When there is a mass shooting, the killer often leaves a trail of clues. These days, that usually means a sinister manifesto, cries for help on social media, or incriminating search history.
Americans are left with a sea of questions and few answers after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, has virtually no online footprint. He has no TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat celebrity. And he has no friends who have come forward.
And like other American murderers throughout history, his politics are ambiguous. He was a registered Republican and was described by a classmate as “definitely conservative.” Yet Mr. Crooks also donated a small amount to a progressive movement in 2021.
Dr. Rachel Toles, a licensed clinical psychologist from California who specializes in studying violent criminals, told DailyMail.com that politics may have had little to do with the shooting, as surprising as that may seem.
Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Trump at a campaign rally with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle. He was shot dead on the spot by Secret Service
Dr. Toles says from her experience, people in these situations often suffer from a severely damaged ego and tend to eliminate anyone who has what they most desire: success, popularity or good looks.
It’s possible that former President Trump represented something Crooks deeply desired: fame, success, or respect.
‘Trump gets more attention than anyone else on the planet.
“And now we’re talking about an invisible child who no one at school talked to unless they were bullying him,” Dr. Toles said.
She added: ‘So this is someone who feels incredibly invisible and who is targeting the most visible man on the planet.
“I think it’s more about that than it is about the political Donald Trump.”
Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, who has studied a number of high-profile teenage killers over the years, agreed that it could be that “Trump represents the alpha male he [the shooter] couldn’t be at school.’
But he is not convinced that there was any No There is political influence at play here.
According to Dr. Kardaras, it is possible that Crooks was radicalized by the extreme sides of the conservative or liberal movements.
The killer’s donation to the Democrats in 2021 may indicate that he had grown weary of Trump and saw him as a threat to democracy after the January 6 Capitol riots.
Or perhaps he felt that Trump was not conservative enough during his presidency, which earned him criticism from the far right during the campaign, for example because of Trump’s softer stance on abortion.
Psychologists spoke to DailyMail.com about some of the common motivations of violent criminals, saying that hitmen have more in common with mass murderers than serial killers.
Both Dr. Kardaras and Dr. Toles believe that these killers have more in common with mass murderers than with serial killers or people who kill someone in their private lives.
Serial killers are often motivated by an inner drive to dominate and prey on other people, and they often have high self-esteem, Dr. Toles said.
In contrast, people who shoot politicians or bring a gun to school usually do so to gain attention.
At this time, authorities are unsure what Mr. Crooks’ personal beliefs were.
So experts can only make predictions based on what science has discovered so far.
There is a long history of FBI and academic experts studying the minds of violent hitmen, mass murderers, and serial killers.
According to Dr. Kardaras, political assassins generally fall into two categories: those who are driven by the idea that their actions will bring about major political or social change, and those who are driven by the idea that killing someone will make them “immortal.”
Chances are that they both suffer from mental health issues, such as delusions, depression, or paranoia.
Take, for example, John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated former President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
According to Dr. Kardaras, Booth did this under the impression that the assassination of President Lincoln would lead to a revival of the South after the Civil War.
He convinced himself that his actions could change the course of history.
Previous assassination attempts on sitting presidents have been carried out by assassins motivated by politics and insanity or infamy, which are Dr. Kardara’s two theories.
But murderers are far more often driven by attention, notoriety, and the general illusion that murder will make them “somebody” than by politics, like Mr. Booth.
Take, for example, hitmen like John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to shoot former President Ronald Reagan, thinking he would impress actress Jodie Foster, whom he had developed a crush on after seeing her performance in the film Taxi Driver.
Mr. Hinckley called his attempt to end President Regan’s life “the greatest act of love in the history of the world.”
Other examples of this type of killer include Mark Chapman, who murdered John Lennon to draw attention to the book The Catcher in the Rye and to rid the world of “the greatest fraud of them all.”
They are convinced that their actions will fulfill their delusions – or their deep desire for attention.
It could be that Mr. Crooks fell into this camp because he was hungry for attention, Dr. Toles said.
According to the Secret Service Exception Case Study ProjectOne of the most comprehensive studies of murderers or attempted murderers finds that far more murderers are driven by delusions and fame than by a desire to change the political landscape.
Research author and psychologist Robert Fein, who interviewed 83 people who had attempted murder, told NPR“It was very, very rare that the primary motive was political, although there were a number of attackers who appeared to disguise their motives with some political rhetoric.”
The shooter had an interest in guns and was bullied at school, former classmates said.
According to Dr. Fein, these people were common: “They experienced one failure after another and decided that they no longer wanted to be ‘nobody’ but rather ‘somebody.'”
According to Dr. Kardaras, it is likely that Mr. Crooks was motivated by a combination of these factors.
He said it appears the shooter had a low-level, “I’ll show you” mentality, but “the fact that he targeted a political figure shows me there was a political agenda behind it as well.”
Another factor that could have contributed to the attempted assassination of former President Trump is the fact that Mr. Crooks had been interested in firearms since high school.
He auditioned for his high school’s shooting team but was not accepted onto the team.
He was also a member of a local shooting range, The Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, the BBC reported.
According to Dr. Kardaras, it is very common for school shooters to have an interest in guns and violent video games at a young age.
“Not every kid who plays violent video games becomes a school shooter, but every school shooter has been heavily immersed in violent first-person shooter games and has had access to guns,” he said.
It’s unclear whether Crooks played video games. If so, it’s possible that this increased his aggression and blurred the line between reality and fiction, he said.
He explained that constantly seeing violent images can affect your aggression and the way you respond to the world around you.
He added: ‘If you chase the wolves, you become a wolf yourself.’
