Thomas Matthew Crooks went by ‘they/them’ on DeviantArt, linked account reveals ‘furry’ fetish: report

The Butler shooter had online profiles on the DeviantArt platform under the usernames of "epicmicrowave” and “theepicmicrowave," the outlet reported. The social platform is an online hub for those in the "furry" community, or those who have an interest in anthropomorphized cartoon animal characters, which is often a sexual fetish.

The accounts reportedly belonging to Crooks suggested he was obsessed with cartoon characters that had muscular bodies but with sexualized female heads. Crooks also interacted with an account known as "Willy Tepes," a social media profile that was uncovered by Tucker Carlson. The Post reported that the account encouraged violence from Crooks, and, in an October 2025 comment, said he was contacted by Russian and American intelligence agencies.

“People who ask you to contact them when they just as easily could contact you, are Feds. This is how they avoid entrapment. Both American and Russian intelligence does this. I have chatted to both,” the account claimed.

Tepes is a member of the Nordic Resistance Movement, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department.

Although Crooks was the center of a heavy FBI investigation, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said in Congress after the shooting that the agency could not find any online history that pointed to an ideology from Crooks that would have pointed to a motive in the Butler shooting. Wray's deputy Paul Abbate said that comments from Crooks' social media accounts “appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes to espouse political violence and are described as extreme in nature.”

However, that did not tell the whole story of Crook's views, as he reportedly went from being a pro-Trump to an anti-Trump ideologue during 2020, but seemed to go dark afterwards. In total, a source told the Post that there were 17 online accounts uncovered showing Crooks' activity on the platforms of YouTube, Snapchat, Venmo, Zelle, GroupMe, Discord, Google Play, Quizlet, Chess.com and Quora.

A source familiar with the online accounts uncovered about Crooks said, “The danger Crooks posed was visible for years in public online spaces. His radicalization, violent rhetoric and obsession with political violence were all documented under his real name. The threat wasn’t hidden.”

Crooks “was not simply some unknowable lone actor … He left a digital trail of violent threats, extremist ideology and admiration for mass violence. He spoke openly of political assassination, posted under his real name and was even flagged by other users who mentioned law enforcement in their replies. Despite this, his account remained active for more than five years — and was only removed the day after the shooting."

"None of this online activity was referenced in the final congressional report released in December 2024, making this even more troubling," the source added.