Dodged bullet Security response raises questions

Demands for answers have been mounting as to how an armed man was able to get into position on a roof overlooking a rally and fire shots at Donald Trump - the 2024 presumptive Republican nominee - despite federal and local law enforcement presence and witnesses reportedly alerting police.

- Ramon Antonio Vargas, Joanna Walters

National lawmakers expressed shock at the apparent security lapses.

Mike Johnson, the speaker of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, said the chamber would conduct a "full investigation".

The incident is being investigated as an attempted assassination and is the first time a president or leading party candidate for the White House has been shot since Ronald Reagan in 1981. It has triggered fears of political violence and more attacks as America endures one of the most contentious periods of its modern history among fears in some quarters of civil unrest.

Bomb-making materials were found in the vehicle and home of the suspect, the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press reported last Sunday, citing unnamed law enforcement officials.

Trump was bleeding from his right ear and later described a bullet whizzing by while he was speaking at the rally. A spectator was killed and Secret Service agents then shot dead the suspect, with eyewitness reports that someone outside the rally had told police they'd seen the armed suspect heading to the roof.