HOW LAW ENFORCEMEMENT IGNORED TRUMP SHOOTER

Why former president wound up à shocking heartbeat from death

FORMER President Donald Trump was just millimeters away from having his head blown off by an unhinged would-be assassin who managed to evade multiple layers of local police and Secret Service protection to fire a hail of bullets at the GOP nominee!

One of the eight shots grazed the top of Trump's right ear,prompting him to duck down, then drop to the floor of the stage, where he was quickly covered by a phalanx of Secret Service agents.

As he was ushered offstage, the combative candidate defiantly stood up with his blood-streaked face to pump his fist and roar "Fight!" to the stunned crowd of supporters.

But moments later, he looked shaken while being whisked away to a waiting car.

"It's not in Trump's nature to think about such things, but even he has to be shaking his head over how close he came to death," says a Beltway insider. "A fraction of an inch in either direction and the bullet goes into his head rather than his ear.

"He's lucky to be alive."

Police identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the lone shooter who struck during a July 13 campaign rally at a fairgrounds in Butler, Pa. He reportedly purchased 50 rounds for his dad's military style rifle hours before the shooting, which killed a heroic fire department volunteer and critically wounded two others.

Crooks was killed by Secret Service snipers just after firing his shots.

A recent graduate of Bethel Park High School, Crooks was said to have been "relentlessly bullied" and dubbed "school shooter" for his reclusive and bizarre behavior.