Trump rally shooting in Butler: Attendees ‘at a loss’ after assassination attempt
CONNOQUENESSING TWP — The first few gunshots rang out like fireworks. But when they continued, people in the crowd at the Butler Farm Show venue dropped to the ground: a mother and father told their children to crouch down. A young man hunched over in the grass. Behind him, a woman started to pray.
Moments before, around 6 p.m., former President Donald Trump was welcomed on stage for the rally Saturday, July 13, addressing voters as he spoke about illegal immigration.
He called for deportations and echoed the rhetoric of the speakers before him, including GOP nominee for state Senate David McCormick, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th and Sean Parnell, who spoke with urgency about “saving our country.”
“We’re going to take back the White House and we’re going to take back our country,” Trump said.
“Our country has been stolen from us,” he said.
As he continued talking about immigration under President Joe Biden’s administration, several shots rang out. People took cover. Some later described seeing and hearing return fire from Secret Service agents.
Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche was pleased to be in the bleachers directly behind Trump to lend her support and enjoy the sight of hundreds of citizens backing the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.
When shots rang out just 10 or 15 minutes into Trump’s speech, Osche acted immediately, although she, like everyone else, was in disbelief in a surreal situation.
“My son being a state trooper, as soon as I heard one shot, I yelled ‘Everyone down!’” she said. “We pushed everyone down around us in the stands.”
Osche saw at least two people who were hurt — one who appeared to have fatal injuries at the end of the bleachers and the other a woman in the crowd with a hip injury.
She was clearly shaken at the horrifying circumstances that played out at the farm show grounds, where the family-oriented annual farm show is slated in just a few weeks.
“It’s unbelievable,” Osche said, her voice cracking. “I’m at a loss.”
Osche said she was surprised to hear Trump, who suffered an apparent ear injury, was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital for treatment, as she saw medical helicopters landing at the scene.
She said she was glad Trump was walking under his own power and coherent when Secret Service agents, who descended on him, allowed the former president to stand.
“I am extremely grateful to our law enforcement who were there from all across the county and our emergency management personnel who worked all day to see that people were treated for the heat,” she said. “I think everyone responded as we’d expect, and I’m thankful they were there to protect the citizens of this county.”
As people slowly stood up, some made their way out of the rally before the Secret Service began evacuations, stepping on the many strewn water bottles littering the farm show grounds. Others tried to move closer to the bleachers, filming the scene with their cellphones.
“I thought it was fireworks maybe,” said Austin Wiehagen of Pittsburgh. “And then it kept popping. I was like, that doesn’t sound like fireworks.”
“Then everyone started going down,” he said.
“Everyone was kind of ducking down and Trump was getting covered … by the Secret Service,” Wiehagen said.
Marc Fort, of Grove City, said he didn’t see the shooter, at first believing the shots to be from a cap gun or somebody’s attempt at disturbing the rally.
“I saw people running,” he said.
“I thought, this is not real,” he said.
“With (an incident) of this magnitude, you can’t get an emotional reaction,” Fort said.
Lisa LeGrand, of Clearfield Township, decided on a lark to attend the rally with a few friends on Saturday.
She and her group had seats right in front of Trump’s podium, about eight or nine rows back from the stage.
“All of a sudden you hear ‘pop, pop, pop’ and everyone hit the ground,” LeGrand said. “Everyone was laying under their seats.”
She said it was especially terrifying to see the Secret Service snipers drop down and assume a defensive position on the roofs of barns on either side of the stage as soon as the shots rang out.
She saw the Secret Service snipers immediately return fire, which made the evacuation calmer because everyone assumed the shooter had been neutralized.
“It was pretty wild,” LeGrand said. “We got out of there. We didn’t mess around.”
She said the lack of cell service at the farm show grounds only allowed texting, so she called her mother as soon as she reached the nearby Sheetz to report that she was OK.
“I can’t believe this is happening in Butler,” LeGrand said.
Terrie Ferrie, of Parkersburg, W.Va., sat in a few rows away from the bleachers and said she saw Trump’s ear bleed after the gunshots stopped, which, like others, she initially mistook for fireworks.
She said she saw Trump get pulled down. When Ferrie looked again, he was “bleeding badly” before giving a thumbs-up.
“You don’t even want to know,” Ferrie answered when asked how she felt in the wake of the shooting.
Searching for her car at the farm show grounds with other evacuated attendees, Ferrie said she and her husband had driven three hours to attend Trump’s rally.
Erin Autenreith, chairwoman of the Shaler Township Republican Committee, arrived at the rally at 7 a.m. as a volunteer, but had a front-row seat for the speech.
“I was in the middle of the front row directly in front of Trump,” Autenreith said. “He started speaking and then we could hear ‘pop pop.’”
She said she thought the sound was fireworks before Secret Service agents jumped on Trump and pushed him to the floor.
As agents lifted Trump up from the floor, she said she heard him say “‘Let me get my shoes on.’” Autenreith said Trump’s shoes might have fallen off when agents tackled him.
She said she saw a drop of blood on his cheek before he turned and blood on the right side of his head was visible as agents helped Trump leave, but she was glad to see Trump hold his hand up to signify that he was OK.
Mary Geibel, of Summit Township, attended the rally with her husband. The couple stood two rows behind the chairs set up in front of the stage.
“When I first heard (the shots), it didn’t dawn on me until my husband said ‘Get down!’ Then I was scared,” she said.
She said those in the crowd stayed down for a short time.
“Everyone was pretty calm for what the situation was,” Geibel said. “Nobody tried to run out.”
She watched Secret Service men surround Trump, who had grabbed his right ear and hunkered down behind the podium.
After he was led off the stage by Secret Service agents, no instructions were forthcoming from the stage, so people began leaving on their own, Geibel said.
The police then encouraged everyone to continue evacuating in a calm and orderly manner.
Her husband saw the snipers shooting toward Route 68, which was behind Trump.
Osche, who serves as chairwoman for the county commissioners, remained incredulous after the rally was evacuated that an assassination attempt occurred in Butler County.
“I just ask everyone to pray,” she said. “This should have never happened.”
