Rep. Kelly deeply shaken following brush with attempted Trump assassination
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, still is coming to terms with the shock of Saturday’s fatal events at the Butler Farm Show grounds, which left two dead — including the gunman — and two critically wounded.
What was supposed to be a rousing afternoon of speeches at a rally in support of former President Donald Trump became a whirl of chaos as shots rang out and Trump was wounded by a gunman.
And Kelly was there.
“This is Butler, Pennsylvania, and we’re at the Farm Show,” Kelly said. “This is home. This is where the 4-H kids show their animals. This is where we have the bake sales. This is where we have everything that makes rural America so great. And then something like this happens.”
Kelly, one of Butler County’s most prominent residents and business owners, was a guest of honor at the rally.
For Kelly, the moments of the shooting passed by like a blur.
“I just hear, ‘pop, pop, pop.’ And I’m watching the president, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, they just shot the president,’” Kelly said. “Ten rows, 12 rows up in the bleachers, people were crying, and they have blood on their shirts. And then you see the aftermath of it, the confusion, and law enforcement saying, ‘get down, get down, stay down.’”
Multiple members of Kelly’s family also were present at the rally, seated separately from the congressman, including his brother, Ike, and the congressman’s wife, Victoria. When the shooting began, Kelly said his first thoughts were of them.
“I wondered where Vickie is with the kids. Are they safe?” Kelly said. “Things keep running through your mind and you're fast-forwarding through your checklist mentally.”
Kelly said it took “probably over an hour” after the incident began to reunite with his family. Afterward, they retreated to the home of his brother, who lives nearby.
After the dust settled, Kelly was left to reflect on how a nation — not just a former president and personal friend — were left wounded.
“The whole country is wounded now,” Kelly said. “We've certainly turned a corner now. It seems like we’re a Third World country. If we have a political difference, our answer to that is to eliminate whatever it is we don’t like.”
Kelly emphasized he did not blame any particular individual or political party for the circumstances that led to Saturday’s incident, but the American people as a whole.
“The answer is us. We’re the problem,” Kelly said. “This is not about Republicans or Democrats or Libertarians right now. It's just about Americans. Americans need to wake up and understand what the real danger is. We cannot afford to lose this country. The world cannot afford to lose this country.”
