{"id":2299226,"date":"2024-07-18T10:39:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T14:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thomas-matthew-crooks-classmate-drops-bomb-on-media-says-signs-were-there-years-before-attack-not-severely-bullied\/"},"modified":"2024-07-18T10:41:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T14:41:29","slug":"classmate-of-thomas-matthew-crooks-reveals-signs-of-potential-attack-were-present-years-before-denies-severe-bullying-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/classmate-of-thomas-matthew-crooks-reveals-signs-of-potential-attack-were-present-years-before-denies-severe-bullying-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Classmate of Thomas Matthew Crooks reveals signs of potential attack were present years before, denies severe bullying"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fclassmate-of-thomas-matthew-crooks-reveals-signs-of-potential-attack-were-present-years-before-denies-severe-bullying-3%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2299226&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The \u200barticle discusses a \u2062former high school classmate&#8217;s recollection of Thomas Crooks, who attempted to kill former President \u2062Donald Trump. The classmate described Crooks as a\u2064 know-it-all and a Trump hater. He mentioned a political disagreement they had in 2016 and how Crooks was \u200dvocal about his dislike for politicians. The classmate also shared insights into Crooks&#8217; behavior and social circle in high school, noting \u200cthat some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/classmate-of-thomas-matthew-crooks-reveals-signs-of-potential-attack-were-present-years-before-denies-severe-bullying\/\" title=\"Classmate of Thomas Matthew Crooks reveals signs of potential attack were present years before, denies severe bullying\">friends made threats<\/a>\u200b to shoot\u200d up the school. The classmate expressed\u2062 frustration that no one saw warning signs \u2062of Crooks&#8217; violent intentions,\u200c especially \u2064considering his parents were counselors. He\u200c emphasized the importance\u200b of being aware of \u200bwarning \u200csigns and urging people to pay attention to \u200dpotential threats.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section>\n<p>A former high school classmate of Thomas Crooks said the young man who tried to kill former President Donald Trump showed contempt for Trump years before Saturday&rsquo;s rally.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I brought up the fact that I&rsquo;m Hispanic and, you know, I&rsquo;m for Trump. And he said, &lsquo;Well, you&rsquo;re Hispanic, so shouldn&rsquo;t you hate Trump?&#8217;&rdquo; Vincent Taormina told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/former-classmate-recalls-trump-shooter-grilling-him-over-support-former-potus-did-not-like-politicians\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fox News<\/a>&nbsp; Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And I was like, no. He&rsquo;s great. He&rsquo;s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/so-much-for-bringing-dogs-back-to-the-white-house\/\" title=\"So Much For Bringing Dogs Back To The White House\">great president<\/a>. He called me stupid &ndash; or insinuated that I was, like, well, that&rsquo;s kinda stupid.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He said Crooks was &ldquo;a know-it-all.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">JUST IN: Former Thomas Crooks classmate says Crooks was a known Trump hater and was a &ldquo;know it all.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The FBI still doesn&rsquo;t know what Crooks&rsquo; motive could have been.<\/p>\n<p>Hispanic classmate Vincent Taormina recalled a political disagreement he had with Crooks after he told him that&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LzgnohInnw\">pic.twitter.com\/LzgnohInnw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CollinRugg\/status\/1813652097533112374?\">July 17, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>  <script> \t\t\t\tif( ! getCookie( 'ff_subbed' ) ) if( typeof FFADS.replace_ict !='undefined' ) if( FFADS.replace_ict ) eval( FFADS.replace_ict ); \t\t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Taormina said their discussion about Trump took place in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He just did not like politicians, especially with the choices that we had,&rdquo; Taormina said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He did not like our politicians,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Taormina said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/report-parents-trump-shooter-alerted-police-hours-attack-worried\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crooks<\/a> was only silent when he felt like being so.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If he was passionate about something, he would just talk, talk, talk and act like he knew everything, especially politics related, and he would say it in a tone that was like, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m better than you,&rsquo; in a type of way,&rdquo; Taormina said.<\/p>\n<p>Crooks was &ldquo;real smug, arrogant, whenever he was talking. And whether that was his way to try to make friends or be funny, I don&rsquo;t know, but it got under my skin a lot,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Taormina called the friends who hung out with Crooks &ldquo;out there.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Some of them didn&rsquo;t even show up to school. Some of them went home school,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They were definitely the type, and they did, make threats to shoot up our school,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the incident happened his freshman year in high school.<\/p>\n<p>He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/classmate-of-thomas-matthew-crooks-reveals-warning-signs-before-attack-denies-severe-bullying\/\" title=\"Classmate of Thomas Matthew Crooks reveals warning signs before attack, denies severe bullying\">recalled &#038;ldquo<\/a>;everyone going through Snapchat, like everybody&rsquo;s texting, everybody, you know, saying this or that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Everybody was saying it was Thomas who made the threat and it was that friend group. Everyone was mainly blaming the friend group, but a name that kept coming up was Thomas. And he never did anything, you know what I mean? He left school for a couple of days. It wasn&rsquo;t anything like a suspension or anything. It was just a couple of days, you know,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Social media is so frustrating from conspiracy theories to people trying to get famous. This<br \/> Is Thomas Matthew Crooks ( not the other guy claiming to be him). This confusion only hurts the investigation and swirls into conspiracy. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ThomasMathewCrooks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ThomasMathewCrooks<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ozTMrcPMGZ\">pic.twitter.com\/ozTMrcPMGZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; michelle archer (@drdsat) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/drdsat\/status\/1812542107338387749?\">July 14, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>He pushed back against the media narrative of Crooks as suffering in high school.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He was not severely bullied. Almost nobody knew,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Taormina said someone should have known what Crooks was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/secret-service-director-allegedly-told-keep-quiet-mistake-roof-trump-shooter-bongino\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">planning<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The signs were there,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Somebody should have known, because he was not a loner,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And both of his parents being counselors, how do you not see that warning sign?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Everybody, anybody who knew him &hellip; should have seen something, should have known something was up&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I know it&rsquo;s kind of easy to hide, but people are going to get their affairs in order before they do something this bold and this drastic, and nobody saw it. And why?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\">  <\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> <label>* Name<\/label> <br \/> <input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> <\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> <label>* <\/label> <br \/> <input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> <\/div>\n<p> <label>* Message<\/label> <br \/> <textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea>  <\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> <input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\">  <\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\">  <\/div>\n<style> \t\t\t \t\t\t.insticator-unit.type-commenting{margin: 0 10px 25px 10px}@media screen and (max-width:1060px){#div-insticator-ad-cmt-1, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-2, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-3, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-4{margin: 0 auto 25px auto !important;}}#div-insticator-ad-cmt-1, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-2, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-3, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-4{height: 280px !important; width: 336px !important} \t\t<\/style>\n<div class=\"insticator-unit type-commenting\">\n<div class=\"insticator-ads\">   <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\t\t\tif ( ! getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-1\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-2\"); \t\t\t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-1\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-2\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t<\/script> <\/div>\n<div class=\"insticator-ads additional\">   <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\t\t\tif ( ! getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-3\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-4\"); \t\t\t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-3\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-4\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t<\/script> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former classmate of Thomas Crooks, who attempted to kill former President Donald Trump, revealed that Crooks had shown disdain for Trump years before the incident. The classmate, Vincent Taormina, recalled a conversation in which Crooks questioned Taormina&#8217;s support for Trump due to his Hispanic heritage. Taormina described Crooks as a &#8220;know-it-all&#8221; who often expressed his opinions forcefully, especially when it came to politics. Taormina also mentioned that Crooks had a group of friends who were known for making threats, including a potential school shooting. Despite this, Taormina disputed the idea that Crooks was severely bullied in high school and suggested that someone should have noticed warning signs of his violent intentions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2299227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Crooks-vs-Taormina.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[22423,8458,35446,35452,34981],"class_list":["post-2299226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-classmate","tag-denial","tag-severe-bullying","tag-signs-of-potential-attack","tag-thomas-matthew-crooks"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Crooks-vs-Taormina.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2299226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2299227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2299226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2299226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2299226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}