Volunteered to work the rally. Spent four hrs Friday evening helping set up. Worked all day Saturday mostly carrying case after case of water into the crowd. It was in the 90s and humid so the Trump campaign bought 42,000 12oz bottles of water to hand out free. People were dropping all over and I helped evac a half dozen myself. I later heard there were over 325 calls for EMTs for heat exhaustion and dehydration.
I was supposed to be sitting in the section where two people were hit, one of which died instantly with head wound. But had to be seated by 2:30 and Trump wasn’t scheduled until after five and didn’t want to sit there for three hrs. So kept working until five.
I saved one case of water and went into the VIP area to hand them out….. then just hung around there. Snarky way to get a good spot. I was at Trump’s right side about 30 degrees to the side and 25 yards away. Never thought sneaking into the VIP section may have saved my life…..
Trump started talking and six minutes in the shooting started. Bullets travel 4-5 times faster than sound do you hear the bullet pass before you hear the mussel blast. Sounds like the crack of a bull whip or an electrical arc…… which is what I thought the first shot was. When the second round went passed I and everyone else realized we were under fire! Looking at various pictures and trying to remember where I was the bullets passed 10-15 feet in front of me.
Most of the crowd all dropped to the ground as if one person. Amazingly, some stood up with their cell phones recording the action on the stage. Others were looking around to see the source of the shots. People were screaming, some crying. I ducked down and could tell the snipers were returning fire. It was over in 15-20 seconds. Crazy.
Glanced at stage and saw two guys in full combat gear scanning over the crowd looking for any shooters……and knowing their hearts are pounding, adrenaline pumping, trigger fingers twitching …. really brought home this is really happening! And knew a wrong move could get you shot…..
I ducked for about 30 seconds, looked to where Trump had been taken down just in time to see him stand up. And seeing him stand up knowing he was ok the crowd let out a huge cheer. At that point I knew Trump was ok but I was concerned about other people being shot.
Looked around and saw people frantically waving for help in the grandstands about twenty yards to my left. Knew people were wounded so wanted to get over there to help.
I started moving and didn’t see Trump do the fist pump as they took him in the opposite direction so all I could see were the backs of the Secret Service agents but heard the crowd chanting USA, USA, USA so I knew he was ok. Unbelievable that people were so courageous immediately after an assassination attempt with bullets cutting right over the crowd.
About that time I saw people in the section of stands where I was supposed to be sitting frantically trying to get help so I tried to work my way over but the ground was wall to wall people in fetal position, prone covering heads, people crying plus folding chairs everywhere. The wounded were about 20 yds from me but it was a struggle moving over all the people and folding chairs on the ground.
People were yelling at me to get down but I was confident the shooter was down since it stopped after I heard the return fire. As I moved I realized any one of the people on the ground could have been hit so I kept asking people if anyone was hit but everyone said they were ok but most refused to move at all. I also had to disassemble a couple barriers. By the time I got to the bleachers a couple state troopers and some citizens were carrying out the body of the guy that died. There is a NBC News clip that you can see me looking around as they carried him out.
I looked right and there was a person down with a mid abdomen wound and 6-8 people helping so nothing more I could do as I am not a trained responder so I went around checking on other people laying on the ground. No else was hit.
Then SS and police told people to vacate the area so EMTs could get in. I then helped people get up off the ground, helped some elderly get out of the stands. Again, I had to disassemble more barricades so people could leave quicker. Many had blood on them. People crying, a couple throwing up, cops yelling directions. Chaotic scene.
Finally, slowly walked out through a very angry crowd. Just crazy. Hung around for hrs talking to people as I knew traffic would be insane. There were 35,000 people and just one small macadam road to get out. Never got on road until 9:30.
Got home at 10:30 and was up until 1:30 watching all the news broadcasts I could. Just unreal that I was in the middle of the biggest story on the planet. And watching Trump fist pump yelling ‘FIGHT!’ was insanely inspiring.
Was a crazy rush of emotions…. at the first sound confusion as to what it was. Then ‘holy shit, it’s gun fire!’ Fear, shock and disbelief. Heard sniper return fire, shooting stopped….huge sense of relief. Then…. Was Trump hit? How bad? People next to me said they saw blood on his hand!
Trump got up, crowd cheered, relief that he was ok. Then wondered how many were hit? What could I do to help? Looked around and saw a lot of very angry people yelling at the assembled media. Saw a man was severely wounded but too far away to give immediate help. Felt frustrated that I couldn’t get to him.
Finally, slowly walked out trying to figure out everything. Just bizarre. Got home and was flabbergasted watching the news knowing I had just been right in the middle of the biggest news story on the planet!
I was supposed to be sitting in the section where two people were hit, one of which died instantly with head wound. But had to be seated by 2:30 and Trump wasn’t scheduled until after five and didn’t want to sit there for three hrs. So kept working until five.
I saved one case of water and went into the VIP area to hand them out….. then just hung around there. Snarky way to get a good spot. I was at Trump’s right side about 30 degrees to the side and 25 yards away. Never thought sneaking into the VIP section may have saved my life…..
Trump started talking and six minutes in the shooting started. Bullets travel 4-5 times faster than sound do you hear the bullet pass before you hear the mussel blast. Sounds like the crack of a bull whip or an electrical arc…… which is what I thought the first shot was. When the second round went passed I and everyone else realized we were under fire! Looking at various pictures and trying to remember where I was the bullets passed 10-15 feet in front of me.
Most of the crowd all dropped to the ground as if one person. Amazingly, some stood up with their cell phones recording the action on the stage. Others were looking around to see the source of the shots. People were screaming, some crying. I ducked down and could tell the snipers were returning fire. It was over in 15-20 seconds. Crazy.
Glanced at stage and saw two guys in full combat gear scanning over the crowd looking for any shooters……and knowing their hearts are pounding, adrenaline pumping, trigger fingers twitching …. really brought home this is really happening! And knew a wrong move could get you shot…..
I ducked for about 30 seconds, looked to where Trump had been taken down just in time to see him stand up. And seeing him stand up knowing he was ok the crowd let out a huge cheer. At that point I knew Trump was ok but I was concerned about other people being shot.
Looked around and saw people frantically waving for help in the grandstands about twenty yards to my left. Knew people were wounded so wanted to get over there to help.
I started moving and didn’t see Trump do the fist pump as they took him in the opposite direction so all I could see were the backs of the Secret Service agents but heard the crowd chanting USA, USA, USA so I knew he was ok. Unbelievable that people were so courageous immediately after an assassination attempt with bullets cutting right over the crowd.
About that time I saw people in the section of stands where I was supposed to be sitting frantically trying to get help so I tried to work my way over but the ground was wall to wall people in fetal position, prone covering heads, people crying plus folding chairs everywhere. The wounded were about 20 yds from me but it was a struggle moving over all the people and folding chairs on the ground.
People were yelling at me to get down but I was confident the shooter was down since it stopped after I heard the return fire. As I moved I realized any one of the people on the ground could have been hit so I kept asking people if anyone was hit but everyone said they were ok but most refused to move at all. I also had to disassemble a couple barriers. By the time I got to the bleachers a couple state troopers and some citizens were carrying out the body of the guy that died. There is a NBC News clip that you can see me looking around as they carried him out.
I looked right and there was a person down with a mid abdomen wound and 6-8 people helping so nothing more I could do as I am not a trained responder so I went around checking on other people laying on the ground. No else was hit.
Then SS and police told people to vacate the area so EMTs could get in. I then helped people get up off the ground, helped some elderly get out of the stands. Again, I had to disassemble more barricades so people could leave quicker. Many had blood on them. People crying, a couple throwing up, cops yelling directions. Chaotic scene.
Finally, slowly walked out through a very angry crowd. Just crazy. Hung around for hrs talking to people as I knew traffic would be insane. There were 35,000 people and just one small macadam road to get out. Never got on road until 9:30.
Got home at 10:30 and was up until 1:30 watching all the news broadcasts I could. Just unreal that I was in the middle of the biggest story on the planet. And watching Trump fist pump yelling ‘FIGHT!’ was insanely inspiring.
Was a crazy rush of emotions…. at the first sound confusion as to what it was. Then ‘holy shit, it’s gun fire!’ Fear, shock and disbelief. Heard sniper return fire, shooting stopped….huge sense of relief. Then…. Was Trump hit? How bad? People next to me said they saw blood on his hand!
Trump got up, crowd cheered, relief that he was ok. Then wondered how many were hit? What could I do to help? Looked around and saw a lot of very angry people yelling at the assembled media. Saw a man was severely wounded but too far away to give immediate help. Felt frustrated that I couldn’t get to him.
Finally, slowly walked out trying to figure out everything. Just bizarre. Got home and was flabbergasted watching the news knowing I had just been right in the middle of the biggest news story on the planet!
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