Would-be Trump assassin tried to join school shooting club but was rejected for being a ‘comically bad’ shot
15 July 2024, 11:11
The man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump was rejected from his high school rifle team for being a ‘terrible’ shot and making ‘off-colour’ jokes.
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Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, killed a hero Trump supporter and wounded two others when opened fire at a Trump rally on Saturday.
He grazed the ear of the former president before being shot dead by the Secret Service.
It has emerged that several years ago Crooks tried to join the rifle team at Bethel Park High School, but according to the New York Post, he was rejected for being a terrible shot.
'I’m supposed to be dead’: Donald Trump breaks silence following assassination bid
According to former students, during Crooks’ try-outs, he was set up on a rifle range on a lane close to a right hand wall. When he shot, he missed all the targets and his bullet hit the left hand wall, missing his target by 20 feet.
Former student Jameson Murphy told the New York Post: ““He tried out…and was such a comically bad shot he was unable to make the team and left after the first day.”
Another classmate said he “couldn’t shoot at all. He was a terrible shot.”
He was described as turning up to school wearing hunting gear.
“We noticed a few things Thomas said and how he interacted with other people… He said some things that were kind of concerning.
““You know, obviously, we’re using guns in a school setting so you need to be very careful in that regard.
“He made some crass jokes that weren’t appropriate when there are firearms in the school setting.”
Donald Trump has said he's "lucky to be alive" in his first interview since Saturday's assassination attempt.
The former president said he is "supposed to be dead" following Saturday's shooting, as the former president arrived in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.
He added that he has rewritten his "humdinger" of a speech ahead of the convention, which will see Trump formally nominated as the Republican candidate and announce his running mate.
He added that he had "tempered" his language following the attack.
Trump's arrival in the state on Sunday comes as his team confirmed the schedule would go ahead as planned, despite an attempt on the president's life just a day earlier.
Saturday evening saw a shooter take aim at the former president during a rally in Pennsylvania, with Trump shot in the ear by a sniper before being rushed off stage by close security.
During a mid-air interview with the Washington Examiner, Trump said that the speech he planned to give on Thursday was set to be "a humdinger".
Around 50,000 people are expected to attend the four-day event, as the party appeals to voters ahead of November’s tightly fought US general election.
It comes as President Biden "we don not know the motives for the shooting yet," adding "I do want to speak to what we do know... there is no place in America for this type of violence."
In a prime-time national address from the Oval Office, Mr Biden said political passions can run high but "we must never descend into violence".
During the interview, Trump said: "I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?"
It comes as the gunman behind Donald Trump’s assassination attempt had explosives in his car and used a firearm purchased by his father during the attack.
"The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount,' he added as part of the interview.
Trump later told the New York Post: "I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be dead".
"I'm supposed to be dead," he added.
It comes as the president said he had survived "by luck or by God" following Saturday's shooting.
The FBI confirmed that 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a Republican party supporter, was the gunman behind the attack on Saturday.
Mr Trump was rushed off the stage by Secret Service agents when multiple gunshots were fired at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Kevin Rojek, FBI special agent in charge in Pittsburgh, said that investigators do not yet know if he took the gun without his father's permission.
