Would-be Trump assassin had Oxford school shooter’s photo on his phone

The 20-year-old Pennsylvania shooter who tried to kill former President Donald Trump did exactly what anti-gun violence crusaders have long fought to prevent: He sought out a like-minded individual who gained notoriety for a massacre: Ethan Crumbley, the Oxford High School shooter.

In a meeting with lawmakers on Friday, the FBI and US Secret Service revealed that they found a mugshot of Crumbley on the cellphone of would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, who had also been researching the Oxford shooter and his parents online, according to CNN.

This information came as no surprise to Steve St. Juliana, whose 14-year-old daughter, Hana, was among the four students killed in the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School.

“It’s pretty clear that all of these shooters are looking into what’s happened before, so it’s not really a surprise,” said Steve St. Juliana, who attended a march against gun violence in Oxford last month. He and his oldest daughter are also part of an anti-notoriety movement, which encourages the media not to over-publicize a mass shooter’s name and image to avoid giving him the notoriety he craves, which could inspire other would-be shooters.

St. Juliana said that when she learned that the would-be Trump assassin was investigating the Oxford shooter and his parents, the notoriety aspect was “the first thing that came to mind.”

“This just backs up what my daughter and I have been advocating for: there is no notoriety,” St. Juliana said. “This is just a perfect example of why… It feeds on itself.”

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Forensic psychologist Colin King, who interviewed the Oxford shooter and testified at several hearings related to the juvenile’s life sentence without parole, said he suspects the Trump shooter was looking for clues in the Oxford case.

Expert: Trump’s would-be assassin used Crumbley ‘as a mentor’

“It appears he researched the Oxford shooter and somehow used him as a mentor to perpetuate violence against former President Trump,” King said. “However, it appears he was looking for a high-profile target who would somehow gain great notoriety, whether in life or death.”

Former Detroit FBI chief Andy Arena said he also wasn’t surprised to learn that Crooks was investigating the Crumbleys.

“There are a lot of similarities between the two shooters: they are two young men who seem to have had a hard time fitting in,” Arena said.

Both shooters were also reportedly struggling with mental health issues, as the FBI and Secret Service said they learned that Crooks also sought information about major depressive disorder (which Ethan Crumbley was diagnosed with) and treatment for depressive episodes.

“It sounds like she was someone who was also struggling with mental illness, which went unnoticed or untreated,” King said, noting another similarity between Crooks and Crumbley, who wrote in her journal that her parents ignored her pleas for mental health issues.

Perhaps most notable are the weapons used in the Oxford High School shootings and at the Trump rally.

Oxford and Trump rally shooter used their parents’ guns

Investigators have said Crooks used a gun owned by his father to try to kill the former president; Crumbley also used a gun purchased by his father to shoot up his school.

James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the Oxford shooter, made history this year by becoming the first parents in the United States to be convicted of a mass school shooting carried out by their son. Two separate juries concluded that the Crumbleys failed to keep a gun in their home and ignored their son’s mental health issues, and were therefore responsible for the lives their son took.

Her son is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The parents were sentenced to 10 years in prison. All three Crumbleys are appealing.

According to the FBI and Secret Service, as reported by CNN, Crooks conducted numerous online searches for prominent political figures from both parties, including Trump and Biden, and their political events. Three days after the Trump campaign announced its rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Crooks searched for the date and location of the Democratic National Convention, which takes place in August in Chicago, and the location of Trump’s Butler rally, where a sniper shot and killed Crooks seconds after he opened fire on Trump from atop a rooftop about 500 feet away.

One of the bullets hit Trump in the right ear. A firefighter, Corey Comperatore, who was attending the rally with his family, was killed. Two other rally attendees were seriously injured.

Contact Tresa Baldas: [email protected]