Thomas Matthew Crooks botched the training of the shooting club, which has obviously been practised since then

TMZ has spoken to sources directly familiar with Crooks’ attempt to make that team at Bethel Park High School, and we’re told that sometime between 2018 and 2019, he had a disastrous attempt at the shooting range that resulted in him not make it into the team.

According to our sources who knew Crooks personally, he was not only a poor shot, but also a complete disaster with a gun, as evidenced by the fact that he accidentally fired in a completely different trajectory than his own.

We’re told Crooks was at a practice session – which served as a tryout – and when he attempted to shoot at a target about 33 yards away, he ended up hitting the target of another player to his left.

According to our sources who witnessed him fail so miserably, this is the reason why he did not get a place on the team.

That is also why another former classmate says they were surprised that Crooks got so close to Trump – he just was so bad years ago.

This suggests that the guy has obviously gotten better in the years since that botched workout, because he was so close to taking out the former president.

From another source, also privy to Crooks’ failed tryout, we learn that he was almost unable to hit any of the ten targets on a 10×12-inch sheet of paper – and that at one point he either accidentally fired a shot within range or he lost track of which target was his and was aiming at someone else’s.

And then there’s this… we were told that the other shooters would mock Crooks’ lack of skills behind his back, but no one ever saw him bullied …as some reports claimed.

Remarkably, all of our sources said that he showed no aggression whatsoever and was simply an awkward child around people.

As we reported … the 20-year-old shooter was killed by the secret service last weekend … but not before he several shots fired from an assault rifle … one of which hit Trump’s ear, another killed a member of the audience Corey Comparatore – Translation.