BETHEL PARK, Pa. – A former classmate of would-be killer Thomas Matthew Crooks told the FBI that the killer had talked to him about his support for former President Donald Trump and his “smug” dislike of politicians years ago. The FBI has now called out to the classmate.
“They called me…”Vincent Taormina, 20, told Fox News Digital, “They really only asked me for names and if I could give them much else.”
He said that agents asked the Trump rally shooter about his friends and how he felt about politicians like Trump, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
He called himself a “dead end” for the bureau, though. He said it had been years since they had talked.
After a threat of a school killing that he thinks came from the killer’s close friends, he didn’t hear much from Crooks.
“They were the type, and they did make threats to shoot up our school,” he stated.
But Taormina told Fox News Digital that there wasn’t any solid proof of who in the group made the threat, even though stories were flying.
He had doubts, though. He said that Crooks didn’t show up to school for a few days after that.
Jason Kohler said the same thing. Earlier this week, he told reporters that Crooks had been bullied all the time at school.
“No, I’ve never heard that,” he said when asked if Crooks was behind the threat.
Sarah D’Angelo, another student, told Fox News Digital that she didn’t think he was involved with the threat because it happened at their middle school, not their high school.
But on July 13, the former high school math genius turned into a killer. Police say Crooks climbed on top of a building at Trump’s campaign gathering in Butler, Pennsylvania, and fired a semiautomatic rifle.
Authorities say he killed Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old father of two, and seriously hurt David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74. He hit the ex-president in the right ear.
Police say that Secret Service counter-snipers “neutralized” Crooks at the scene. His body is seen lying dead on a roof less than 150 yards from where Trump was talking.
As Taormina put it, he thinks that someone in Crooks’ group of friends must have known something about what made him attack.
“Everybody, anybody who knew him, should have seen something,” he told us. “They should have known something was wrong. I know it’s easy to hide, but people will get their lives in order before they do something this bold and extreme, and no one saw it?” “And why?”
The FBI is still looking into his reasons and whether he could be of help. They are looking at his laptop, cellphone, and rifle and talking to dozens of witnesses.
