National interest in the shooter who almost took the life of former President Donald Trump has not yet diminished, and reporters parsing through public information have spoken to some of those who knew the shooter in life.
Residents of the 20-year-old's neighborhood are still trying to come to terms with the "evil" that was lurking just down the street after the shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, which nearly assassinated former president Trump and killed firefighter Corey Comperatore, occurred just over a week ago, as Fox News reported.
"That's sheer fear. If [Trump] had his head turned, he would've had his brains blown out, and that was manufactured around the corner from my house," said a neighbor who lives about the same distance from the Crooks home that the shooter was from the president when Crooks opened fire.
"There was such evil around the corner," she said Tuesday. "We're always going to have a scar from what happened and how close to us [it was]."
Another woman who runs in the neighborhood on a regular basis stated that she saw Crooks in the calm area on multiple occasions over the course of the summer in their neighborhood.
Despite her efforts to "look over and smile and say hello," he would "look up as though nobody had been passing him," when she was trying to get his attention.
The news of the shooting that occurred barely forty minutes away from her home reportedly left that woman in a state of disbelief.
According to the woman, her life began to feel even more "surreal" after more details flooded the news, and she became aware that the perpetrator lived much closer to her own home than she originally thought.
"When I first thought about the shooter being in Butler, I thought, 'Wow, that's in my backyard.' It ended up being closer. All of a sudden, it's a neighbor," she said.
According to an old woman who lived down the street from the Crooks, the gunman helped her out with housework on a regular basis but they hadn't had many conversations.
"I would ask Tom, ‘Would you rake the leaves? Could you shovel the driveway?’ If I saw their mail, I'd pick it up," she said. "You get shocked, but you also get mad that something like this happened."
Those who lived closest to the Crooks residence on Milford Drive were reportedly evacuated by the police for a period of twenty-four hours after the shooting, according to the witnesses.
It was only because of a bomb investigation that they were advised to evacuate, but they were not given any specific instructions on where to go.
At least three times in the previous week, investigators spoke with members of the Crook family, including a visit to their home days after the shooting for at least an hour.
