PA - Assassination attempt, shooting injures former POTUS Donald Trump, leaves 1 spectator deceased two in critical condition, 13 July 2024 #2

[Seattle1]

Nursing aide turned sniper: Thomas Crooks' mysterious plot to kill Trump

The mystery of how a cook at a nursing home became a would-be assassin of Donald Trump is the subject of intense investigation and public shock.

www.usatoday.com

7/14/24

Nursing aide turned sniper: Thomas Crooks' mysterious plot to kill Trump​

None of Crooks' shocked neighbors or high school classmates described him as violent or that he in any way signaled he was intent on harming Trump. Sunday morning, reporters and curious locals swarmed the leafy streets of the home where Crooks lived with his parents in Bethel Park, about 50 miles from the shooting scene.

Those who knew him described a quiet young man who often walked to work at a nearby nursing home. One classmate said he was bullied and often ate alone in high school.

[..]

Neighbor Dean Sierka, 52, has known Crooks and his parents for years. The families live a few doors apart on a winding suburban street, and Sierka’s daughter, who attended elementary, middle and high school with Crooks, remembers him as quiet and shy. Sierka said they saw Crooks at least once a week, often when he was walking to the nursing home from his parents' three-bedroom brick house.

"You wouldn’t have expected this," Sierka said. "The parents and the family are all really nice people."

"It's crazy," he added.

[..]

Secret Service role: Did they do enough?​

In the days before the event, the agency's experts would have scouted the location, identified security vulnerabilities, and designed a perimeter to keep Trump and rally attendees safe. Congress and the Secret Service are now investigating how Crooks was able to get so close to the former president, and several witnesses reported seeing him in the area with the gun before Trump took the stage.

As the event doors opened at 1 p.m., the temperature was already pushing close to 90, and ticketed attendees oozed through metal detectors run by members of the Secret Service's uniformed division. Similar to airport security screenings, rallygoers emptied their pockets to prove they weren't carrying guns or other weapons.

Media reports indicate the Secret Service had in place, as usual, a counter-sniper team scanning the surrounding area for threats.

[..]

 

[Sarahlou]

He picked the biggest bully.

I hadn't thought of it like that, but you're right!

 

[MassGuy]

Aha. Thanks for that clarification.

Still the question, why in the world did he do this when it seems like his life was progressing in a good direction??

Will it ever make sense?

jmo

It was never going to make complete sense, but it now appears this is on a track where we’ll have much fewer answers than we usually do.

Usually there’s something discovered right away, and there’s just nothing here.

No note. No online profile. Nothing found in his phone. It’s frustrating.

 

[Ladyotm]

sending him my thoughts and prayers!! as trump has said before regarding innocent kids being shot, "get over it"

Trump tells supporters 'we have to get over it' after Iowa school shooting

His comments came after nearly 36 hours of silence and a day after his GOP rivals addressed the shooting that took the life of a sixth grade student and injured others.

www.nbcnews.com

I have no empathy for this slimeball.

Agree. I'm not sending either to him.

It's one thing to say simmer down hateful, inflammatory rhetoric, and it's time to unify. To truly change, you have to change your hateful heart.

Perhaps not all hope is lost, as "people can change".

So many people are trying to "figure out the reasoning behind this". Could it be as simple as "based on his own beliefs, morals, political ideology, he feared what another Trump Presidency would mean for the country? So he tried to stop it from happening by killing him? He was prepared to die for those beliefs.

 

[Chimera]

I don’t think he had any help at all. He’d need multiple people from multiple organizations in on it.

People risking their careers for a strange guy who couldn’t shoot straight.

It’s all explained by poor planning, a lack of resources, and staggering incompetence.

Indeed.
Makes sense.
Esp. the bolded.

I'd add that the campaign organizers or the city planners who hosted the event were totally unprepared.
The security for a sitting president would be different than a non-incumbent ; but I'd expect close to the same level for any of the former presidents ?

As far as the secret service, etc., they should have been well aware of the possible threats.
That was their job !!!
Still smh over this.
Omo.

 

[Ruminations]

I buy that. Maybe there is an undocumented immigrant friend who he was afraid would be sent back.

Or, maybe his undocumented friend could get a job at a Trump golf course. Trump is all talk on that issue; his work force is undocumented.

Report: Trump Happily Employing Undocumented Workers Amid ICE Raids

The president is fine with an immigrant “invasion” when it’s benefitting him financially.

www.vanityfair.com

We Googled 'Trump Polish workers.' Here's what we found

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio charged Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump with hypocrisy for hiring undocumented

www.politifact.com

 

[TootsieFootsie]

If it was something like unrequited love, the person is not very likely to come forward and tell anyone, that's if they even realise what may have happened.
The wrath of the media would soon descend on them. Then the blaming them would begin.

 

[Ruminations]

Agree. I'm not sending either to him.

It's one thing to say simmer down hateful, inflammatory rhetoric, and it's time to unify. To truly change, you have to change your hateful heart.

Perhaps not all hope is lost, as "people can change".

Let's hope there is a change about violent rhetoric.

I will be very happy if there are no more rallies with words that incite violence.

MOO

 

[Inthedetails]

It was never going to make complete sense, but it now appears this is on a track where we’ll have much fewer answers than we usually do.

Usually there’s something discovered right away, and there’s just nothing here.

No note. No online profile. Nothing found in his phone. It’s frustrating.

My current hunch is he wanted to be re-create a Lee Harvey Oswald moment with himself as the star/villain. I might have a different theory tomorrow, but for today, that's my theory.

The more information we learn, the more it does NOT seem like this was politically motivated. I don't see any conspiracy either. We haven't heard about mental-health issues, but clearly a healthy person doesn't do this or even think about it. He obviously thought about it, yet no one has mentioned mental-health issues other than he was bullied in school and was a loner who didn't dress in style.

I'd like to hear what his JFK-assassination project was like - what did TC say about Oswald?

jmo

 

[Tutter]

He picked the biggest bully.

Murder isn’t the answer to who one might perceive as a bully. Nor an excuse.

I hadn't thought of it like that, but you're right!

 

[formerlyme]

there may never be an understandable why, he could have just had some psychotic break, woke up and thought hey this is a good idea . The sum of all the little things in life that did not go right for him... Things that most people learn to accept , deal with or work through. Things that an average ( I hate that word but am at a loss for another) person would maybe hide under the covers and cry for an hour then get up and get on with things, just something he could not process like others.

 

[Tutter]

Let's hope there is a change about violent rhetoric.

I will be very happy if there are no more rallies with words that incite violence.

MOO

Biden pulled his ads, so that’s a start!

 

[formerlyme]

Biden pulled his ads, so that’s a start!

they weren't who he is to begin with he was just matching the fight. In my opinion.

 

[Sarahlou]

Murder isn’t the answer to who one might perceive as a bully. Nor an excuse.

Nobody said it was either. But it could have been one of the reasons in the killer's brain.

 

[NuttMegg]

What changed his mind?

"A third classmate, who asked not to be named, said that Crooks was very smart, took honors classes, and was shy. She said that he had a group of friends who were fairly conservative, some of whom would wear Trump hats."

Thomas Matthew Crooks: What we know about the Trump rally shooter so far | CNN

amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org

 

[Diddian]

Gunman planned to attend local 4-year university this fall​

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old suspected gunman, planned to attend Robert Morris University this fall, according to a school spokesperson.

Robert Morris University is a private, four-year university located outside of Pittsburgh.
"We have been in touch with law enforcement and stand ready to assist in their investigation," school spokesperson Brian Edwards said.

Crooks had earned his associate degree in science from a local community college and graduated in May with high honors.
He was accepted into both RMU and the University of Pittsburgh, a public-research university also a close drive from his home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

A spokesperson for the University of Pittsburgh said Crooks was told in February that he could attend this fall semester as a transfer student. In March, Crooks informed Pitt that he would not attend.

Injured victim shot in chest, liver; out of medically induced coma

abcnews.go.com

I'm curious whether RMU allows commuter students or whether they require a student live on campus the first year attending (although I don't know how that would apply to a student transferring in as a sophomore or junior, with credits from a community college).

My thinking - given what has been learned about Crooks' personality, reports that he did not have any friends, and reported bullying by other students in high school - is that Crooks may have feared residing among other students, if that WAS required. Maybe Crooks couldn't see himself in the future that was forming in front of him.

 

[303gmf]

It can look a bit like one, but doesn’t act like one. Most rangefinders look like binoculars but turned vertically instead of horizontally.

I see golfers using them on the course

 

[Ontario Mom]

Exactly, he breaks the profile almost completely.

No known mental health issues.

No crazy posts online.

No manifesto.

No apparent trigger.

Not known to law enforcement.

Moving on with his education.

Stable job.

Coworkers seemed to really like him, and didn’t set off any alarm bells.

The only thing that fits is that he was a loner, but it’s not like that’s an incredible rarity.

Which to me, says there's something missing. Either something LE haven't uncovered yet, or something they have and are keeping from the public while the investigation continues.

jmo

 

[MassGuy]

there may never be an understandable why, he could have just had some psychotic break, woke up and thought hey this is a good idea . The sum of all the little things in life that did not go right for him... Things that most people learn to accept , deal with or work through. Things that an average ( I hate that word but am at a loss for another) person would maybe hide under the covers and cry for an hour then get up and get on with things, just something he could not process like others.

The evidence seems to indicate this was not some sort of psychotic break.

It takes time to obtain the materials to build bombs, and then actually build them. Apparently he had a transmitter that was designed to trigger explosives in his car, which is pretty complex.

In the weeks before the assassination attempt, he also began accumulating rounds via in person and online purchases.

So there's evidence of a great deal of planning here, but we don't know if it was planning for this specific attack, or if it was planning for something else initially.

 

[Inthedetails]

He picked the biggest bully.

That might be indeed what happened.

jmo