EXCLUSIVE: BETHEL PARK, Penn. – The FBI has reached out to a former classmate of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks after he publicly revealed that the killer had confronted him years ago over his support for former President Donald Trump and expressed a “smug” dislike for politicians, he says.
“They called me…honestly just asked me for names and if I could give [them] much else,” 20-year-old Vincent Taormina told Fox News Digital.
Agents asked questions about the Trump rally gunman’s social circle and his purported dislike for candidates like Trump, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he said.
But he also referred to himself as a “dead end” for the bureau. He said he hadn’t talked to the gunman in years.
Thomas Matthew Crooks is alleged to be the shooter in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. This photo is believed to have been captured on the day of the shooting. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
He didn’t hear much from Crooks after a school shooting threat that he believes originated from the killer’s group of close friends.
“They were definitely the type, and they did, make threats to shoot up our school,” he said.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
However, Taormina told Fox News Digital that while rumors swirled, there wasn’t any concrete evidence regarding who specifically in the group made the threat.
He had suspicions though. Crooks vanished from school for several days afterward, he said.
WATCH: Classmate recalls Trump shooter grilling him over support for former president: ‘He called me stupid’
Jason Kohler, who told reporters earlier this week that Crooks had been relentlessly bullied in school, said the same.
“No, never heard that,” he said when asked about Crooks’ being behind the threat.
Another classmate, Sarah D’Angelo, separately told Fox News Digital that she didn’t think he would have been involved in the threat – it happened at the high school when they were all in middle school.
THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS HID RIFLE IN ADVANCE OF TRUMP RALLY SNIPER ATTACK, SECRET SERVICE SOURCE SAYS
WATCH: Former classmate of Trump’s would-be assassin says Thomas Matthew Crooks’ had ‘no outward political views’
But the former high school math whiz became a killer on Saturday, July 13. Crooks climbed onto a building during Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle, authorities said.
He killed a 50-year-old father of two named Corey Comperatore, critically wounded David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, according to authorities. He struck the former president in his right ear.
Secret Service counter-snipers “neutralized” Crooks at the scene, authorities said. Images show him lying dead on a rooftop less than 150 yards from where Trump had been speaking.
Blurry cellphone video shows a rallygoer’s perspective of Thomas Matthew Crooks crawling on a roof moments before he attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump. (DJ Laughery)
Taormina said he believes someone in Crooks’ friend group must have known something about whatever triggered him to commit the violent attack.
“Everybody, anybody who knew him-knew him, should have seen something,” he said. “They should have known something was up, and I know it’s kind of easy to hide, but people are going to get their affairs in order before they do something that’s bold and this drastic, and nobody saw it? And why?”
A federal investigation into his motives and potential help is continuing, with the FBI analyzing his laptop, cellphone and rifle as well as interviewing dozens of witnesses.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to submit tips at http://tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI.