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.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      5 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.

      • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Ok, I’m curious. I get that the suspension was wrong and all…but did the girl ever bother him again? I will stand by my belief that the way you stop a bully, is to punch a bully in the mouth. Bullys bully because they feel they can get away with bullying without consequence. Present them an immediate cause and effect consequence, and they stop.

        I don’t see how schools don’t realize this.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I don’t have the answer to that, but daughter never told me and she’s doing some video chat thing with friends right now, so I don’t want to bug her about it. I hope that stopped it for good from at least that girl.

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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      5 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
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        5 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
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    5 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
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        5 months ago

        They’re still not qualified to make that statement. It’s a fucking high school, the safest stance is always going to be that a kid like that was bullied.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          5 months ago

          The only statement they should make is if they have a record of him being bullied or not. They should not be speculating either way.

  • Glytch@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

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

    • redisdead@lemmy.world
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      5 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

      • BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Imagine interviewing the superintendent or whoever and they go: wait, you’re talking about Pantshitter Mcglasses? Yeah we bullied him, look at this little shit.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      This shit here is why I’m glad I was homeschooled with caring, loving parents.

  • jeffw@lemmy.worldOPM
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    5 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
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      5 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.

    • _NoName_
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      5 months ago

      I’d hold off till we get testimonial from students (we already might have, AFAIK) and coaches in the rifle team before we turn “we have no record of it” into “it didn’t happen”.

      The bullying thing’s already been covered so I won’t harp on that.

  • Infynis@midwest.social
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    5 months ago

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

    • BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee
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      5 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
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    5 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.worldOPM
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      5 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.

        • jeffw@lemmy.worldOPM
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          5 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

          • 800XL@lemmy.world
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            So he wanted to shoot someone for the sake of shooting them but definitely wanted to kill Trump. Does it say anywhere that he definitely wanted to kill Biden? Him shooting Bidene is just speculation on your part.

            If he wanted to just shoot someone he could have chosen someone not as high profile and survived.

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

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

    • TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works
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      5 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

        • Dashi@lemmy.world
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          I mean… people say this. But a head shot with normal ammunition would be the only way to ensure a kill on a target that could potentially be wearing body armor.

          I don’t condone what he did, violence of this kind is never the answer. But speaking on the planning of a good marksman I would bet with this setup they would have gone for a head shot. A good marksman would never be in this situation though…

          • njm1314@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            No that’s literally what I was saying. Go back and reread the comments, that’s my whole point.

      • Dashi@lemmy.world
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        5 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.

    • FanciestPants@lemmy.world
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      5 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.

      • Dultas@lemmy.world
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        5 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.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        All I can say is I never heard of such a thing growing up in Indiana. And I graduated high school before Columbine. Giving kids rifles at schools now, even if they’re being monitored, seems nuts.

        • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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          High schools in Nevada with HSJROTC programs had rifle teams. My high school had a range and I believe that they used .22s in competion, but for class we used air rifles. There was a gun safety training and written testing you had to pass and then those who were allowed to participate could fire during class during the module (only juniors and seniors, freshmen and sophomores did not get this module). I remember the Colonel was the only one who had a key to the lockers for rifles and the ammunition was kept in a separate locked locker. It was a fun unit! For reference, I graduated in 2000.

          If I remember correctly, those who opted out were given other work or allowed to work on unfinished classwork.

          I don’t know if they still do this though.

        • schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business
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          5 months ago

          I grew up in the Glorious People’s Republic of Texas and was in highschool in the 90s. We had a variety of projectile-based clubs: rifle, trap shooting, and archery.

          I may or may not have learned how to bow hunt as part of a school club.

          However, uh, yeah, I don’t think I’d give a bunch of kids guns at this point either.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Me too! My parents got me a kids’ size longbow and a couple of arrows (real wooden ones, not suction cups or whatever) as a present and I made a target in the yard and shot (badly) at it all the time. I’d love to have learned real archery.

    • EchoCranium@lemmy.zip
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      I know shooting sports in schools used to be a thing, but figured after Columbine that those programs were all dropped and didn’t exist anymore. Gunfire near a school is no longer about academic competitions, but something tragic and far too common.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Although to be fair, I have never heard of a school rifle team in part because there has been no tragedy associated with one so far.

  • danniel@feddit.uk
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    5 months ago

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

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    5 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.

  • arefx
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    5 months ago

    Schools tend to hide bullying problems I know from experience.

    • III@lemmy.world
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      5 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