We already know more details about the Apalachee School shooter in ONE DAY than we do about the Trump shooter who tried to kill the president on July 13.
Colt Gray killed two students and two teachers on Wednesday. Thomas Crooks 55 days ago tried to kill former President Trump and killed fire fighter Corey Comperatore.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Colt Gray had been "begging for months" for mental health help, according to his aunt, Annie Brown.
Gray “was begging for help from everybody around him,” Annie Brown told the Post. “The adults around him failed him.”
The FBI also failed him and the victims at the Georgia school. The FBI flagged Gray in 2023 due to tips about his online threats. After local law enforcement interviewed Gray, no substantive action was taken.
Last week, the suspect’s grandmother had gone to see a counselor at his school to request help, according to screenshots provided to the Post.
He “starts with the therapist tomorrow,” his grandmother texted one week before Gray went on a murder spree.
The suspects father, Colin Gray, is facing criminal charges for allowing the troubled teen access to the murder weapon.
In May 2023, the teen’s father told the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office that "his son was not allowed to use guns without supervision."
Critically, authorities found Gray had written about past school shootings, including the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
It is unknown why Gray carried out the Apalachee School shooting. However, he had a known history of online threats, a documented history of mental illness, and an alleged family history of abuse.
Meanwhile, after 55 days of FBI, Secret Service, and Congressional task force investigations, we still do not have a clear picture about what motivated Thomas Crooks to nearly kill former President Trump.
Initially, there was confusion and speculation about Crooks' political views. He was registered as a Republican, but he donated to far-left causes via ActBlue, indicating a possible lean towards liberal or progressive ideologies. Yet he also reportedly expressed disdain for both Republican and Democratic politicians. It is unclear because we are led to believe that Crooks left no extensive or definitive social media trail.
The FBI has selectively leaked information about Crooks that muddies the waters about his possible motivation for shooting Trump. Director Wray pointed to the subject's online searches on the JFK assassinat*on, as well as alleged anti-Semitic and anti-migrant remarks.
There are indications that Crooks might have been dealing with mental health issues. He searched for information on "major depressive disorder" online, which could suggest he was experiencing or researching symptoms of depression.
Additionally, his behavior, such as being a loner, being bullied, and making threats about school violence in the past, points towards underlying psychological distress. His actions, including the assassination attempt, could be seen as symptomatic of untreated or undiagnosed mental illness, though this remains speculative without formal diagnosis.
However, on the day when Crooks signed up for the Trump rally in Butler County, PA where he would later shoot the president, the news media was swirling with accusations that Donald Trump was a would-be dictator and that Biden would likely lose the election due to his disastrous debate performance.
Crooks had multiple foreign encrypted accounts. Despite the FBI reportedly hacking two of the three accounts, it has not released the contents to the public.
The crime scene where he shot Trump was quickly scrubbed and his body cremated in rapid fashion, preventing forensic examiners from getting a further picture of the shooter's motivation.
Colt Gray has survived the Apalachee School shooting and can be interrogated by law enforcement and by a criminal court. This cannot be done with Thomas Crooks, who was killed during the Trump shooting.
The rapidly surfacing details about Colt Gray and the slow trickle of murky findings about Thomas Crooks suggests we already know more concrete details about the Apalachee School shooting than we will ever know about Thomas Crooks and what motivated him to shoot and try to kill former President Trump.