Before My Own Eyes: Assassination Attempt on President Trump
Eyewitness account from the Butler, PA Trump Rally
When I heard that President Trump was bringing a rally to my local area, I knew I had to go. I had attended two previous Trump rallies, and the energy and pure natural high from gathering with so many freedom-loving patriots is an exhilarating experience. My husband had never experienced an in-person Trump rally before. With it being so close to us, I told him he had to come. We are living in a significant time in history, and I wanted him to experience a Trump rally at least once.
Temperatures in Butler hit the 90s, higher than average for the area. I knew the day would be challenging, especially with no shade protecting the lines to enter the rally or the venue itself. We arrived around 10 a.m. to try to get as close to the stage as possible. The security line opened to start admitting people at 1 p.m. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for the security screening. Everyone went through a metal detector and was wanded down as usual.
We arrived at the stage area around 1:40, and most of the seating was already taken. A small group of our friends was further behind us in line, so we wanted to find multiple chairs together. After searching for a while, we decided to go back behind the seats to the left of the press.
From our perspective, the placement of the stage area was not well thought out considering how close it was to the property line of the farm show grounds. A chain-link fence surrounded us with no barrier to the outside property. Many times for these rallies or events, large armored vehicles or large trucks are placed as barriers in that space behind the stage to provide additional protection. Nothing like that was present. The area fenced off for attendee seating was rather small considering the number of people anticipated to attend.
Butler County residents are fairly conservative, and the estimates for the number of attendees had been set between 50,000 and 80,000. In 2020, President Trump held a rally at the Butler Airport, and attendance was estimated to be around 50,000. No pathways were clearly marked for emergency personnel to reach attendees, and there was no clear way for people to reach emergency personnel other than yelling through the crowd. Many people suffered from heat exhaustion throughout the day.
I had received an email prior to the rally that local organizers requested blue-collar attendees to be seated behind the President. I can’t be certain of the vetting that may or may not occur for those people, but I did wonder about the potential safety implications of selecting people that way.
It is absolutely true that the large American flag blowing in the wind curled around itself in what many say looked like an angel. I took a picture of it for that reason, as I had looked up at it many times and thought the same thing myself. While Senate candidate Dave McCormick was speaking, many started chanting, “Fix that flag.” Before President Trump arrived, the flag was lowered and straightened.
An interesting side note is that, as of the Monday morning following the rally, that flag was still up and was still hanging straight. The flag had not twisted around itself again in the wind since it was “fixed” that day at the rally.
Before the President arrived, we could see a counter-sniper pair start to assemble on the roof to our right (The President’s left). I have heard reports that there was another pair on a neighboring roof, but we could only see one from where we sat. I did look around to many of the roofs of the buildings surrounding us, both on the grounds and off, and noticed that I did not see any additional teams. While I know that sometimes those teams may not be visible, I still thought that was odd.
Around 6 p.m., we heard the famous “YMCA” begin to play, and we knew the President had arrived and would be coming out soon. Once the iconic “God Bless the USA” began playing, our President walked out. After waiting so long in the stifling heat to see our President, the moment had finally arrived. President Trump began his speech with the teleprompter the way he usually does, speaking about the very difficult times Americans are living through and how Joe Biden has been destroying America. He asked if he could go off the teleprompter and a graph about the numbers of illegal immigration was put up on the jumbotrons.
Everyone knows what happened next. As he turned his head to look toward the jumbotron to his right, the first gunshot rang out.
To be honest, at the time, I couldn’t say how many shots occurred. There was a lot of confusion initially about what was actually happening. I wasn’t even certain it was a gunshot until I saw secret service agents rush the stage. I remember the feeling of sheer terror in that instant, knowing that our worst fears from the incredible forces President Trump faces daily had commenced right in front of our eyes. Someone was shooting at our President and trying to kill him.
I saw the Secret Service agents stand up with him. He had blood on his shirt. I started to sob, not knowing the extent of his injuries. President Trump raised his iconic fist in the air as a sign of strength for the people and a signal to those who tried to remove him from the world stage that they had not won. Even though he put himself at great potential risk by doing so, he relayed the message to all patriots to continue to fight.
Strangers all stood together in shock, trying to grasp what they had just witnessed. I hugged my husband and my friend. Then strangers, united together in love, began to hug each other, cry, and pray together. At that point, no one knew the severity of his injuries. We formed prayer circles, comforted each other, and asked the same question repeatedly: how could this have happened?
I have seen posts on social media that actually accused the whole scene of being fake because no one ran. It is true that none of us ran. I can only speak for myself, but I can guess that many of my fellow patriots had the same reason. We were all so worried about whether our President was seriously injured. We were more concerned with whether he was okay in those moments. No thoughts of self-preservation occurred at that moment among any of us. The thought of running away did not even occur to me. Police did start to come around and instruct the crowd to disperse for our safety. We made our way out while we continued to talk to people as we walked, each trying to comprehend what we had just witnessed.
Text messages and phone calls from family started coming in asking if we were okay. Family sent messages that the President was okay and only had minor injuries. We have since found out that we lost a fellow patriot that day. A loving, and upstanding husband and father, was taken from his family. Corey Comperatore took a bullet for the President and for all of us. We mourn his loss and are devastated by knowing that the joy of the rally turned into a senseless tragedy for Corey and his family.
We now know about the numerous inconsistencies and overall incompetence within the Joe Biden administration's Secret Service leadership, particularly under the now-resigned Director Kimberly Cheatle, who reported to Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. These shortcomings were starkly evident in the multiple failures, intention or not, that occurred on that day. Citizen journalists have shared their analyses through pictures and videos in the following days. As we continue to watch, evaluate, and form our own conclusions outside of the legacy media’s propaganda about what really happened on July 13, 2024.
One thing I know with absolute certainty is that we witnessed a miracle. Whether you watched it from home or witnessed it firsthand at the rally, a miracle occurred that day as every variable aligned perfectly to spare President Trump’s life. I don’t believe in coincidences anymore. I shudder to think of the alternate timeline that we could have been immediately thrust into if the unfathomable had happened. I know now that beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is here with us.
After grappling with the reality of what we witnessed over the last week, so much information has emerged that raises suspicions about what the truth really is. From the beginning, for many of us, the idea of the lone wolf shooter, like we’ve seen so many times before, seemed suspicious. Recalling both the Kennedy and MLK Jr. assassinations and the attempt on Reagan, we’ve seen this proverbial movie before.
Now we have audio analysis, eye witness reports, trajectory analysis, video of the public trying to draw the attention of law enforcement, and the knowledge that the US Secret Service were aware of a suspicious individual. The explanations from the media and government officials do not align with the observations and evidence presented by average citizens. Formerly censored free speech platforms enable the rapid dissemination of mountains of information, affording us all the opportunity to weigh the evidence ourselves and draw our own conclusions. The dam is breaking, and I do not think it can be contained. In the midst of uncertainty about what happened, one thing is certain.
We are fortunate to have Donald John Trump as our leader and President in the United States. It feels like we are beginning to exit the darkness that has loomed over our nation since the Kennedy Assassination of 1963. The people of this country are not naïve anymore. We are now Making America Great Again by putting America First with a President standing by our side who will FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Let us be in constant prayer over these coming weeks and months for our country and our President.
Kimberly Hall