BUTLER, Pa. — One of the scores of people who attended former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally Saturday said she was sitting in the front row — directly in front of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee — when gunshots rang out.
Erin, who did not provide her last name, said she heard four popping noises a few minutes after the rally got underway. She watched the shocking scene that unfolded: Secret Service personnel rushing the stage, Trump with blood on an ear.
“No one was concerned about us. We were only concerned about him,” Erin said, referring to Trump.
Erin said she saw someone else covered in blood, who appeared to be next to a person who was “bleeding profusely” — seemingly struck by one of the gunman’s bullets.
The incident, which is being investigated as an assassination attempt, sent shock waves throughout the nation. The Butler County district attorney’s office said that a spectator at the rally is dead and that a second was in serious condition. The shooter is also dead, NBC News has confirmed.
Joseph, a doctor who attended the rally, saw firsthand how the event devolved into chaos and terror after gunshots rang out.
Joseph, who also did not provide his last name, said he was sitting in the bleachers at the far left of the podium when he heard a series of popping sounds echo across the rally. The pops felt “very loud” and “very close.” He was shocked.
In those early seconds, the other attendees seemed to think the noises were a joke — or maybe fireworks. Joseph knew it was gunshots. It was “rather chaotic at that point,” he said.
Joseph then saw a man fall to the bottom of the bleachers after apparently having been struck in the back of the head. The man had been facing Trump.
Pennsylvania State Police and a SWAT team leaped into action, Joseph said. The authorities started evacuating spectators. Joseph said law enforcement officers put a towel on the head of the man who fell from the bleachers before he helped them carry him away.
Joseph said another woman nearby appeared to have been shot in the forearm or in the hand. He counted seven shots in total.
NBC News journalists on the scene saw smoke and heard what they initially thought were fireworks before everyone ducked and law enforcement encircled Trump. Piercing screams from the crowd reverberated across the area.
Trump was rallying his supporters when the shots were fired. He was rushed off the stage with blood on the side of his head and one of his ears. He pumped his fist as Secret Service personnel took him to a vehicle nearby.
He later said in a post on Truth Social that a bullet “pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
In a post on X, the Secret Service confirmed that the former president and Republican presidential nominee is “safe.” He is “fine” and “being checked out at a local medical facility,” his campaign said.
Erin, the witness who saw Trump from near the front of the rally, decried the violence.
“If you don’t like the guy, don’t vote for him,” she said. “Don’t kill him. … What’s with the violence?”
Dasha Burns reported from Butler and Daniel Arkin from Los Angeles.
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