An expert in extremism and terrorism said that Thomas Matthew Crooks' assassination attempt on former President Trump was likely not politically motivated – instead, the 20-year-old was likely "acting out a fantasy," and seeking a target that would bring him "attention and fame."
Jytte Klausen, a political science professor at Brandeis University, has studied terrorist networks and violent extremism for two decades, putting together a methodology for forensic biographies of perpetrators and radicalization trajectories.
She is currently writing a book called "How to Become a Terrorist" that dives into incels, homegrown Islamists, neo-Nazis and other groups.
"He wanted to become somebody – he wanted to make a mark," Klausen posited about Crooks, who unleashed the attack on Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. "He appears not to have been particularly politically motivated, I think, based on what we know about his search history… there's no sense he wanted to effect the election."
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"He was basically looking for a target that would bring him attention and fame – that's why I say that he was acting out a fantasy of himself as being a big man, showing the world what he can do and getting attention," she continued.
Klausen said there appeared to be "no organized elements" to Crooks' act as he left no manifesto behind – a pattern more typical of school shooters than politically-motivated terrorists.
"The lack of manifesto is typical for school shooters who nevertheless often also ‘leak’ information about their intentions before acting," Klausen said.
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Senators were told on Wednesday that Crooks wrote that "July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds" in a chilling message on gaming platform Steam.
Klausen noted that no one knows whether Crooks "thought he would survive" after firing a volley toward the former president on July 13, nicking his ear, injuring two bystanders and killing firefighter Corey Comperatore.
"One of the interesting things about these types of shooters is that they can be incredibly rational about planning out the scenario for how they're going to plan out the attack but very irrational about the consequences," Klausen said. "He may have thought that he could walk away and do something again – he might have had fantasies of people looking for him everywhere."
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"Crooks' development of bombs is interesting because that's usually the weapon of choice for people who do not want to die and want to carry out another attack," she said. "Crooks could easily have become a mass killer – the Secret Service snipers prevented that."
Klausen said that there is no typical age range for mass shooters or terrorists, pointing out that Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock was 64 years old, however, "at [Crooks'] young age, we know that risk assessment capabilities are very spotty."
Typically, young perpetrators have experienced some sort of trauma, Klausen said, and noted that some classmates have said Crooks was bullied in high school. In a statement, Bethel Park High school has denied that assertion, writing that claims that he was bullied were a "painful misconception" and that they had no record of any such incidents.
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However, a Wall Street Journal report that Crooks' mother was blind, had an alleged hoarding situation in their home and the fact that his parents did not notice shipments of explosive components to their home points to "red flags in [Crooks'] home life."
"I'm very reluctant to throw the parents under the bus here, but you don't get hazardous material delivered to your doorstep without noticing – people you live with notice that," Klausen said. "It's a small house."
The extent to which Crooks was involved in online gaming is in question, with popular gaming platform Steam acknowledging that he had an account on their site and Discord, a popular messaging platform for gamers, saying that he had a little-used account.
Some classmates at Bethel Park High School have said he had an affinity for computers, with one saying that he would often play games on his laptop in homeroom. Teachers say he built computers, and his online activity suggests that he had an interest in coding.
"You're doing online gaming and struggle to tell the difference between online and real life – it's not a predictor, but it's a risk factor," Klausen said. "It's just one of the markers of the need to pay attention [to a young person]."
