When I was at an Obama rally in 2008, there were snipers on rooftops, multiple security checkpoints, and they shut down entire blocks of the city. There's no way you're getting even close with a rifle. I don't buy the incompetence angle.

Somehow the chuds on the ground saw the shooter on a rooftop before the trained snipers, and pointed him out. It was only after the guy took the shot that he was killed, as another commenter pointed out.

I always found this video to be strange. The staffer or secret service agent runs to get all of the photographers, the cranes lower the flag into view, and then they got that perfect shot of him with his fist in the air and the flag behind him. Why did they work so hard to shield him at the beginning, only to allow him to pull that bullshit for the photos? They couldn't even find the first shooter in time, what makes them think there weren't more than one?

Then there is the timeline:

• Police assessed Crooks as suspicious a full hour before the shooting and took photos of him
• Emergency services receives photographs of him using a rangefinder nearly 30 minutes before the shooting
• Secret service counter snipers are notified of the rangefinder 20 minutes before the shooting
• Secret service loses track of the shooter 18 minutes before the shooting
• A Beaver count snipers sees him walking down a dead end with a backpack 10 minutes before the shooting
• Chuds notice him on a rooftop with a rifle 5 minutes before the shooting and notify law enforcement
• Butler county emergency services personnel takes a shot and injures Crooks after his first shot
• 13 seconds later, Secret Service kills Crooks

So they knew of him for nearly an hour. They knew he was using a rangefinder for nearly 20 minutes. They knew he had a rifle on a rooftop for nearly 5 minutes. Yet he still managed to fire 8 shots towards a former president before secret service finally killed him.

I don't know if it was staged. Honestly, I suspect that it was either a real assassination attempt that someone let happen, or it was staged and Trump wasn't included in the planning.