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Thomas Matthew Crooks was a member of an academic group in college -- and before he tried killing Donald Trump, he was all set to transfer to a university ... TMZ has learned.

An official with Community College of Allegheny County -- where TMC graduated with high honors on May 16 -- told us the gunman was a member of Phi Theta Kappa ... which is an honors society, and he was part of the local chapter.

If you go to their Facebook page, you'll see they were pretty involved with extracurriculars -- getting together for events, attending conventions and talking shop in and around the school. From the looks of it ... there are no photos of Thomas on their socials.

Pop Smoke's mother Audrey Jackson isn't entertained by her son's killer making the rounds on the interview circuit and just may pursue legal action to prevent it from happening again!!!

TMZ Hip Hop got Ms. Jackson in NYC and the anti-gun violence advocate was all fired up for this weekend's celebration to commemorate Pop's 25th birthday ... food, games, a basketball event and a full-blown parade will cap off the week's festivities.

We broke the story in 2020 ... the platinum-selling "Dior" rapper was shot and killed at a Hollywood Hills residence once owned by "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Teddi Mellencamp ... and posthumously became a hip hop legend with his music earning rave reviews in death.

12:35 PM PT -- TMZ Sports has obtained Lawrence Taylor's mug shot from his arrest.

Lawrence Taylor was arrested again in Florida this week, TMZ Sports has learned ... after he was accused yet again of failing to follow conditions imposed on him as a registered sex offender.

Broward County jail officials tell us ... Taylor turned himself in on an outstanding felony warrant on Wednesday at around 5 PM -- and was thrown behind bars on one charge of failure to report name or residence change.

7/22 12:35 PM PT -- Legal Representatives for Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko tell TMZ ... “The suit filed is a retaliatory lawsuit due to the one filed by Priscilla’s business partners last year. We are confident that the facts will speak for themselves and justice will prevail. It saddens all of us who dropped our lives to provide aid to a woman who needed help and she is now attempting to use her celebrity status to ruin the lives of kind, hardworking people. Thank you to all of our supporters who have stood by us during this difficult time. We will continue to focus on our business and look forward to our day in court. The truth will come out by way of evidence and not rumors. There will be no further comment at this time as we respect the judicial process.”

4:30 PM PT -- Brigitte Kruse and her legal team tell TMZ ... "We cannot respond because counsel has not been served with a copy of the lawsuit. We have alerted Ms. Presley’s attorneys that we do not have a copy of this filing but they have not responded."

Priscilla Presley's suing several former business associates ... claiming she's been the victim of financial elder abuse.

TMZ has obtained legal documents, filed by Priscilla Presley's lawyer Marty Singer Thursday, claiming a woman named Brigitte Kruse and several others took advantage of her and bilked her out of more than $1 million.

Presley claims Kruse is a "con artist and pathological liar" who took over control of PP's finances, forcing her into "a form of indentured servitude."

The guy who tried assassinating Donald Trump had an active Discord account ... but he never mentioned violence or his murderous plans on the platform, TMZ has learned.

As you know ... Thomas Matthew Crooks fired several shots at DT last weekend, striking the ex-Prez in the ear. Before the shooting, the suspect was reportedly active on gaming and messaging platforms.

One of those sites, as it turns out, was Discord ... but the company tells us that after a thorough investigation, they found no messages from his account suggesting he had a plan afoot to try to take out Trump ... let alone any other rumblings of future real-world violence.

Will Reeve was feeling the butterflies filming a cameo for James Gunn's new 'Superman' flick ... even though he's got serious TV chops.

We got the ABC News Correspondent and asked him about his recent experience on the Cleveland, Ohio movie set.

Will, the son of late OG 'Superman' star Christopher Reeve, tells us he was more nervous about his small film role than he's ever been working as a TV newsman.

Chanel West Coast is all good with leaving "Ridiculousness" -- and she's only looking back long enough to send love to her replacement, Lauren "Lolo" Wood.

As Chanel tells TMZ ... she is focusing solely on her new TV endeavor -- her MTV reality show, "The West Coast Hustle," which premieres Thursday.

As for what fans can expect from her new gig? Well, watch the vid ... we got Chanel Wednesday outside "The Henry" in L.A., where she promised the series is an in-depth look at her personal life -- teasing that her daughter, Bowie Breeze, is the breakout star.

The world is learning more about Thomas Matthew Crooks -- and we've got additional insight from his former peers and even a teacher, who says he was smart ... but notably solitary.

TMZ spoke with a couple of Crooks' ex-classmates from Bethel Park High School -- who were in his graduating class -- and both of them, who asked not to have their names released, tell us they knew him as a loner, but not one prone to violence.

We're told Crooks was seen as quiet and keeping to himself in class ... as well as during lunch, when we're told he'd often sit and eat by himself.

Bronny James is getting buried on social media over his less-than-stellar Summer League performances to kick off his Lakers career ... but he's got at least one BIG supporter standing firm in his corner -- Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal.

It's no secret -- LeBron James' eldest boy isn't necessarily taking the Association by storm after going No. 55 overall to the Purple and Gold last month ... averaging just 4.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals in four appearances -- not to mention going 0-15 from three-point range.

While those kinds of numbers won't garner a ton of praise, it seems some haters are going extra hard on the 19-year-old hooper due to his famous pops and claims of "nepotism."

TMZ has obtained a new angle of the shooting at the Donald Trump rally this weekend -- and you can see how close some people were to getting hit by bullets.

Check out this footage we got a hold of -- which captures folks in the stands right behind Trump and right underneath the monitor he was referring to in describing a graph detailing the border situation ... with a ton of people right below it looking on.

You can hear DT speaking and making his typical talking points -- and out of nowhere ... you hear what sounds like 3 shots ring out ... with bullets ricocheting off the metal railings.

Soulja Boy has filed a lawsuit against social media personalities Tasha K and William The Baddest  ... TMZ Hip Hop can confirm.

The "Crank That" rap star is suing over comments he claims were made on Tasha K's "Unwine With Tasha K" podcast about William and the rapper being in a romantic relationship ... which Soulja claims are nothing but big, fat lies.

According to the lawsuit, William told Tasha on the podcast in May that he and Soulja Boy were lovers in graphic detail ... and the clip went viral online.

Joe Jonas says his new album served as his own form of therapy nearly a year after he filed to divorce Sophie Turner -- and he's promising some great tunes as a result.

We caught the singer in New York City Wednesday -- where our photog asked him about this project of his that's coming out soon ... the first solo album he's put out in a while, titled "Music for People Who Believe in Love."

Joe's been hyping this thing up as incredibly personal -- which makes sense in light of what he's been going through since he and his wife split up. So, when we asked if he'd been getting on the couch in the lead-up to this ... he had an interesting answer.

Joe Manganiello and Caitlin O'Connor are talking about starting a family, but that's not the only reason they're together ... despite how Sofia Vergara feels about her ex-husband.

Sources close to the couple tell TMZ … Sofia's claims about Joe divorcing her because she wouldn't have children, negatively followed him to his new relationship with Caitlin.

We're told the Joe/Sofia narrative that's out there is fueling internet trolls to attack Caitlin on social media ... blasting Joe's actress girlfriend as "only a babymaker."

Sandra "Pepa" Denton, 1/2 of Salt-N-Pepa, is still shaken and confused by her encounter with Southwest Airlines this week, when she says she got treated like a criminal without displaying any criminal behavior!!!

It's a perplexing tale, for sure -- but the "Push It" rapper joined "TMZ Live" Wednesday to give us her blow-by-blow account of SW pushing her off a flight Monday headed to Nashville from Las Vegas.

Pepa says she purchased 2 seats to give herself extra space for an injured knee, but wasn't wearing her protective brace when a flight attendant accosted her over the extra seat.

Bam Margera and Nikki Boyd were never husband and wife in the eyes of the law, despite going through a wedding ceremony -- that's the word from the judge in their ongoing custody battle.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the judge issued a tentative ruling Tuesday saying Bam and Nikki were never legally married.

Remember, Nikki claims her 2013 wedding to Bam was legal, but he maintains it wasn't legit because the ceremony went down in Iceland, and they never got a license in the U.S. to make it official.

Donald Trump's Secret Service detail is catching heat for a security failure after he was shot -- and an ex-agent who worked with him has thoughts on how they could've prevented this.

Mike de Geus -- who worked for the Secret Service during the Trump years, and who used to guard the former President -- tells TMZ there were a lot of problems he saw with the way the Secret Service handled things Saturday, including several glaring issues they missed.

He points out that there are very simple things the agency could've done to block off the clear line of sight Thomas Matthew Crooks had from a building outside the perimeter ... even if that technically wasn't within the Secret Service's ring of protection.