The school district that served the high school attended by Thomas Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate former President Trump, issued a statement seeking to dispel a “common misconception.”
Bethel Park School District The statement has been updated. Crooks said Saturday that he was never a member of the school’s rifle team and there is no record of him having tried out, and the team’s coach “has no recollection of ever meeting him,” the statement said.
“It is possible that Crooks unofficially attended practice, received the injection and then did not return,” the BPSD wrote. “We have no record of this occurring.”
Crooks is a May 2022 graduate of Bethel Park High School.
Former guidance counselor for Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks says Crooks was ‘not a threat to society’
Undated photograph of Thomas Matthew Crookes. (Courtesy of AFP)
Classmates said Crooks was bullied in high school because of his appearance, but according to district records, the district said “Crooks excelled academically, attended school regularly and had never been subject to disciplinary action such as bullying or intimidation,” adding that “Crooks was a quiet, intelligent young man who generally got along well with teachers and classmates.”
The school district also denies that Crooks made any violent threats against the school and maintains that the 2019 incident was investigated, addressed and the students involved were disciplined.
Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks likely wasn’t politically motivated, but was a ‘systematic thinker’, according to profiler
Police officers stand near the body of Thomas Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate President Trump, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Todd the Driller)
“It had nothing to do with Thomas Crookes.”
One of Crooks’ classmates at Bethel Park High School said he was an avid gamer who enjoyed building computers.
School counselor Jim Knapp recalled seeing Crooks sitting alone at lunchtime and, although he would occasionally check in on the isolated boy, he said he enjoyed being alone.
“I truly believe this young man just lost his temper,” Knapp said. Pittsburgh’s Action News 4“He just lost it. And there was evil in the world, and evil took over him.”
Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’ cause and manner of death revealed
File photo of Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 2022 graduate of Bethel Park High School. (Source: Fox News Digital)
Classmate Max Rich told Fox News Digital that he was a “quiet” child.
After graduating from high school, Crooks earned an associate’s degree in engineering science from Allegheny County Community College and worked as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, BPSD said.
Click here to get the FOX News app
“It would be highly irresponsible to speculate about Thomas Crookes’ mental state in the two years since he was last seen,” the statement concluded.
Fox News’ Rebecca Rosenberg and Reuters contributed to this report.
