It was a sweltering Pennsylvania afternoon, hot enough to keep the medics busy as people wilted in the blazing sun. But the heat had hardly tempered the enthusiasm of tens of thousands of people on the Butler Farm Show grounds who were waiting for Donald Trump.
When he finally showed up, the crowd, saturated in Trump gear, shouted in collective excitement when he hit his usual marks. They booed when he mentioned president Joe Biden, jeered when he spoke of a rigged election and roared when he said he would make America great again.
Then there was a new sound. Pop.
A firecracker, it seemed. Trump grabbed at his ear. And then: Pop. Pop. Pop.
Suddenly, a day of big emotions – glee, unity and righteous anger – was now shattered by fear. Around the grandstand where Trump had been speaking, beneath an enormous American flag suspended between two cranes, the spectators crouched. Secret Service officers swarmed over Trump.
It was now clear what was happening. Thousands of people, from those in the bleachers to the many watching from a large grassy field, dropped to the ground almost in unison.
Just before the shots rang out, some in the crowd said, it seemed as if law enforcement snipers who were perched atop a barn had noticed movement nearby. The snipers seemed to be focusing on something off to the side of the grandstand in the direction of a building and a water tower just outside the farm show grounds.
“I saw them with their binoculars,” said Craig Cyrus (54), who had come over from New Castle, Pennsylvania. “Then they got their guns.”
Once the shooting broke out, he said, the snipers returned fire.
“The first thing I thought to myself was, ‘America’s under attack,’” said Corey Check, a local conservative activist and Republican committee member. “I grabbed the hands of a couple of people I didn’t even know. We said the Lord’s Prayer.”
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Some began to cry and others screamed, while law enforcement officers shouted for everyone to get down. One of the audio speakers, apparently hit by a gunshot, toppled over.
When the popping ceased just a few seconds later, and heads rose again, the grim aftermath came into view.
Sid Miller, the commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, who had come to the rally to cheer on Trump, said he turned and saw a person behind him bleeding profusely, their white clothes reddening as people gathered around to help. Others saw a man directly behind Trump, who appeared to be bleeding from the head. Several at the rally said they would later see a couple of people being carried out, limp and covered in blood.
According to the Secret Service, one person who attended the rally was killed, along with the suspect, and two spectators were seriously injured. The FBI identified the suspect as Thomas Matthew Crooks (20), of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. And authorities recovered an AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle at the scene, according to two law enforcement officials.
In the moment, all eyes quickly turned to Trump. Some, in the few seconds that felt like an infinity, were fearing the worst.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” said Eduardo Vargas (31), who was sitting not far behind Trump. “I thought I just saw the president get killed in front of my face.”
But Trump returned to his feet. He had a little blood on his forehead. But he seemed not to have been badly injured. He raised his fist in the air.
The crowd chanted “USA! USA!” though the cheers were not quite as robust as they had been just a few minutes earlier. Trump was ushered into an SUV by law enforcement officers. Later, on Truth Social, Trump said that he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” and Secret Service officials said he was safe.
Other officers then told everyone to leave, and so the tens of thousands who had come to see Trump, and sweated for hours for the chance, headed for the exits in a fog of shock and disorientation.
“I’m still so shaken up,” said Tiona Evans (48), a child care provider from Pittsburgh, who had attended the rally as a birthday gift to herself.
The spectators returned to their trucks and cars, comparing notes on what they had seen and heard, some passing along ominous rumours or acknowledging that they had not seen much of anything in the chaos.
Nearly an hour after the shooting, after the grounds had emptied and the traffic had eased on the way out of town, Vargas, who was standing outside the entrance, was still rattled.
“I love Trump, I care for Trump, I fear for his life,” he said. “More than anything, I was scared that they got him.”
– This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
