.IT WAS A sensational lapse in protection: how did a sharpshooter install an unsecured rooftop with a direct line of vision to Donald Trump, that was standing up a simple 150m away? Based on video footage, it resembles Mr Trump was millimetres from fatality-- spared by a lucky turn of the crown an instant just before Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old coming from Pennsylvania, fired at him. Crooks eliminated a rally-goer prior to being fatally fired themself.