I'm leaning heavily in your direction, but at this point I'd believe more in Project Looking Glass (having identified that there would be an attack but that he'd emerge unscathed) than a deliberate staging of a deadly shot that close. Unsure how AJ flies now, because although he was mossad or something, we've seen apparently converted black to grey hats, and he may be in that group. Was his trial a precedent? Yes. On purpose? Maybe.