.IT WAS A magnificent lapse in surveillance: just how did a sniper mount an unsecured rooftop with a straight line of sight to Donald Trump, that was standing a plain 150m away? Based on video footage, it seems like Mr Trump was actually millimetres coming from death– spared through a lucky turn of the crown an instant just before Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old coming from Pennsylvania, shot at him. Crooks killed a rally-goer prior to being fatally shot themself.