In a statement, Bethel Park High School officials dispelled previous reports about Crooks’ life as a student.
Bethel Park High School officials have contradicted reports that Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was bullied, threatening, and a member of the school’s rifle team.
In updated statements posted Saturday, officials said they have “no record” of Crooks ever trying out or being dismissed from the rifle team due to character or performance concerns, as previously reported.
Exactly. Especially if the administration was bully-friendly, which they often are. My daughter was so bullied at her middle school that we ended up having to take her out and put her in online school because the administration didn't give a shit. The one time we went so apoplectic that they were forced to act, they made the bullies apologize to her and her apologize to the bullies. Which, of course, made things worse.
One of my daughter's best friends is still in that school and he is trans. Some girl was harassing him and being incredibly bigoted to him and he finally turned around and slapped her for it. Guess which one of them got suspended and which one wasn't even finger-wagged at? Hint: it wasn't the girl that got suspended.
Ok, I'm curious. I get that the suspension was wrong and all......but did the girl ever bother him again? I will stand by my belief that the way you stop a bully, is to punch a bully in the mouth. Bullys bully because they feel they can get away with bullying without consequence. Present them an immediate cause and effect consequence, and they stop.
Or, ya know.....because they were responsible in training a would-be political assasin. And that probably comes with legal responsibilities. Such as "Why are we putting guns into teenagers hands, and teaching them how to kill?"
They're still not qualified to make that statement. It's a fucking high school, the safest stance is always going to be that a kid like that was bullied.
In case the whole "hit a wall while trying to aim at a target on a different wall" story didn't seem strange, the school has now confirmed he never tried out for the team. Also worth pointing out that many students interviewed said he was just a quiet kid who was not bullied, but the click-worthy headlines came from the kids who said he was bullied.
I have 2 middle schooler/high schoolers. Kids are not going to admit to bullying nor know who is being bullied if it's not them doing the bullying or being bullied. They are all way too self involved at those ages.
I'd hold off till we get testimonial from students (we already might have, AFAIK) and coaches in the rifle team before we turn "we have no record of it" into "it didn't happen".
The bullying thing's already been covered so I won't harp on that.
Imagine interviewing the superintendent or whoever and they go: wait, you're talking about Pantshitter Mcglasses? Yeah we bullied him, look at this little shit.
Why does the guy have to have been bullied? Maybe he just really hated a convicted criminal, rapist, draft dodger, supected pedophile, treasonous, and otherwise all-around garbage human being and thought the world didn't need as many of those as it has.
Just because someone made an attempt on that orange clown's life doesn't give the horse's ass a pass at being an all-around shit heel.
All the evidence points to him just doing it for the sake of committing a shooting though. He was looking up random political events, seemingly to find the closest one, regardless of party.
"Crooks was well within that range when he opened fire on Trump Saturday from about 135 meters (147 yards) from where Trump was speaking"
Still a long shot but not as bad as 400 yards. 400 yards with iron sights would be almost impossible. 147 would still be hard but not impossible with practice. Not that this dude has practice and a scope would be cheap and infinitely easier.
Are rifle teams common in high schools? I mean I know that sport shooting is a thing, but I never heard of a high school with a rifle team. I went to high school in WA state.
All I can say is I never heard of such a thing growing up in Indiana. And I graduated high school before Columbine. Giving kids rifles at schools now, even if they're being monitored, seems nuts.
I know shooting sports in schools used to be a thing, but figured after Columbine that those programs were all dropped and didn't exist anymore. Gunfire near a school is no longer about academic competitions, but something tragic and far too common.
Every report I’ve seen said he failed to make the tea so I don’t know where the fake fact came from that he was on it, but this is the first time I have read he wasn’t picked on.
What? Are you serious? To teach kids how to shoot guns. Because it's America. Are you telling me you don't want a bunch of hormonal teenagers with undeveloped emotional cortex's to be handling and comfortable with guns??? Well how else are we going to shoot each other in a crowded public environment........you know the more I say this outloud the more I see your point.
Yes, kids should be taught about guns. Nothing in depth, not unless they demonstrate basic safety skills and wish to pursue the subject. But a 10-minute mandated lecture ain't gonna get it.
Took my 8 and 11-yo shooting for the first time on Spring Break. We have a camp in the swamp so it's a safe and calm environment, no gunshot noise, focused instruction. Predictably, their mom shat kittens.
Know what? Now they have a feel for what guns are about, and that includes lethality. Previously, their ideas all came from Hollywood. I also showed them some of mine that bear an unfortunate resemblance to toys. Speaking of...
We can teach out kids to never, ever, on pain of beating to touch a gun. But we can't helicopter them for life. What if some idiot kid pulls out his dad's super cool pistol to show off? "It's all good. It's not loaded." or "It's not a real gun." First thing I taught them (behind the basic rules) was how to recognize someone being dangerous, when to get the hell away from that person.
And the cherry on top? I've taken the mystery away, removed the forbidden fruit. Now that they can take it or leave it, they somewhat ambivalent. My daughter likes to take a shot or three and hang out helping reload. My son loves his little .22, but no big deal if we forget it at home.