to school’ . That being said, there are no disciplinary records pertaining to any of Crooks’s actions or any taken against him. The school district stated that, “The assailant [Crooks] was known as a quiet, bright young man who generally got along with his teachers and classmates.” He enjoyed playing video games and chess. Some students and graduates of Bethel Park High School allege that he failed to make it on to the school’s rifle team due to poor aim, but I doubt this is true. The following information all comes from one classmate, Mark Sigafoos, and again shouldn’t be taken as fact. Sigafoos described him as ‘definitely conservative’ and that ‘I don’t think he was as harshly bullied as some people are saying’. The evidence for this is that during a mock debate Crooks sided with the conservative viewpoint, whereas most of the class sided with the liberal point of view. He also went on to say that “He [Crooks] was very kind,” and “I feel like this is one of those things that you wouldn’t expect from him … No one that I know said they ever found him to be a creepy, loner kind of guy.” This is somewhat subject to disagreement as another classmate, Jason Kohler, said “He was bullied almost every day,” and “He was just a[n] outcast, and you know how kids are nowadays.”
Now for my theory, this is the part of the article you should take the least seriously. I will try to keep it as based in reality as possible but it is, ultimately, just speculation. I believe that the shooting was apolitical. Crooks was searching for various events in which important figures would be speaking. Crooks had a very little digital footprint, this led me to believe that he was a 4chan user. Crooks was depressed, as shown by his ‘major depressive disorder’ search. Certain 4chan boards are infamous for idolizing and inspiring school shooters. I believe Crooks fell into a community like this and it exasperated his mental illness to the point where he wanted to assassinate someone. This could be anyone, but it had to be someone big and public. The closest and easiest just happened to be Trump. As I stated in the beginning of the article, I encourage you to make your own theories.
This rabbit hole can get a lot deeper, Crooks dad was linked to gun trading marketplaces. I didn’t have time to mention that as well as a few other things. Which leads me to my point of researching this yourself and coming to your own conclusions.
