Expert psychologists dissect the minds of mass shooters, serial killers and assassins to give an idea of what could've motivated the man who attempted to murder former President Trump.
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The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, has virtually zero online footprint. He has no known
TikTok, Instagram or
Snapchat. No has no friends who've come forward.
And like other US assassins in history, his politics are ambiguous. He was a registered Republican and described by a classmate as 'definitely conservative'. Yet Mr Crooks also donated a small sum to a progressive movement in 2021.
Dr Rachel Toles, a licensed clinical psychologist based in
California, who specializes in the study of violent criminals told DailyMail.com that politics may have had little to do with the shooting - as astonishing as that may seem.
From her experience, Dr Toles said that people in these scenarios often suffer from an extremely damaged ego, and have a desire to take out someone who has what they most covet - which could be success, popularity or good looks.
It's possible that former President Trump could've
represented something Mr Crooks deeply desired - fame, success or respect.
'Trump gets more attention than anyone on the planet.
'And now we're talking about an invisible kid who no one talked to in school unless they were kind of picking on him,' Dr Toles said.
She added: 'So we're talking about somebody who feels incredibly invisible, and he's targeting the most visible man on the planet.
-Both Dr Kardaras and Dr Toles
believe these killers share more in common with mass shooters than serial killers or people who kill someone in their personal life.
Serial killers tend to be motivated by an internal drive to dominate and hunt other humans - and tend to have high self esteem, Dr Toles said.
By contrast - people who try to shoot political figures or take a gun to a school usually are
doing so in order to get attention.
-Dr Kardaras said the political assassin normally falls into two categories - those driven by the idea that their actions will make large political or social change and those who are driven by the idea that murdering someone will make them 'immortal'.
Both are likely to have some sort of mental health issue - be it delusions, depression or paranoia.