Thomas Matthew Crooks was known as a loner and a brilliant man years before shooting

The world is learning more Thomas Matthew Crooks – We get more insight from his former peers and even a teacher who says he was smart… but especially lonely.

TMZ spoke with several of Crooks’ former classmates at Bethel Park High School — who were part of his graduating class — who all asked that their names not be published, and they told us they knew Crooks was a loner. Human being, but not one prone to violence.

We were told that Crooks was considered quiet and a loner in class…and the same was true at lunch, where we were told that he often sat and ate alone.

These classmates told us that he was definitely not a popular kid by any means, but he was polite and soft-spoken, not to mention extremely smart and had taken AP classes for advanced students.

One thing none of these former BPHS classmates remember witnessing was Report bullying Thomas apparently received this treatment during his time at school. While some videos support the idea that he was bullied, the two students told us they had never seen it.

Also of note…we were told that these students had not seen Crooks for the better part of two years – mostly in remote areas after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic…only had the opportunity to come later Back to school in 2021, they are all about to graduate.

Regardless, both students said they were shocked to hear about Crooks’ assassination attempt Donald Trumpbecause they never saw any warning signs.

Another interesting person who knew Crooks was Xavier Harmon — who served as the man’s teacher from 2019 to 2020 at the Mount Jefferson Career and Technical Education Center in Pennsylvania…another institution Crooks attended as a teenager.

Mr. Harmon told TMZ that he never saw any signs of aggression or hostility from his students, although he admitted that he was a bit of a lone wolf/black sheep… as far as he knew, he didn’t have any enemies, noting that the kid was Very talented in computer technology.

He also said he never heard Thomas talk about politics in class or anything about guns — despite the apparent he’s really interested in it outside the school.

Harmon said he had never seen Thomas being bullied and had no reason to think he would do something like this. Harmon said he jokingly nicknamed him “Muscle Man” because of his small stature.

Regardless of the memories of his classmates and teachers… the fact is, Crooks did it Attempt to assassinate Trump At a rally in Butler, Pa., last weekend, a gunman fired at him from a rooftop, nearly hitting him but killing the firefighter. Corey Competorewho was in the crowd.

Of course, some other classmates portrayed Crooks differently, as an arrogant know-it-all, a trump haters.

It’s clear that he had varying degrees of interaction with other students and others outside of school…which explains the varying accounts of teenagers at the time.