The first attempted assassination against Trump had quite a few strange things about it. A guy gets on a roof with a gun. He’s reported and is largely ignored. A bit less than an hour later he shoots and is shot dead.
There has been plenty of commentary on that incident that doesn’t need repeating.
The second alleged assassination attempt doesn’t look any better or smarter if the reports in various media are accurate. The reports are all pretty similar, as you’d expect from news relayed from official sources. This News.com report is fairly typical.
Excuse my picking holes in this narrative, but there are a few rather large ones to pick.
Let’s start with the narrative itself:
A gun barrel was seen poking through a fence on the next hole after the one Trump was playing. The Secret Service apparently opened fire. The suspect was found in the next county, unharmed after the FBI put out a BOLO (be on the lookout) broadcast.
Two backpacks and a GoPro were found onsite. Reports don’t say if the gun was also recovered onsite. The gun was an AK47 assault rifle. There’s no information on whether the AK was modified for sniping. (Update: There was a scope fitted.)
So, what’s wrong with that? Just about everything.
How did the shooter know where Trump was?
How did he know that Trump was playing golf?
How did he know which green Trump would be on, and when?
The backpack and GoPro were hanging on the fence. Why? Was the gunman intending to give a press conference or just live there afterwards? Doesn’t look like these things were set up for a fast getaway.
The fence is a slightly heavier gauge mesh wire, You’d have a fairly difficult time aiming through that. The mesh restricts aiming severely and makes it difficult to sight the weapon. Put the barrel through the mesh, and you simply tell people where you are.
An unmodified AK is not exactly a sniper weapon. It’s accurate up to about 400 metres. Firing an auto burst through a wire mesh fence isn’t likely to be too efficient and certainly not accurate. The mesh will react upon firing and continuously disrupt the shooter’s aim.
It’s hard to tell from the photos what sort of field of fire the alleged shooter could possibly have had. At ground level, through a mesh fence, he’d be lucky even to see anyone coming. If you’re intending to shoot something, that’s the mole’s position in Whack A Mole.
All this means is that the guy had little or no military training. My guess would be this guy has done a bit of casual hunting at most. Leaving stuff hanging around all over the place is the giveaway.
A real sniper would be behind effective cover and effectively invisible to anyone on the ground. There would be no indication of the presence of a weapon or anything else in plain sight, let alone hanging on a fence. A trained sniper would also have had an easy instant exit from the firing position.
No shots were alleged to have been fired by the suspect.
He was visible long enough to be shot at by the Secret Service.
You tell me – What do we have here as a court case?
A guy lying around for an unknown length of time in 90-degree heat with a gun? The weapon wasn’t even allegedly fired and isn’t yet directly linked by evidence to the person in custody.
It has to be assumed from reports that the Secret Service were firing at the suspect as he fled. When, at what range, and how many rounds were fired are the questions likely to be asked by the court.
The Secret Service famously do not go blazing away at just any old thing.
Therefore, you have to assume the target was close enough to be clearly identifiable. That would be about 20-30 metres more or less away.
Security must be pretty lax at that golf course. There should be live cameras in place at the minimum, and in-house security patrols. It shouldn’t take the Secret Service to find people snooping around. How does anyone get to set up shop with a gun and backpacks right next to the property?
Meanwhile, America has a deeper problem. This level of violence is being normalized by hyper-polarization. That can’t be good for anyone.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
