Rally Witnesses Describe Moments as Gunman Attempts to Assassinate Trump

BUTLER, Pa.—The world on Saturday night is decrying violence after former President Donald Trump suffered an assassination attempt and some of his supporters were shot at a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally. One attendee was fatally shot and two were critically injured, according to authorities. Secret Service killed the suspected shooter.

While speaking, former President Trump turned his head just before a bullet sliced through the top of his right ear.

Video capturing the chaos after the shooting has been replayed by viewers around the world, but here is what people in attendance witnessed and experienced.

Mike Boatman, part of the group known as the Front Row Joes, has attended 94 rallies for the former president. He said he was in the center of the front row and to his left, heard the pop-pop-pop of gunshots.

He was stunned to see former President Trump clutch his right ear and disappear behind the lectern where he had been speaking.

Then, he said he heard another volley of shots.

“I would have rather they shot me than him,” Mr. Boatman of Evansville, Indiana, told The Epoch Times. “He’s the only guy who can save this country.”

“They’ve tried everything to keep him from being the president again. They tried everything. … Now they’re trying to assassinate him,” he said.

Tom King, general counsel for the Pennsylvania Republican Party, met with former President Donald Trump about 10 minutes before finding his seat in the second row to the side of the stage. He was sitting about 20 feet in front of the man who was fatally shot.

Mr. King told The Epoch Times that three other people near him were shot and treated by paramedics and a sheriff.

“Two of those people were taken, I believe, by helicopter, to trauma centers in Pittsburgh. I think one of the men died. They were both in critical condition,” Mr. King said, adding that they went to Allegheny General Hospital. “A boy was shot in the neck—it grazed his neck.”

The boy was not badly injured and Mr. King took him to see the Secret Service for treatment.

Mr. King said the bullets came close to some high-level lawmakers who were sitting with him, including Reps. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) and Mike Kelly, (R-Pa.); and Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe.

“At first, it sounded like firecrackers, but then it was clear that there was smoke, there was gunfire. Whether that was being returned, I’m not sure,” Mr. King said.

Trump supporter Erin Autenreith, 66, of Pittsburgh, was seated in the front row, directly in front of former President Trump when the shots rang out.

She said she saw “a little bit of blood” on his left cheek, she told The Epoch Times. Then, when he turned his face the other way, she saw blood running down the right side. She said she felt relieved when he pumped his fist—he seemed to be okay.

She said no one in the front row ducked down because they didn’t care about themselves; they were worried about former President Trump.

She observed Rico Elmore, a speaker at the rally, walking away with “blood all over his shirt.”

Tom Chyb, a Butler resident, told The Epoch Times that he initially thought there were fireworks going off before he realized that shots had been fired. “It was shocking; it was ugly. Just too ugly to be true,” he said, as men in tactical gear ran past.

Logan Reynolds, 27, of Erie, Pennsylvania, was at the very back of the crowd.

When the shots rang out, there was an initial moment of uncertainty about what had just happened. But then, Mr. Reynolds, a sea of people turned away from the stage and faced him.

“I saw over 1,000 faces of terror in one instant,” he told The Epoch Times.

He said a sea of people then rushed to leave. He kept telling people to leave in a calm, orderly fashion, concerned that panic could lead to a stampede.

Mr. Reynolds said the shooting made him sad, then angry, but that he felt better after hearing news reports that former President Trump had given a fist pump after getting up from behind the podium. Mr. Reynolds said he gathered a few people together on a bridge to wave Trump flags at passing motorists to bolster morale.

The shooting represented someone “trying to take away the right for us to vote for who we want,” he told The Epoch Times. “That person was undermining our Republic and our democracy.”

Mr. Reynolds said both he and his younger brother “had a funny feeling” about the area later identified as the spot where the gunman had positioned himself, as there were too few security guards there.

“Why wasn’t that building completely locked down? And why wasn’t a sniper on every roof?” Mr. Reynolds asked.

The House Oversight Committee on Saturday night said it has asked the head of the U.S. Secret Service to answer questions at a hearing about the assassination attempt on July 22.