Trump's attacker Thomas M Crooks was great in studies but a bad shooter| PICTURES INSIDE

Washington: Thomas Matthew Crooks (20), who was identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as the attacker of former US President Donald Trump, was a student who was good in studies but bad at shooting, revealed one of his school seniors.

Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. His senior year, Crooks was among several students who received awards for math and science. Though he tried for the school’s rifle team but got turned down because he was a bad shooter, revealed Frederick Mach, the current captain of the team.

He has also worked at a nursing home as a dietary aide, Marcie Grimm, the administrator of Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, said in a statement she was “shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement.” Grimm also added that Crooks had a clean background check when he was hired.

The 20-year-boy who hailed from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania had bomb-making materials in the car. He used an AR15 semi-automatic gun to commit this crime but investigators are still hunting for any clues about what may be the reason behind his attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump.

Crooks’ political leanings were not immediately clear. Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day Biden was sworn into office.

While analysing Crooks' background, FBI officials looked into his social media activities while working to get access to his phone. The chatting app Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games, said Crooks appears to have had an account but used it rarely and not in the last several months. There's no evidence he used his account to promote violence or discuss his political views, a Discord spokesperson said.

Investigators have found no threatening comments on social media accounts or ideological positions that could help explain what led him to target Trump before the Secret Service rushed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee off the stage, his face smeared with blood.

Relatives of Crooks didn’t respond to numerous messages from The Associated Press. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN late Saturday that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but wouldn’t speak about his son until after he talked to law enforcement. An FBI official told reporters that Crooks' family is cooperating with investigators.

The shooting incident killed one spectator and left two injured. Donald Trump who was targetted, through his social media revealed that the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting, but advisers said he was in “great spirits" ahead of his arrival Sunday in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.