Bethel Park, Pennsylvania (CNN) — The gunman who allegedly tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump was bullied in high school and didn’t fit in with other students, former classmates told CNN on Sunday.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was registered to vote as a Republican and had previously made a small contribution to a Democratic-aligned group, according to public records.
So far, investigators haven’t found any evidence on social media or other writings by Crooks that might help identify his motive for the attempted assassination, law enforcement officials say.
Crooks lived in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bethel Park, about 35 miles south of the Trump rally where law enforcement officials say he fired at the former president. Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, according to a local media report and a video of the school’s graduation ceremony.
Jason Kohler, 21, who went to the same high school, told CNN that Crooks was bullied by other students and seemed to be a loner.
Crooks had “no facial expression” when he walked through the school hallways, Kohler said. “He wasn’t, like, with the clique, so he always had, I guess, a target on his back.”
Another former student at the school, Sarah D’Angelo, remembered Crooks as “a quiet kid, not obviously political or violent in any way.” She said the only time he spoke with her was when their class was waiting for their graduation ceremony to start.
A third classmate, who asked not to be named, agreed that Crooks didn’t stand out, but said that from what she saw, he wasn’t necessarily shy or quiet when he was among “his group of friends in high school that he was close with.”
The gun Crooks used in the shooting was an AR-style weapon, according to a person familiar with the investigation. According to law enforcement officials , the gun was traced to Crooks’ father, which helped to determine the gunman’s identity because he was not carrying identification.
When reached by CNN late Saturday night, Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, said he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but would “wait until I talk to law enforcement” before speaking about his son. He could not be reached again on Sunday.
Federal Election Commission records show that a donor listed as Thomas Crooks with the gunman’s street address gave $15 to Progressive Turnout Project, a Democratic-aligned political action committee, on Inauguration Day in January 2021 , when Crooks was 17.
A spokesperson for Progressive Turnout Project said in an email that the group had received the donation “in response to an email about tuning into the inauguration” and that “the email address associated with the contribution only made the one contribution and was unsubscribed from our lists 2 years ago.”
“We unequivocally condemn political violence in all of its forms, and we denounce anyone who chooses violence over peaceful political action,” the spokesperson wrote.
Later that year, about a week after turning 18, Crooks registered to vote as a Republican, according to a listing in Pennsylvania’s voter database that matched his name, age and address.
Crooks only cast a ballot once, in the 2022 midterm general election, an Allegheny County spokesperson told CNN. This year’s presidential election would have been the first for which he was old enough to vote.
Both of Crooks’ parents worked as social workers, according to state license records. His father is registered to vote as a Libertarian and his mother is registered as a Democrat, state voter records show.
Crooks fired on Trump while perched on a nearby building rooftop outside the rally’s security perimeter, before being killed by Secret Service agents, according to law enforcement officials. One spectator at the rally was killed in the shooting, and two others were critically injured.
Law enforcement descended on Crooks’ family home on a quiet street in Bethel Park on Saturday night. Explosive material was found in his residence, as well as in his car, law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation told CNN.
A brief video posted on Facebook by Crooks’ school district in 2022 showed Crooks participating in a computer coding course and explaining a coding concept to a fellow student. Crooks can also be spotted sitting at the front of an economics class in a TV ad for the investment firm BlackRock that was filmed at his high school. The teachers featured in both the videos declined to comment.
A spokesperson for the social media platform Discord said in a statement that it had identified an account that appears to be linked to Crooks. The account “was rarely utilized and we have found no evidence that it was used to plan this incident or discuss his political views,” the spokesperson wrote.
Crooks worked at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehab, a nursing home less than a mile from his family’s home, according to a nurse at the facility, who asked not to be named and said she didn’t know him. Law enforcement had been searching the center on Sunday, she said.
Bethel Park is a predominantly white suburb that is wealthier than the surrounding Pittsburgh metro area. Dan Grzybek, a county council representative whose district includes Bethel Park, described it as politically mixed – according to county election records, President Joe Biden won the precinct that includes the Crooks’ house with just 52% of the vote.
Grzybek, who lives nearby, said he had had a “very pleasant” conversation with the gunman’s parents while canvassing for votes before he was elected last year. He described the community as “incredibly safe” and “close-knit,” and said he hoped that the shooting was not “what Bethel Park is remembered for.”
Andrew Bianco, who lives two houses down the street from the Crooks family, agreed that the area was politically diverse, with some residents flying Trump flags and others displaying Biden ones.
But he said he doesn’t remember ever seeing political signage outside the Crooks’ residence, and only saw the gunman’s father when he stepped outside to mow the lawn.
“If anything, you’d be like, ‘Does someone live there?’” Bianco said.