LOS ANGELES.–Before 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper, there was little known about the 2022 Bethel Park High School graduate other than some reports by his classmates that he stuck to himself, somewhat of a loner. Whether he was bullied or not is anyone’s guess. Some former classmates say yes, some say no, trying to piece together a pre-morbid psychological profile for the man that nearly assassinated July 13 78-year-old former President Donald Trump at a Butler, PA rally. Observers at the rally said they saw Crooks climb up the roof with a rifle before he opened fire on the president, killing one, injuring two and grazing Trump’s upper right ear with a wayward bullet. Piecing together background information on Crooks may not come up with a legitimate motive, other than the fact that he was a post-teenage boy with all that goes into that.
Crook’s cell phone found on his lifeless body on the roof of the warehouse where he killed one, injured two and nearly killed Trump, was sent to FBI headquarters in Quantico, VA for thorough evaluation. So far, law enforcement officials have found few red flags about the peaked-looking 20-year-old who, on the surface, showed no obvious signs of mental illness in his history, other than the fact that he fits the profile of teenage or post-teenage shooters. Ballistic killers show paradoxical qualities, often described as mild-mannered, nondescript or otherwise introverted or anti-social. From descriptions from Crooks past classmates, he fits the garden variety personality of teenage or post-teenage killers. Yet what baffles the press is the so-called lack of a motive, something you see in a small variety of cases where there are Internet or Social network evidence of interests or affiliations.
When it comes to Crooks, nothing significant has yet emerged from the various background checks, trying to ascertain how this could happen. “I urge everyone—everyone please, don’t make assumptions about his motives or his affiliations,” 81-year-old President Joe Biden said in an Oval Office address after the assassination attempt on Trump. “Let the FBI do their job, and then partner agencies do their job. I’ve instructed the investigation to be thorough and swift,” Biden said, trying to preempt the political fallout from his presidential campaign. Why would Biden discourage anyone from trying to figure out why Crooks tried to kill former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee? Biden told the nation to cool down the rhetoric, obviously thinking that hostile political rhetoric could have been the motive behind Crooks’s shooting.
Biden has been repeating White House talking points that Trump is a danger to American democracy, warning the public that he threatens the American way of life. So, Biden has whipped up the public into a frenzy about Trump’s 2024 run for the president. No one is more guilty to demonizing and denigrating Trump than Biden and his White House spin machine. Biden and White House spin doctors have been ginning up the threat Trump poses to U.S. democracy, telling voters that democracy is on the ballot in 2024. All the fear mongering about Trump from Democrats and the press could certainly lead an unstable post-teenager to think that someone must stop Trump. Crooks was no innocent recluse, he purchased ammo on the day of the assassination attempt and bombing making material was found in his car. Bomb making tells more the story.
Crooks was thinking about a grandiose final act for sometime, planning to take Trump out at a campaign rally relatively close to his parent’s home in Bethel Park. Finding bomb making material in his car shows that some serious planning went into his assassination plot. What’s so inexplicable is how the Secret Service didn’t intercept Crooks before he crawled up on the warehouse roof and opened fire on Trump, killing one, injuring two nearly killing the president. Crooks was obviously influenced by something, perhaps watching an old Scorsese movie like “Tax Driver,” or something like it. Somehow Crooks became obsessed with creating mayhem at a political event. White House, Democrat and media rhetoric about Trump destroying U.S. democracy could have played a part. Biden urges everyone to let the FBI do the public’s thinking.
Motives in teenage or post-teenage shooters are less important than the influence video games and past violent acts play in inspiring current attempts at mayhem. Former classmate at Bethel Part High School said Crooks was a loner, who sat by himself at lunch, and may have been bullied for wearing survivalist, camouflaged attire to school. “He was bullied almost everyday,” Kohler told reporters. He was just an outcast, and you know how kids are nowadays,” getting closer to how various social experiences and bottled up emotions conspire to commit eventual violent or suicidal acts. Finding bomb making materials in Crooks’s car suggests he had been planning his grandiose last stand for some time. Biden wants the public to stop speculating about how the intense White House demonizing Trump possibly led to an unbalanced post-teenager going ballistic.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin innational and globa news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
