Trump assassination attempt: Police officer reportedly confronted the shooter seconds before he shot at the former president

More information continues to come in about what happened before, during and after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. One of the biggest questions was about how the shooter was able to carry out his plan, considering that the former president's campaign events have many security measures.  The thing that recently emerged is a police officer who confronted Thomas Matthew Crooks seconds before the shooting, but was deterred by the shooter's gun. 

While the Secret Service remains at the center of the controversy, many on social media have pointed out that attendees had alerted police to a strange guy climbing onto a roof with a rifle. Although the theory was initially dismissed as dubious, The Associated Press picked up the same information from sources. They also revealed to the media that an officer unsuccessfully confronted the shooter. 

"Not long before shots rang out, rally attendees noticed a man climbing to the top of a roof of a nearby building and warned local law enforcement, according to two law enforcement officials," they reported according to the AP on Sunday afternoon, later confirming that authorities had a confrontation with the shooter seconds before he shot the former president. 

"One officer climbed to the roof and found Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder and Crooks quickly took a shot toward former President Donald Trump, and that’s when the U.S. Secret Service sharpshooters shot him, said the officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity regarding the ongoing investigation," they added. 

Once the shots were fired, the Secret Service's "Hawkeye" counterattack team, whose function is to eliminate threats so that other agents can protect and removed the protected person, in this case Trump, began to act.

For their part, the counter-sniper team, known by the code name "Hercules" is equipped with long-range binoculars and sniper rifles to deal with long-range threats.

As for the performance of law enforcement in general, an FBI special agent who spoke to the press said the Secret Service would later have to answer how anyone managed to get so close to the president with a rifle. 

The FBI's ongoing investigation calls the act an assassination attempt and an "act of domestic terrorism," defined as  "acts within the United States that are intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or influence government policy."