from the pittsburgh post gazette
Two days after officials said Thomas Crooks tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a rally in Butler County, neighbor after neighbor in the Bethel Park community where the shooter lived said the same thing.
They had hardly known the 20-year-old, who police said also killed Corey Comperatore, a father of two, and injured 57-year-old David Dutch, of Plum, and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, of Moon, when he fired his rifle at the campaign event Saturday. Crooks himself died when Secret Service snipers protecting the former president fired back at the gunman on the roof of a nearby building.
“He was a real quiet kid who kept to himself,” said Liam Campbell, 17, who lived across the street from Crooks. “I never saw him as somebody who would do that.”
Liam didn’t know Crooks personally, but had seen him walking around the neighborhood with his headphones on. The family didn’t socialize much, he said, but no one “would say anything bad about them,” he said. Allegheny County property records indicate Matthew and Mary Crooks bought their brick ranch house, which was built in 1950, in July 1998.
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Sandy Kovalik lives just two doors up the road from the Crooks family house. “I always go for walks and never see anyone outside,” she said.
Another neighbor, who only wanted to be identified by her first name Amy, said the only time she saw someone at the Crooks’ house was when someone was cutting the grass.
Crooks took his shots with an AR-style 5.56-caliber rifle from the roof of a building about 150 yards from where the former president was speaking. The shooter bought ammunition at Allegheny Arms and Gun Works in Bethel Park hours before the rally on Saturday, the Post-Gazette learned Monday.
Investigators found “rudimentary” explosive devices and bomb-making material inside his car and in the home he shared with his parents in Bethel Park.
Federal authorities said Monday they had interviewed nearly 100 witnesses, including police and rally-goers.
An FBI spokesperson said investigators successfully accessed Crooks’ cellphone and “they continue to analyze his electronic devices.” Searches of his Bethel Park home and his vehicle have also been completed.
But before he became infamous for attempting to kill a former president, he was a student at Bethel Park High School who graduated in 2022. He didn’t submit a senior photo, according to the yearbook for that year, although he’s pictured in yearbooks from other years.
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Bethel Park School District spokesperson James Cromie said Monday evening that Crooks was not on the rifle team and there is no record of Crooks being bullied, as some reports have said.
Mr. Cromie also said there is no record of him trying out for the rifle team, but some classmates said he did.
Kylie Katilius, an upcoming senior at the University of Pittsburgh, had known Crooks since they were in elementary school. They rode the same school bus, and he lived just down the street from her.
One memory of Crooks remains “clear as day,” she said.
During Crooks’ freshman year, Crooks tried out for the Bethel Park rifle team. Ms. Katilius was on the team all four years of high school and was there when he tried out, she said.
The range where they practiced was seven lanes — about 20 feet — wide. She said that when it was Crooks' turn to shoot, his shot went nearly to the other side of the range.
“If he was on lane seven, he was shooting all the way over on lane one,” she said. “Mistakes happen, but full on shooting a different wall, he had to be doing something big wrong.
“That’s not just a mistake,” she said. “That’s deadly.”
Immediately their coach, who stressed gun safety, said that Crooks would not be allowed on the team, according to Ms. Katilius. She said Crooks seemed a little embarrassed at the time.
“After that, he was no longer trained or anything by the rifle team,” she said.
When her father called her to tell her what had happened Saturday and who had done it, Ms. Katilius said it was “surprising, but not surprising.”
“He just seemed like such a normal person,” she said.
She said Crooks seemed to spend a lot of time by himself.
After high school, Crooks received an associate degree in engineering science from the Community College of Allegheny County, graduating in May with high honors, Dena Rose Buzila, CCAC’s public relations director, said in a statement Monday. CCAC has no records relating to any disciplinary, student conduct or security-related incidents involving Crooks.
At the community college’s south campus in West Mifflin on Monday, a faculty member who wanted only to be identified by his first name, Carlos, said he had limited interactions with Crooks. But during those few interactions, Crooks had been “nice and kind.”
“He was a good student,” Carlos said.
He never had Crooks in class, but helped him 3D-print one of his class projects.
Crooks passed a background check with a clean record when he applied to the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Marcie Grimm, the center’s administrator, told the Post-Gazette on Monday. He performed his job as a dietary aide “without concern,” she said.
Ms. Grimm said the center was “shocked” and “saddened” to learn their employee was Saturday’s shooter.
Due to the ongoing investigation, Ms. Grimm said she could not comment further on any specifics. It’s unknown how long he worked at the center, a short drive away from his Bethel Park home.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Former President Trump and the victims impacted by this terrible tragedy,” the statement wrote. “We condemn all acts of violence.”
Crooks had applied to the University of Pittsburgh, and in February received an offer of admission for the fall 2024 semester as a transfer student, Pitt spokesman Jared Stonesifer confirmed. In March, he turned down the offer.
Instead, he planned to enroll at Robert Morris University this fall, university spokesman Brian Edwards confirmed to the Post-Gazette.
RMU, in Moon, is in touch with law enforcement officials and "stands ready to assist in their investigation," Mr. Edwards wrote.
"Our hearts go out to former President Trump, the family of Mr. Corey Comperatore, and anyone physically or emotionally harmed by this tragic event," Mr. Edwards said in a statement. "We stand against violence in all its forms and are committed to fostering a safe and supportive community for all."
Back on the quiet street where he lived in Bethel Park, his neighbors were left wondering what happened.
Ms. Kovalik, the neighbor who lived just two houses away, said she “never expected this in a million years.” When she found out early Sunday morning the shooter was her neighbor, she said she “just felt sad.”
“I know parents have an inkling sometimes, but I just feel so sorry for his parents to have their son go through this,” she said. “My heart goes out to them and the people that got shot at the rally.”
