Thomas Matthew Crocs was on his mind in January 2024.
The 20 -year -old who, six months later, will do so Open fire In President Trump in the Pennsylvania campaign march – Bend And killing Audience He was busy polishing his requests for transportation from the Community College to a four -year engineering program.
Crooks was collecting texts and asking friends to review his personal statement.
It was also a bomb design.
More than one gallon of nitromathane from an online fuel retromathene Coded Email account, documents obtained by CBS News program. Twelve days later, Croox was not shipped and wanted to know the reason.
“Hello, my name Thomas. I have applied on your website on January 19. I haven’t received any updates to the request after shipping so far and I was wondering if you still have and when I expect it to come,” I sent Crooks via the retail seller, Hyperfuels, at 7:44 am on January 31, 2024.
Email you got CBS News
Crooks used the email account of the community college to inquire about shipping, which is one of the few operating errors that allowed a rare look at the dark side of this ambitious young student.
Two weeks after the e -mail of nitromethane, on February 13, 2024, the Crocs concentration returned to his academic future, as he plans a video call he described, “Correct my personal article with friends before the class.”
Gold student “above and beyond”
Very little is known how or why Thomas Crocs I began shooting at the then secret candidate Donald Trump. Now, emails, articles, and other documents that CBS News have reviewed a new overview in the minds of a young man who was simultaneously planned in unimaginable receptors. In one of them, Crocs continues his engineering studies, which professors praised his work ethics, progress and class contributions. At the end, he was swinging towards an act he should know, he would end in prison or – as happened on July 13, 2024 – his death.
He was an accurate and excited student, as he was attending the community college after recording 1530 on Sats, as the records appear. He told a consultant that he started school to save money before moving.
Bethael Park School area via AP 
In hundreds of the college emails obtained by CBS News, Crooks rarely deviates into personal lands, with few exceptions. When the upcoming task requires five adults, the professor asked if it is fine if he brought only two or three. Crocs said that, unlike his sister and his parents, he was unable to reach any other adults. “
Crooks wrote a clip about the reason for the fall of his favorite season in an article presented on January 30, the day that was previously contacted by Hyperfuels. The article, made in different colors, contemplates its love for football and its favorite feasts, Halloween and the Day of thanks. He did poetic wax about autumn weather and asked: “Who does not like the variable color of the leaves?”
Crocs took his class work seriously, routinely called the professors to protest if he was not satisfied with his grades. After conducting a mathematics test in which he misleading a variable, he asked Crocs if he could recover the point. The teacher agreed to grant him 75 % credit for the question.
“It looks good,” he answered. “This should be enough to get A.”
Crocs made a level in most of his sessions, according to his transcription. Email messages show that professors often admired his dedication.
“Thank you again for your contribution to this term – it will not be the same without you!” The English language professor wrote in December 2022.
One project in particular professors dazzled in the engineering department. Crooks, whose mother is visually, is designed, and a unique triple printing. The initial model guarantees the signs of Braille along the rows and columns, rotating “high squares with PEG holes to prevent cutting cut”, as described by Crooks.
Former engineering professor Todd Landre calls on the employees of the small section that admires the project.
“It was above what anyone expected,” Landri said.
Patricia Thompson, who taught the chapter, said she is still thinking about the Crocs project. She also described it as “above” expectations.
“It is sad that he had a lot of promise and chose to do so. It is very difficult to understand where it came,” Tomson said.
Skeptical about the “noble promises” of the government
Crooks focused on engineering and computing while he was at the Community College, but a handful of written tasks showing deep doubts of the federal government and companies.
The claim that requires students to think whether the engineers participating in the 1986 Challenger disaster in NASA have ethically resulted in a skeptical response.
“Crooks blame NASA officials, who were pressure for the fateful launch,” they are trying to upgrade the noble promises they made on Congress that they could not fulfill. “
On an English mission 2022, Crocs wrote about the article of George Orwell, “shooting an elephant”. The fraudsters described the article “a strong symbolic warning of adopting imperialism policies.”
“Writing maintains its importance, as the topics that exist in every form of the tyrant government, many of which are still present today, and continue to send young people, such as Orwell, to implement” dirty work of the empire. “
Crocs wrote about Mr. Trump at least once.
The article was called “Why Nuclear Energy is a cleaner future key”, and the fraudsters briefly touched on the spread of nuclear weapons, and criticized a decision made by Mr. Trump during his first term.
“To prevent hostile countries from obtaining nuclear technology, America and its allies can stop technology sales for these countries and can enter into mutual beneficial agreements such as the Iran deal, which has already stopped that the nuclear program (SIC) until President Trump withdrew from it.”
His writing also focused, at least once, in part on the then President Biden.
The fraudsters reviewed the opinion column 2021 that ran in Washington PostShe concluded that she had convincingly against Mr. Biden’s support for the community -free college of tuition.
“The liberals also tend to be in support of the Free Community College, and in fact, a general college in general,” Crocs wrote. “Therefore, it is interesting to see an author trying to persuade the other side to use their” SIC “political interests (SIC) instead of trying to persuade them.”
While fraudsters showed an advanced ability to think and persuade, he was often struggled with spelling errors and rules. Several articles and work tasks have been returned to him asking him to conduct corrections for his work.
A major jury with a dead suspect
The bill to purchase the nitromathane is narrated by a separate email account from a Belgium -based service that provides a comprehensive encryption. The FBI in Pittsburgh told Kevin Rojik correspondents in August that Crocs had searched in “nitromathane, and other materials that are compatible with the manufacture of explosive devices.” Rojek pointed out that the agents have reached many encrypted email accounts abroad used by Crooks, who did not use explosives during his attack.
A Hyperfuels employee, who asked about the purchase of Crooks last year, said that the company “is aware of the entire situation.” The company president did not respond to the phone or text messages.
A copy of Crooks and some other academic records were published by America first legally, a non -profit institution founded by Stephen Miller, a long assistant to Mr. Trump and is now the White House Vice President of Staff.
Pennsylvania’s lawyer, Wali Zimulong, continued the records on behalf of the first legal America, and won the battle of open records that paved the way for their release last year. Among his discoveries, the unknown federal jury that called the Community College and received emails and Crooks articles. Zimolong CBS News has provided records related to sending the Senate of the Grand jury and Crooks texts.
A letter from the Ministry of Justice official to the college on July 24, 2024 confirmed the summons related to “the active criminal investigation of the Federal Investigation Office.”
The major federal jury bodies are usually clarified to determine a possible reason for a person’s condemnation of a crime, but fraudsters – the only known suspect – have died for 11 days at that stage.
“I think it raises many important questions. Were they investigating anyone else? Are they still investigating?” Zimolong request. He added to the ambiguity surrounding the young man who seemed to be determined to continue in the college until the day when he ascended on the roof of a building in Bater, Pennsylvania, and began shooting.
“After a year, we still do not know enough,” Zimolong said.
