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submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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.

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[-] Default_Defect@midwest.social 144 points 4 months ago

My school would claim I was never bullied, too, and it would be a lie.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 48 points 4 months ago

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.

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[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

I think they just denied the fact that he was on the rifle team, because they didn't want it on record that their team would have missed.

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

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?"

[-] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 117 points 4 months ago

I love that in the current age if someone isn't blasting every aspect of their life onto social media we have no idea what to do with them.

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 84 points 4 months ago

My high school would have said I wasn't bullied. They'd be lying.

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[-] jeffw@lemmy.world 40 points 4 months ago

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.

[-] lewdian69@lemmy.world 54 points 4 months ago

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.

[-] jeffw@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

Fair point on the bullying. But the shooting team claim was always absurd

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[-] Glytch@lemmy.world 40 points 4 months ago

Oh please, look at that year book photo again and tell me seriously that he wasn't bullied.

[-] redisdead@lemmy.world 45 points 4 months ago

"School says he wasn't bullied" no shit. Guy could get beaten right in front of the principal and they'd claim nothing happened lmao

[-] piecat@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

He'd be suspended or expelled for "participating in a fight"

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[-] Infynis@midwest.social 38 points 4 months ago

I don't think small school clubs usually keep detailed long-term records, so that's not saying much

[-] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 10 points 4 months ago

If they'd als my school, they would go: who? Look up a file and say: nah he was never bullied.

[-] 800XL@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago

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.

Fuck that fat piece of shit.

[-] jeffw@lemmy.world 35 points 4 months ago

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.

[-] HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago

So you're saying we nearly managed to get rid of Trump accidentally?

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 4 months ago

Careful. Statements like that could break up your band.

[-] jeffw@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

No, he definitely wanted to kill Trump. But if Biden were holding a rally that day, it just as easily could’ve been him. At least that’s what the initial evidence seems to be saying

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[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 26 points 4 months ago

Well yeah if he was on the rifle team, I'd imagine he'd have had better aim.

[-] TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works 20 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

It's a 6" target at 147 yards with iron sights... With probably max adrenaline as well. Only missed by a couple inches

Give the kid some credit where it's due. It was pretty fucking close

[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

No because a good Rifleman wouldn't have aimed at the head.

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[-] Dashi@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

"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.

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[-] FanciestPants@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

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.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 20 points 4 months ago

A high school rifle team? What the what?

[-] schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business 23 points 4 months ago

Yeah, it's a thing.

Rifle teams, trap shooting teams are not all that uncommon, all funded by your friends in the NRA.

[-] Dultas@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

The Olympics have shooting in both the biathlon (rifle) and trap shooting so it's not as bizarre as some US gun things.

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[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 19 points 4 months ago

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.

[-] III@lemmy.world 52 points 4 months ago

To be fair, I don't think we can rely on a school self-reporting bullying.

[-] half_built_pyramids@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

There is no bullying in hi-school-sai.

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[-] arefx@lemmy.ml 19 points 4 months ago

Schools tend to hide bullying problems I know from experience.

[-] danniel@feddit.uk 19 points 4 months ago

Quick, get rid of the paperwork. Adam, where is the effing shredder. Bully? Nonsense. Never happened.

[-] MehBlah@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago

Of course thats the story coming from covering your ass high,

[-] III@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

For the downvoters, schools aren't to be considered entirely objective on bullying on their watch.

There was a documentary from a few years back the covered the subject. Bully

[-] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 11 points 4 months ago

Yes, but was he in the John Wilkes Booth after-school fan club?

[-] Ulrich_the_Old@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 months ago

Why the fuck is there a rifle team in school?????

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Same reason the track and field team throws the javelin and shotput.

[-] DaleGribble88@programming.dev 10 points 4 months ago

Sports shooting is incredibly popular at the high school and collegiate level in the US.

[-] kerrigan778@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

It's an olympic sport?

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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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