Thomas Crooks 'talked to himself', was 'mentally unravelling', in weeks before attempting to kill Donald Trump: Report
&w=752&h=564&format=webp&quality=medium "Thomas Crooks 'talked to himself', was 'mentally unravelling', in weeks before attempting to kill Donald Trump: Report")
Thomas Crooks tried to assassinate Trump last year. (AFP)
Thomas Crooks, a college student who tried to assassinate Donald Trump, was experiencing mental health issues in the months before the incident in Pennsylvania.
Thomas Crooks, a college student who tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last year, was displaying unusual behaviour in the weeks leading up to the incident. A New York Times report stated that the 20-year-old also searched online for "major depressive disorder" and "depression crisis." He also "talked to himself", and his father also saw him "dancing around his bedroom late at night".
His teachers, friends, and others who knew Crooks did not know that he was suffering from mental health issues. However, his father later told investigators about the signs of mental decline he had been noticing in Crooks.
Crooks graduated with high honours from a community college and, in August 2023, bought a membership to a shooting range.
Crooks used aliases to purchase explosives
The NYT gained access to logs of Crooks’s internet activity and found that he used an encrypted connection to hide his online activities. The publication also reported that he went through a "gradual and largely hidden transformation." He used aliases and encrypted networks to purchase explosives that he kept in the same house he shared with his parents.
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People who knew him said that he talked about American politics and was apparently frustrated with the way things were going. He wrote an essay in which he showed anger with the “divisive and incendiary campaigns which are pulling the country apart.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) discovered that Crooks visited online firearms vendors around the same time he wrote the essay and made at least 25 gun-related purchases before climbing on the roof and taking a shot at Trump.
His co-workers at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center did not notice anything wrong with Crooks. He was punctual and didn't talk much, the NYT reported.
Thomas Crooks' father saw him talking to himself
The Times obtained a report from the Pennsylvania State Police, according to which, Crooks' father told investigators that "he had seen his son talking to himself and dancing around his bedroom late at night". He also told them that his family had a history of mental health and addiction issues.
On July 13, he told his parents he was going to the shooting range. They had no idea what their son had planned, as hours later, he climbed the roof of a building and tried to assassinate Trump.
