A former classmate of Thomas Matthew Crooks, Donald Trump‘s alleged attempted assassin, said in a new video that Crooks mocked him for liking the former president.
The FBI said Crooks, 20, fired his rifle from a nearby roof at Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, while he was speaking at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday at about 6 p.m. ET. Trump was struck by a bullet that pierced his right ear, but he is “fine,” according to his spokesperson.
A Secret Service counter-sniper killed Crooks immediately after the shots were fired. One rally attendee, 50-year-old former firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed in the shooting and two more were seriously injured, according to the Secret Service.
In a video published by Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Crooks’ ex-classmate, Vincent Taormina, recalled an incident with him in English class during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“So I brought up the fact that I’m Hispanic and I’m for Trump, and he said, well, you’re Hispanic, so shouldn’t you hate Trump? And I was like, no, he’s great. He’s a great president,” Taormina said.
He said that Crooks either said he was stupid or insinuated as such, saying to him, “Well that’s kinda stupid.” Taormina added that Crooks “was a know-it-all.”
“Thomas was a quiet kid unless there was something that he was passionate about, politics being one of them,” Taormina said.
Taormina said that Crooks disliked politicians from all parties.
“He just did not like politicians, especially with the choices that we’ve had,” Taormina said. “Especially during 2016, it was [Vermont Senator] Bernie Sanders, [former Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton, all of them. He showed that he disliked all of them.”
JUST IN: Former Thomas Crooks classmate says Crooks was a known Trump hater and was a “know it all.”
The FBI still doesn’t know what Crooks’ motive could have been.
Hispanic classmate Vincent Taormina recalled a political disagreement he had with Crooks after he told him that… pic.twitter.com/LzgnohInnw
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 17, 2024
Sanders, an independent, ran for the Democratic Party nomination in 2016 but lost to Clinton. In the general election, Clinton won the popular vote, but Trump won the electoral vote to become president.
Crooks lived in Bethel Park, a borough in the Pittsburgh metro area, and graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. He was a registered Republican voter, although he donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project in early 2021, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The Bethel Park School District said in a statement on Sunday: “The school district wishes to express its sincere wishes for a speedy and complete recovery for Mr. Trump and those in attendance at the Saturday event who may have been physically harmed or emotionally impacted by these tragic events. We offer special condolences to the family of Mr. Corey Comperatore, who was killed. Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time.”
Newsweek reached out to the Bethel Park School District for comment via email.
Other former schoolmates called Crooks a loner.
“He was not severely bullied,” Taormina said in the Fox News Digital video. “Almost nobody knew him.”
President Joe Biden said in an Oval Office address Sunday night that law enforcement officials are investigating the shooting and told the American people: “Don’t make assumptions about [Crooks’] motives or his affiliations.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said that the House will conduct a full investigation of the shooting, writing on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday evening: “The American people deserve to know the truth. We will have Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP.”
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into the shooting and asked Cheatle to testify on July 22.
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