MILLIMETERS

The Head Tilt That Might Have Saved Trump

Analysis of video footage shows Trump making a split-second gesture that may have prevented him being killed.

Slowed-down video footage of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump shows that he tilted his head a fraction of a second before his ear was pierced by a bullet.

Commentators on social media are arguing that it is possible that the micro-gesture by Trump may have saved his life. In the video of the shooting, Trump can be seen saying, “If you really want to see something that’s sad, take a look at what happened when…”

The last word is cut off as he flinches and clutches his ear, and the first pop of gunshot is heard after the first syllable of “happened.”

But just as he finishes the word “what” and begins the word “happened” he gives his head a not-insignificant tilt.

The tilt can be seen more clearly in slow-motion replays of the incident.

The suggestion that Trump’s last-minute inflection may have saved his life was given extra credence when the New York Times published an extraordinary photograph that appeared to show a bullet speeding through the air behind Trump, a hair’s breadth from his head as he spoke at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally.

Michael Harrigan, a retired F.B.I. special agent, told the Times the photograph looked like “the displacement of air due to a projectile,” adding, “The angle seems a bit low to have passed through his ear, but not impossible if the gunman fired multiple rounds.”

Trump said he “knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.” Trump added that “much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”

Cellphone footage of a Secret Service agent on a rooftop apparently reacting to the shots and shooting the shooter is also being scrutinized on social media. While many have congratulated the Secret Service for its speedy response, others are asking how the agent came to be apparently lined up on the target before the shots were fired.