BUTLER, Penn. — As the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s attempted assassination continues, those in attendance at his Butler campaign rally are reflecting on the terrifying moments gunshots rang out.
Grant Koval said the Butler rally was his fifth rally in total for Trump.
“Very civil I would say is the best way of describing it,” said Koval.
But this time was different.
Koval told News 5 he was on the left side of where Trump was speaking. He estimates he was no more than a few feet away from him.
“I would say less than 10 minutes into his speech, all of a sudden I'm standing right there and I heard click, click, click and I thought, I hate to say, but what idiots are lighting firecrackers or fireworks, something this close? And then to hear in the repetitiveness of the shots, I just knew this was obviously a firearm at that point,” he said. “The minute he touched his ear and got down on the podium, that's when I knew something wasn't right. I just hit the ground at that point, scared because I have my mom and stepdad there. I want to make sure they're OK.”
Trump said on the ‘Truth’ app that he was hit in the right ear by a bullet.
RELATED: Trump says he was shot in ear at Pennsylvania rally; shooter killed
Koval recalled standing next to an 8-year-old girl in the stands and checking to make sure she was okay as well.
“At that point, I just kind of army crawled over to them and protect them as best as I could. It was a whole wave of emotions from terrified to confusion to anger,” said Koval. “Secret Service did tell everyone to get out of there, and there was really only one way out: where the shots came from.”
News 5 spoke with another couple who said they attended the rally to hear what Trump had to say. They said they stood on the far right of the stage, further back into the crowd.
“It sounded like firecrackers, and there were speakers hanging from a wire that had fallen, and everybody said get down and everybody got down. There was no stampede or panic,” said David Straub.
“There were people who had children in strollers. There was a man around there in a wheelchair. That was what was so hard was that here’s little kids we’re talking to afterwards and they’re recounting the gunfire and, ‘I was separated from mommy,’” said David’s wife, Felicia Petro Straub.
The Butler rally was the first rally the couple had ever been to.
“We don’t have MAGA hats or anything. We were just curious and here we are. We’re like, ‘Oh my god. I can’t even believe this is happening,’” said Petro Straub. “We’re just laying there and it’s so surreal.”
Petro Straub said she wasn’t sure if the moment would take a turn for the worst and become a mass shooting. She said she did the only thing she thought she could at that time: pray.
“I just prayed against Satan. I’m sure other people were, too, because this is definitely a satanic thing that was happening,” she said.
Petro Straub said as gunshots rang out she started recording herself in case “we were picked off and I die. I don’t know. Somebody should know I’m here. We didn’t know if Trump was down or not and we heard somebody say, ‘Yeah, he got hit!’ I’m like, ‘Oh my god, he got hit, he got hit.’ And then I looked into my phone and go, ‘This has to stop. This has to stop!’ It has to or we’re going to be ripped apart as a country.”
The couple said although there was panic in the air, everyone exited in an orderly fashion.
After leaving the Butler Fair Show, she said a group of rally-goers ended up at a nearby gas station where everyone talked through what they had seen.
“We were all kind, hugging each other, talking. That’s how I decompress because I was going into shock,” said Petro Straub. “I thought I was going to end up having a heart attack.”
All three told News 5 that violence has no room in politics, and they’re hoping the remainder of this campaign to the November election goes smoothly.
“Regardless of what political party you are: Democrat, Republican… this type of violence will not be tolerated in this country. We need to take a stand against it. That's what makes America great is you have that freedom of expression and that's really what we need to move on and embrace.”
One person is dead because of the shooting. Two other individuals are in the hospital but in stable condition.
