The witnessing of an American President being shot to death before our very eyes is something no one can ever forget. The only comparable shared traumatic event for the Nation was 911.
I remember being glued to the television in my parents bedroom, all of us kids sitting on the floor. My sister and I went downstairs for a coke, and we heard Daddy yelling, “get back up here girls, they’re bringing in Oswald”. We ran up two flights of stairs as fast as our little legs would carry us, and got back just in time to see Oswald murdered. After that the lying in State, the funeral, all etched in my memory forever.
America had been changed forever. Yes, it could happen here.
So you say Oswald shot as well. That was quite a twist.
As to happening here, I recall when Reagan was shot not long after he took office. A book out - Rawhide Down - says he came very, very close to dying except for the quick and right decisions of the driver to take him to hospital right away and the surgeon.