A politician has spoken about the bloody and gruesome scene he witnessed while sitting behind Donald Trump after an assassination attempt that left multiple people dead.
The tragedy unfolded Saturday night during Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Halfway through the former president’s speech, gunshots rang out and Trump ducked down as U.S. Secret Service agents crawled on top of the 78-year-old man.
David McCormick, a Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, recounted the horrific scene he witnessed shortly after the shots were fired.
Former President Trump is helped off the stage after being shot during a campaign speech in Butler, Pennsylvania
“Unfortunately, there was someone behind me in the stands who was injured,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “And there was a lot of blood and the police came in and helped carry that person out of the stands so they could get the care that they needed.”
“I’m not sure if there were any more injuries,” he said.
McCormick had just delivered a speech on stage at the event.
Local authorities said the shooting was being investigated as an attempted murder and confirmed the shooter’s death.
In addition, one person present was killed.
According to the Associated Press news agency, two others were seriously injured.
Republican candidate Donald Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents with blood on his face as he is escorted off stage during a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. The suspected gunman who wounded Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally has died, U.S. media reported Saturday, along with a bystander
Dave McCormick, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, arrives to speak at a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump
McCormick attended the rally to support Trump and address the crowd of voters
“There were a number of shots fired,” McCormick said. “And the crowd just, you know, went to the ground and the Secret Service came very quickly and took the president into custody.”
“But there were separate shots and… it’s hard to tell whether they came from one direction or from two different weapons.”
Footage from the protest, in which a deceased suspect was filmed, shows an individual on the roof of a nearby building.
That roof was hundreds of feet from the podium where Trump spoke, next to where McCormick sat.
“I was sitting to the right of President Trump as he looked out into the crowd, and I had a front row seat,” he said.
“It looked like some of the shots were coming from his left side, which would make sense because someone behind me got hit.”
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump is assisted by security personnel after gunfire rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 13, 2024
Man in bloody shirt describes how he tried to help shooting victim
A screenshot of a video shows the shooter was killed by the Secret Service, an agency source said, CNN said, on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, United States. An attendee was also killed. Former US President Donald Trump “is OK” after appearing to be injured Saturday following reports of gunfire at a rally in the US state of Pennsylvania
“So it felt like there were at least a couple of them coming from that side of the crowd,” he continued. “I couldn’t tell what it was, one or two guns, but there were seven or eight shots, one after the other.”
A witness told reporters he saw a man climb onto a nearby roof before the gunshots rang out.
Multiple congressional committees have launched investigations into the “security failures” that led to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Lawmakers say the fact that a gunman was able to get so close to killing Trump poses a terrifying security concern.
Former Navy SEAL Rep. Ryank Zinke, Republican of Montana, said the fact that the shooter was able to reach a “nearby rooftop” to aim at Trump was an “absolute failure of security.” He has experience securing perimeters in war zones and as a protégé at presidential events.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) told DailyMail.com in a statement that he plans to hold a hearing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to determine the cause of the errors.
The House Committee on Homeland Security also said in a statement that it wants to hold a hearing with the Secret Service.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he leaves the stage at a campaign rally
The committee’s reports indicate that this could be the beginning of a flurry of action in Congress over the attempted assassination of the former president.
“There are many questions and Americans are demanding answers,” Comer said. “I have already contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and I am also calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing.”