Viral clip shows Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks seemingly getting bullied by peers

A video that has surfaced shows Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump, being bullied by his peers in high school. The video, which is undated, shows Crooks sitting at his desk while a classmate repeatedly pulls at the leg of his pants.

Viral clip shows Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks seemingly getting bullied by peers (The Bethel Park School District via AP)(AP)

Crooks is heard continuously telling the prankster to “stop.” “Stop, you’re pulling my leg,” Crooks says, as the person behind the camera laughs.

Many people in the comment section of the above video stressed that being bullied does not mean Crooks killing people is justified. “Doesn’t seem assassination attempt worthy to me, but most importantly how does a kid like that pull off that level of planning?” one user wrote. “Still can’t figure out how trump connects to this kid shooting him..,” one user wrote, while another said, “no matter how strong they are & how many they’re if you’ll keep silence, the inner anger will eat you from inside…put a side who is he, what he done etc, I’m speaking generally about bullying.”

“More like victimizing him,” one user wrote, while another said, “I was bullied, picked on for being the ‘new girl’ in a school when my parents moved me around several times. This is nothing. Oh, by the way, I never tried to assassinate anyone as a result of it. I turned out at least ‘mostly harmless’.”

Thomas Matthew Crooks was bullied in school, former classmates say

Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, wounding the former president and two others, and killing firefighter Corey Comperatore. He was eventually killed by Secret Service snipers.

Crooks’ former classmates previously claimed he was “relentlessly” bullied in high school. Crooks was a loner with a penchant for hunting outfits and video games, his former peers said.

The would-be Trump assassin’s former classmate Jason Kohler told KDKA that Crooks was often bullied. He wore “hunting” outfits to class on several occasions.

Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. Sarah D’Angelo, one of his classmates, told The Wall Street Journal that Crooks had “a few friends” but “didn’t have a full friend group.”

A motive for the attack has not been determined. Investigators later found explosives in Crooks’ car, which was parked not far from the grounds where Trump’s rally was held.