BETHAL PARK, Pa. – A former classmate of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks says the 20-year-old gunman was quiet with a small friend group, noting that she would never have pegged him for his actions at the Trump rally.
Sarah D’Angelo, a nursing student, shared with Fox News Digital her scant interactions with Crooks as the pair attended school together for eight years and shared a homeroom classroom at Bethel Park High School.
D’Angelo painted a portrait of Crooks’ personality, interests and perception at the school.
“He had a small friend group,” D’Angelo said. “He wasn’t a loner but was not the most popular kid in the class.”
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Sarah D’Angelo, who attended high school with Thomas Matthew Crooks, said the would-be Trump assassin had a small group of friends. (Fox News Digital)
The 20-year-old’s political leanings have been a hot topic, with people pointing to his Republican voter registration and others pointing to his $15 campaign donation to a progressive political action committee.
D’Angelo said Crooks did not reveal his political affiliation in class, even as the classmates shared an American politics class in high school.
“We had [an] American politics class. It was half a year during senior year,” she said. “And he never made any of his political views outward.”
Crooks’ classmate said they shared homeroom together in high school as well as a few classes, including Advanced Placement classes.
“In homeroom, he would play on his computer a lot. He was very into that,” she said. “And he would sit with just a few friends at lunch.”
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D’Angelo said she did not recall Crooks being bullied in high school, adding that there were other people in the school who she thought were “more capable.”
“Maybe other people in the school that I thought would probably more be capable of such a thing, and he’s definitely not one of them, I would think of,” she said. “But it’s also because he didn’t talk to a lot of people. So, you don’t really know what’s going on inside his head.”
Crooks, she described, was a good student and graduated with honors. Bethel High School gave honors students either silver or golden cords representing their educational achievement.
In a photo of his high school graduation, Crooks is seen wearing a silver cord. D’Angelo said the silver cord represented a 3.85 or higher cumulative GPA.
Thomas Matthew Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in Pennsylvania in 2022. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
D’Angelo, who was sitting near Crooks during the pair’s high school graduation, recalled her last interaction with the student turned assassin.
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“He was just a few seats away from me [at the graduation ceremony], D’Angelo said. “I remember talking to him and another kid, just commenting on the day and the length of the ceremony.”
Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. (Google Maps)
Crooks, his classmate said, was smart and interacted regularly in class discussions.
“He participated as much as a normal person would,” she said. “He was always kind to the people around him.”
This view shows a home connected to the suspected would-be assassin on July 15, 2024, in Bethel Park, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
D’Angelo said that when she first heard the news of the unsuccessful attempt on the 45th president’s life, she thought it was her classmates’ relative.
“It’s shocking to hear someone from your high school, that you knew, would do something as tragic as that,” she said. “I honestly originally thought it was a relative, because I heard Thomas, and he never went by that. He went by Tom or Tommy.”
On July 15, a state police car is shown blocking the entrance to the venue where Thomas Crooks tried to kill former President Trump in Butler, Pa., on July 13. (Reuters/Carlos Osorio)
The classmate said they were supposed to attend Trump’s rally at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds in Butler, but they decided against it at the last minute.
“It’s sad, and I was so nauseous on Sunday hearing about it because you don’t think something like that would happen so close,” D’Angelo said. “I don’t want to speak for all of us, but we just really want to move on from this.”
D’Angelo reiterated what other classmates and residents have shared, saying their town of 33,000 does not want this incident to define their town.
“This is a community, a close community that is family-oriented,” she said. “We’re good American citizens, and Bethel High School is really close.”
“This experience just did not seem to add up to happen in Bethel Park,” she said. “Our hearts go out to the families that were affected in this.”