Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was incapable of hitting any target, old rifle team members claim

The July 13 assassination attempt targetting former President Donald Trump’s Butler County rally in Pennsylvania has led many to naturally wonder whether his would-be assassin knew his way around a firearm. Prior reports have established that the 20-year-old was a member at Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a local gun range in his vicinity, but anyone barely knew him.

This 2021 photo provided by Bethel Park School District shows student Thomas Matthew Crooks who graduated from Bethel Park High School with the Class of 2022, in Bethel Park, Pa. Crooks was identified by the FBI as the shooter involved in an assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (Bethel Park School District via AP)

Sources now also claim that Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to get on his rifle team at Bethel Park High School. However, things didn’t go as planned at the shooting range around 2018-2019, and he miserably failed to make the squad.

Eyewitnesses admit Trump shooter was a bad shot in high school

According to TMZ, sources who were personally familiar with his attempts at trying out for the high school team said that the results were disastrous. Some even said that he accidentally shot across a different lane at the range.

While out for tryouts once, he tried shooting at a target about 107 feet away, but his shot ended up landing at someone else’s target to the left. TMZ’s sources affirmed this was also why he didn’t make it on the squad.

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Considering the events of the past, a former classmate of Crooks’ was distinctly surprised to find out that he got so close to taking out Trump. One can only speculate that since he eventually became a member at his local gun range through his father, he must have put in a significant number of hours practising his shot, making it possible for him to graze the former president’s right ear.

Was Thomas Matthew Crooks bullied? Did he show signs of aggression in everyday life?

Crooks was reportedly incapable of hitting any of the ten targets on a 10X12 paper in the past. TMZ also highlighted that some members of the rifle team would make fun of him in his absence, joking about how bad he was at the activity. Contrary to some previous reports and a video showing him being bothered by a fellow high school student in class, no one claimed to have witnessed any instance of him being bullied.

Other new stories also determined that Crooks usually kept to himself, with some sources asserting that he was more of a loner. The new report reiterates the sentiment, foregrounding that neither of the sources that came forward with the insight ever witnessed any display of aggression from his end. They just knew him as a socially awkward kid.

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Clairton Sportsmen’s Club sources also painted a similar picture, saying they hadn’t even heard of the young adult before the July 13 incident. As far as they’re concerned, he was nothing but a ghost at the local shooting range. Although the club members couldn’t confirm how often he frequented the place, reports show that he did, in fact, go to Clairton almost a day before he tried to shoot Trump dead. He purportedly practiced shooting on the same firearm he fired shots with at the rally – the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.