Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: More than US President Joe Biden, 81, or his challenger Donald Trump, 78, Thomas Matthews Crooks, the 20-year-old whom the US Secret Service personnel killed instantly after his failed attempt to assassinate the former President on Saturday last weekend, shows how politically divided America is and its democracy is faltering.
The conflicted youngster’s father, a registered Republican, and mother, a registered Democrat, may have left the quiet youngster confused about what democracy is or where the USA is headed, the media reported.
Ironically, he was an award winner in mathematics, and both his parents are certified behavioral specialists!
On July 13, the US Secret Service shot and killed him as he attempted to take Trump’s life at a public meeting in Pennsylvania. While the Republican presidential candidate survived, Crooks’ shooting led to the death of a spectator and critically injured two others.
Post-attack, a fist-raising Trump, appealing to his supporters to “fight, fight, fight” minutes after he was shot at, may have cemented his second bid for the White House. The gaffe-prone Biden went ahead with his age-exposing signs. But Crooks may have stolen a march over them in headline-grabbing. At least for now.
Not much is known about him in the public domain, not even from his social media accounts.
According to The New York Post, Crooks was a “comically bad shot”. His former classmates claimed he tried out for the Bethel Park High School rifle team, but was rejected.
He was a lonely and bullied youth at the school. His former high school classmates described him as a terrible shot, ironically, but he will now go down in American history as the one who almost assassinated a former President.
Crooks was all set to cast his vote for the first time in the November 5, 2024, presidential elections. But that was not to be.
Even though his family members, classmates, teachers, and work colleagues did not firmly talk about his political leanings, he was said to have been a registered Republican, who, as a 17-year-old, also donated to the Democratic Party, and put his name down as a voter only a week after he turned 18.
On Sunday (July 14), the FBI said his social media profile had no threatening language, nor did they find any history of mental health issues. However, what confounded them was that, unlike other recent shooters who killed many at schools, churches, malls, and parades across the US, Crooks came within inches of killing a presidential candidate.
Early details show a young Crooks as a bright but quiet student. His high school counselor described him as “respectful” and said he never knew him to be political.
“We are shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement as Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his job without concern and his background check was clean,” said Marcie Grimm, administrator of the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where Crooks worked. One of his work colleagues said in fact, he was rather “caring” and did not appear as “radical” or “politically motivated”.
Crooks graduated from school two years ago, where he showed no particular interest in politics. His interests centered on building computers and playing games.
Jim Knapp, a former counselor at Bethel Park High School in 2022, said Crooks was always “quiet as a churchmouse”, “respectful” and kept to himself, although he did have some friends.
He said he never knew Crooks to be political in any way, even as other kids would sometimes wear Trump or Biden attire.
As in school life, where he often came across as lonely, in his defining moment also before his death, Crooks was working alone.
Crooks had been made fun of for the way he dressed. He would sometimes wear hunting outfits and had “no facial expression” when he walked through the school hallways.
“He wasn’t, like, with the clique, so he always had, I guess, a target on his back,” he said.