Would-be Trump assassin tried to join high school shooting club, was rejected for being ‘comically bad’ shot

The Pennsylvania man who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump during a rally on Saturday  tried out for his high school’s rifle team, but he was rejected for being a “terrible” shot and making “off-color” jokes.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, killed a hero Trump supporter and wounded two others when opened fire on the Butler Farm Show grounds with an AR-style rifle Butler Farm Show grounds. But, he only grazed the former President before he was shot dead by the Secret Service.

A few years before the assassination attempt, Crooks tried out for the rifle team at Bethel Park High School, two former classmates told The Post.

The team at Bethel Park shoots Anschutz single-shot rifles with peep sights and .22-caliber ammunition, Jameson Murphy and another former student explained.

The shooting range at the school is 50 feet long by 21 feet wide, with seven ranges.

Crooks once fired from the seventh lane — the closest lane to the right wall — and hit the left wall, completely missing every target on the back wall. He missed his target by close to 20 feet, Murphy recalled.

“He tried out…and was such a comically bad shot he was unable to make the team and left after the first day,” Murphy said.

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Crooks – who has been described as a loner who wore hunting outfits to class – ”couldn’t shoot at all. He was a terrible shot,” the second classmate added.

Even the coach, they continued, had concerns about Crooks.

“Our old coach was a stickler, he trained Navy marksmen, so he knew people. He knew when someone’s not the greatest person,” the ex-classmate explained.

“We noticed a few things Thomas said and how he interacted with other people… He said some things that were kind of concerning,” the classmate said.

“You know, obviously, we’re using guns in a school setting so you need to be very careful in that regard.”

“He made some crass jokes that weren’t appropriate when there are firearms in the school setting,” they said, without elaborating on what exactly Crooks said