Trump shooting: Attendees describe chaotic scene as shots rang out at Pennsylvania rally

Attendees at a rally outside Pittsburgh for former President Trump and local officials described a chaotic scene as gunshots rang out and Trump was rushed offstage, blood trickling down his cheek.

“It is chaos. I have been told it is chaos,” Butler County Dist. Atty. Richard A. Goldinger told CNN. “It’s really crazy right now.”

In an interview with CBS News, a man who identified himself as an emergency room physician said he heard gunshots but initially thought they were firecrackers.

Then, someone cried out: “He’s been shot! He’s been shot!”

On stage, Trump grabbed the side of his head and immediately ducked behind the podium. Secret Service agents rushed to cover him as shots continued to ring out. Moments later, the group made their way off stage. Trump raised a fist in the air with blood on his face.

The doctor, who didn’t identify himself in the interview, said he went over to a man who had been injured and announced himself as an emergency department physician.

Supporters stand for the Pledge of Allegiance before former President Trump’s speech Saturday in Butler, Pa.

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

“The guy had spun around and was jammed between the benches. He had a headshot ... there was lots of blood, and he had brain matter there,” said the man, who had blood spattered on his white T-shirt. “I did CPR, did chest compressions as well and breathed for him.”

As he was speaking, an emergency helicopter whirred in the distance.

Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick was sitting in the front row at the rally in Butler, a small, rural city about 35 miles outside Pittsburgh, when he heard gunfire. The Republican told Politico that someone behind him appeared to have been shot but was unsure the extent of the injury.

A witness said in an interview with a reporter from the British Broadcasting Corp. that he had been listening to Trump speak from a field adjacent to the rally when he noticed a man with a rifle “bear-crawling” up the roof of a nearby building. The suspect was on the roof for at least three or four minutes before shots erupted, the witness said.

Police snipers return fire during Saturday’s campaign rally for former President Trump in Butler, Pa.

(Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)

“We could clearly see him with a rifle ... we’re pointing at him,” he said on BBC. “The police are down there running around on the ground ... they didn’t know what was going on.”

After the suspect opened fire, the witness said he saw Secret Service shoot the suspect, crawl up the roof and make sure he was dead.

The witness, who was wearing a red Trump 2020 visor, questioned why Secret Service did not pull Trump off the stage in those several minutes.

“I’m thinking to myself: Why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?” he said. “I’m standing there pointing at [the suspected shooter] for two, three minutes.

“Why is there not Secret Service on all of these roofs here?” he said. “I mean, this is not a big place.”

In a statement, the Secret Service said agents had killed the shooter, who had fired from “an elevated position outside of the rally venue.” One spectator was killed and two were “critically injured” in the shooting, the statement said.

Robb Ritenour, 58, a lifelong Butler resident who lives half a mile from where the rally took place, has several properties in the city — including one adjacent to the American Glass Research building, which he identified as the building the suspect was on when he opened fire. He described the building as a warehouse that is about 30 feet high.

“We’re pretty horrified about it, because we only live a half a mile way from there, so to have something like that in your backyard, you never expect that,” he said.

Although he was selling T-shirts at a NASCAR event in another part of the state Saturday, Ritenour said he has been in contact with several of his neighbors, who all feel horrified that a shooting broke out in their quiet hometown.

“A lot of people don’t even lock their doors because it’s very safe there,” he said.

“Everything is in gridlock, because of all the police presence,” he said. “Nobody can go anywhere.”

Robert Herr, 29, drove an hour from Erie, Pa., to volunteer at the rally and pass out water to supporters in the sweltering heat. Herr, who supports the campaign by registering people to vote, watched from a distance as Trump began speaking. When gunshots rang out, Herr and the people around him paused, trying to figure out what was happening.

“My initial thought was that someone was shooting off fireworks,” Herr said.

In the aftermath, Herr noted an atmosphere “of pure community” in the crowd after Trump was led offstage and the shooting stopped.

“Everybody was checking on their neighbor to make sure they were OK and safe,” he said. Herr said local authorities immediately began clearing out the fairground in a calm and orderly fashion.