 The assassination attempt failed, but a supporter at the rally was killed trying to protect his family. A former agent told me this is the first time that a Secret Service sniper, or technician as they are called, has killed a would-be assassin. It is a split-second decision, as we've said, but as the agent noted to me, it is obvious that despite the history-making move and the difficulty of that split-second decision, the shot came too late.