A new video featuring a graphical reticle places the head of US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump within what appears to be a sniper's crosshairs. According to a post on X by US journalist Mario Nawfal, 'The Roundtable Show', the footage captures a moment where Trump's instinctive movement possibly saved his life. "The video shows Trump narrowly avoiding a precisely aimed shot. Close-up footage reveals Thomas Crook's crosshairs centered perfectly on Trump's head... The clip was recorded mere seconds before the attempt," Nawfal stated in the post.
The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, an introverted 20-year-old computer whiz who had just earned a spot at a college engineering program, turned back to his target about 400 feet away. He squeezed off several shots at Trump, clipping the former president’s ear, killing an audience member and wounding two others before Secret Service snipers in a nearby building killed him with counterfire.
This account of the first assassination attempt to injure a US president since 1981 is based on interviews with more than two dozen people, including law enforcement officials, Crooks’ school associates and witnesses who attended the rally, along with public records and news accounts.
Crooks fired his rifle at approximately 6:10 pm. Trump winced and grabbed his right ear. Secret Service agents tackled the former president and some supporters dived for cover. A bullet hit what appeared to be the hydraulic line of a forklift that held a bank of speakers to the right side of the stage. Fluid spewed across the crowd and the lift's arm collapsed. To the left, screams erupted where a spectator had been fatally shot.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has ordered an independent review of the Secret Service's handling of the attempted assassination, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also investigating as a potential case of domestic terrorism.
(With inputs from agency)
