.IT WAS An impressive gap in protection: how did a sharpshooter install an unsafe rooftop with a direct view to Donald Trump, who was actually standing up a plain 150m away? Based on online video footage, it appears like Mr Trump was millimetres from fatality-- saved by a blessed convert of the crown a split second just before Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania, fired at him. Crooks got rid of a rally-goer before being fatally fired themself.