Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump reacts after gunfire rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, US, July 13, 2024.
Credit: Reuters Photo
By Hadriana Lowenkron
The gunshots weren’t as loud as I would have expected. And the crowd didn’t immediately disperse into a screaming panic like a scene from the movies.
The seconds following the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday were marked with more confusion and bewilderment than chaos. It seemed unbelievable that’s what was happening.
Reality quickly set in as I, along with a sea of Trump supporters, ducked to the ground, where we waited for what felt like minutes, unclear if the shots would continue and more would be hit.
People around me were incredulous. “Are you f—ing kidding me?” I heard one person ask. “Get him off that stage, that’s all I can tell you,” another said. Others shrieked as they realized the severity of the situation. Still, others were frozen.
When I got back up, Trump had already been whisked away by the Secret Service. A bullet had pierced through his right ear, he would say later. The shooter was killed, as was another attendee at the rally. Two others were seriously injured.
But I didn’t know any of that at the time. Nor did much of the crowd rows back that had gathered in the sweltering heat hours before Trump took to the podium to deliver his speech — about six minutes into which the shooting began – and standing on their tiptoes to catch a glimpse of the former president.
Cell phone reception vanished in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, which added to the sense of confusion and anxiety as the thousands of supporters in the field for the rally decided what to do.
While some, grabbing children, immediately fled the scene — some even pushing and shoving each other — many of them stuck around, refusing to believe it could be over so soon, hoping he would return and continue on, even as officers attempted to escort people off the field.
While I was making my own way out, the gravity of what I had witnessed had just begun to sink in.