Scialabba shaken after assassination attempt at Butler Trump rally
State Rep. Stephenie Scialabba, R-12th, like everyone who attended Saturday's rally for former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show grounds, spent Sunday morning, July 14, in sadness and disbelief.
“I'm tying to find quiet in my head to figure out where I am,” a subdued Scialabba said of her emotional state at the noon hour Sunday.
She was sitting with U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, and other elected officials between Trump and the man who was shot and killed in the bleachers.
“I heard 'pop, pop, pop' and thought ‘Oh my God, it's happening,’” Scialabba said
People in the bleachers behind her said it was firecrackers or an electrical issue.
“Then someone yelled 'mayday, mayday, mayday' when the engineer (Corey Comperatore) was shot,” Scialabba said.
She recalls dropping to the ground after hearing the shots, and looking at her seatmate, U.S. Senate GOP candidate David McCormick, in sheer terror.
She heard McCormick, a combat veteran, say “I got you.”
“I think McCormick's combat training kicked in,” she said. “He was counting the shots and trying to protect us. I felt much better having him right there. He handled it like he was trained to handle it.”
The elected officials also were trying to protect Malphine Fogel, the nonagenarian mother of Mark Fogel, who is being held in a Russia prison camp. Fogel was at the rally to discuss her son's plight with Trump and ask him to work for her son’s freedom should he be reelected.
Scialabba said the experience was surreal.
“Ten minutes before (elected officials) were talking with the president and each other, and the next thing you know, we were looking at each other under these folding metal chairs.”
She remembers looking at the sunny, blue sky and thinking a shooter would have a crystal-clear shot at anyone in at the rally.
“It was supposed to be a happy day,” she said quietly. “I don't even know how I feel right now.”
She said it was divine intervention that Trump tilted his head in the split second after the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Bethel Park resident Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired the round that struck the former president's right ear.
“That engineer behind us, that was what they wanted to happen to the president,” Scialabba said.
The engineer in question was Comperatore, 50, a former fire chief with the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company.
She said she has some questions regarding security Saturday, including the choice of Secret Service agents.
“Why were women my size or smaller protecting a 6'3” president?” Scialabba asked. “They couldn't even cover his head.”
She also questioned the ability of Crooks to access the roof at AGR, especially since the Secret Service had placed snipers inside the longtime manufacturing business.
“What I don't understand is why would that (roof) have been outside the security perimeter?” Scialabba said. “That's a ridiculous thing.”
“I can't believe it happened, and I can't believe I'm alive. All I feel is great sadness for the people who are not here and who lost someone they loved or who are in critical condition.
“I can't believe this is America.”
