Trumpland

Donald Trump Shooter Thomas Crooks Didn't Make School Rifle Club: Classmate

'DANGEROUS'

He was asked not to come back after failing to make the junior varsity roster.

A 2020 High School yearbook shows the photo of Thomas Matthew Crooks
Aaron Josefczyk/Reuters

The shooter who tried to assassinate Donald Trump tried out for his high school’s rifle team during his freshman year, but was rejected according to ABC News. Thomas Crooks, 20, was named by the FBI as the attempted killer who used an AR-style rifle to aim at Trump on Saturday. He killed one man and injured two others before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper. But he failed to make the junior varsity roster at Bethel Park High School in suburban Pittsburgh, his classmate Jason Myers said. “He was asked not to come back because how bad of a shot he was,” said Myers, who was a member of the varsity rifle team and Crooks’ classmate. “It was considered like, dangerous.” After failing to make the roster, Crooks allegedly never tried out for the squad again. Myers, who graduated in 2022 with the suspected shooter, told reporters he and Crooks were close in elementary school, but they did not remain friends in high school.