What was the motive? Criminologist weighs in on possible reason behind Trump assassination attempt

PITTSBURGH — There are a lot of questions surrounding Thomas Crooks’ motive when it comes to the deadly shooting at Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Butler over the weekend.

There are many theories, but with the new information that Crooks suffered from major depression disorder, a local criminologist is breaking down why he thinks Crooks took this path of violence.

“Thomas Crooks, the shooter in this case, has or has experienced major depression disorder. That fits quite in line with the pathway to violence on a threat assessment,” said Dr. John Cencich, who’s a professor and criminologist at Penn West University.

Cencich teaches a course on threat assessment and is trained by Homeland Security.

“We can see it’s been reported by his classmates that he was bullied almost daily, that he sat alone, he said very little. This is what is important, that he tried out for the rifle team, and not only did he not make it, but he was also told to not come back. That must have been very devastating to him,” Cencich said.

While classmates have made those reports in interviews, Bethel Park School District told Channel 11 Crooks did not officially try out for the rifle team and it had no official reports of him being bullied. Still, we can’t know how he felt about his classmates.

Cencich said those potential factors combined with the depression disorder, this violence manifested over years with one theory showing the bullying led to this moment.

“The grievance is not directed towards former President Donald Trump but towards his classmates, what does he do in the meantime he joins a gun club to try to improve his shooting skills,” Cencich said.

Cencich told Channel 11 Crooks picked a big target to show his classmates what he could do even comparing Crooks to John Hinckley.

“When he attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan, he didn’t have any animosity to Ronald Reagan he was trying to impress Jodi Foster so you really see some analogies here using a President or former President to make one’s point,” Cencich said.

Again, this is just one theory based on threat assessment. Channel 11 asked the FBI if they were looking into this theory as a potential motive. A spokesperson said he can neither confirm nor deny.

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