There’s a myth that often goes around about serial killers and mass shooters that they were very nice and no one noticed anything wrong. That myth is usually fed by a narrative promoted by reporters who want to make the story seem shocking. They do this by talking early on to the most casual acquaintances who have nothing to say except “he seemed nice, but I never saw him much or actually talked to him.”

Usually though there are almost always people who do nothing that something is wrong.

The media’s initial narrative was that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the Trump assassin, was very nice, kept to himself and he was a Republican. FOX News has a new interview that demolishes all those claims.

A former classmate of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks says the 20-year-old gunman once mocked him over his support of former President Donald Trump and had a general disdain for mainstream politicians across the political aisle.

“I brought up the fact that I’m Hispanic and, you know, I’m for Trump. And he said, ‘Well, you’re Hispanic, so shouldn’t you hate Trump?'” Vincent Taormina told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “No. He’s great. He was a great president. He called me stupid – or insinuated that I was stupid.”

“He would just talk, talk and act like he knew everything, especially politics related, and he would say it in a tone that was like, ‘I’m better than you,’ in a type of way,” he said.

He also pushed back on reporting that Crooks was a complete loner. He had a friend group, he said, although it was both small and concerning.

“They were definitely the type, and they did, make threats to shoot up our school,” he said.

Although he and other classmates suspected Crooks himself was behind a threat, he said he had no firm proof. But after the threat came in, the future would-be assassin didn’t return to school for a few days.

Not hugely surprising. When people first saw pictures of Crooks, they assumed Antifa, whereas I read him as a typical school shooter. Crooks aged out of being a school shooter (which hasn’t stopped some school shooters anyway) and decided to go for bigger game.

But it wasn’t a surprise. He had already been suspected of a school shooting threat. That means law enforcement likely knew about it and the way things work these days, the FBI might have also known.

Give it time and that will likely come out.

Previous school shooters often have a record of getting a pass and I think we will find that happened here too, which will make assorted school administrators and law enforcement people look bad.

But this wasn’t a bolt out of the blue. Crooks allegedly had a history of violent threats and finally carried one of them out.