Donald Trump assassination attempt: Eyewitnesses tell of terror at rally shooting

A new video from a previously unseen angle has emerged showing the pandemonium which played out behind the stage when former US President Donald Trump was shot.

An astonishing new video shot by an ardent supporter of former US president Donald Trump standing right behind the stage at the Pennsylvanian rally shows the shocking aftermath of the shooting.

The video, which has gone viral on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows the former president’s shoes go flying as the Secret Service knock him to the ground for his own safety.

The man shooting the video becomes enraged as he realises what has happened.

Holy smokes! Trump's shoes got literally knocked off by the Secret Service: pic.twitter.com/Wvg5RmVmrh

— Wojciech Pawelczyk (@WojPawelczyk) July 16, 2024

“Get that son of a b****,” he yells, referring to the gunman.

The man behind the camera then joins in the chant of, “USA, USA, USA” after a bloodied Trump rises to his feet and raises a fist into the air.

“We love you Donald,” the man yells out as Trump is taken away by the Secret Service officers.

‘I THREW MYSELF ON TOP OF MY WIFE’

A smalltown mayor and Donald Trump supporter instinctively recalled his Marine Corps training using his body as a human shield to save the life of his pregnant wife as shots were aimed at former President Donald Trump.

Jondavid and Nicolina Longo were seated just metres from Trump as he spoke at the ill-fated rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Jondavid Longo and his pregnant wife Nicolina were at the Donald Trump rally shooting. Photo: Instagram.

Mr Longo, 33, is a staunch Republican and mayor of neighbouring town Slippery Rock, population 3,500, who previously served as an infantry rifleman in the Marine Corps.

While many others seated nearby thought the alarming bangs had come from fireworks, Mr Longo’s military training meant he knew differently.

With one rally attendee seated in their vicinity killed and two others fighting for their lives, his quick actions may have saved his wife and unborn child from tragedy.

Mr Longo served as an Infantry Rifleman in the Marine Corps. Photo: Instagram.

“We were seated just metres away from President Trump while the rounds were fired from behind us and flying overhead as we were in the direct line of fire,” Mr Longo wrote on Instagram.

“I was scanning my surroundings and covering my pregnant wife.”

Mr Longo told the Wall Street Journal he also shouted to others to try to warn them.

“I threw myself on top of my wife and asked everyone around me to get low,” he told the Journal.

Mr Longo wrote on Instagram that both he and his wife escaped unscathed but he was devastated to hear about the death and injuries others seated nearby.

“I’m home now. I’m alright. My family is safe,” he wrote.

“But an innocent man lost his life today because he came to hear words of inspiration from President Trump.

“Pray for him and his family. Pray for President Trump. Pray for our nation.”

‘WE COULD CLEARLY SEE A RIFLE’

Other eyewitnesses to the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania have told how they saw a man armed with a rifle on a nearby roof, and of their desperate attempts to alert police to the danger.

A man identified as Greg told the BBC he was at a party across the road with friends when he saw the armed man on the roof.

“We noticed the guy bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us,” he told the BBC.

“He had a rifle, we could clearly see a rifle.”

Donald Trump at the start of the rally. Picture: AFP

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets the crowd before the attack. Picture: AFP

Trump supporters were out in force before the shooting unfolded. Picture: AFP

“We’re pointing at him, the police are down there running around on the ground, we’re like ‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle’ … and the police did not know what was going on.”

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why is Trump still speaking, why have they not pulled him off the stage?’ The next thing you know, five shots ring out.”

About 120 metres away, Trump grabbed his right ear and crouched to the ground.

In the bleachers behind him, another man was shot in the head.

Attendees duck from gunfire during the campaign rally. Picture: Getty Images

Witness Greg told how he saw the gunman. Picture: BBC

‘EVERYONE JUST STARTED HITTING THE DECK’

Joseph Milne, who was standing near the man who was struck, said it was “complete pandemonium”.

“One half of the crowd on the far end of the rally thought it was some type of weird joke, the other half of the crowd knew it wasn’t,” he told CNN.

“I think everyone got the idea very quickly that it was a dangerous situation, and everyone just started hitting the deck.”

‘WE WANTED TO PROTECT TRUMP TOO’

In the front row of the crowd, however, Erin Autenreith remained upright.

“Not one of us in the front row hid down or anything,” she told CBS.

“We all stood up strong … We wanted to protect him too. We wouldn’t move until Trump got up.”

Another volley of shots rang out. Trump’s supporters could not see what was happening in the chaos – but Greg did.

“They blew his head off,” he said of the Secret Service.

“They crawled up on the roof … to make sure he was dead.”

Local Republican leader Rico Elmore, who had revved up the crowd in a speech before Trump, climbed into the bleachers to help.

“All we know is shots were fired, and then I jumped over the barrier and put my hand on the guy’s head that was profusely bleeding,” he told CNN, his white shirt stained with blood.

Eduardo Vargas, who was sitting five metres behind Trump, said everyone around him started crying.

“And I started crying. I couldn’t stop crying,” he told the New York Times.

“I thought I just saw the president get killed in front of my face.”

ONLOOKERS PRAYED

Corey Check, a local Republican activist, said he held hands with the people next to him. They said the Lord’s Prayer.

Trump rose to his feet, surrounded by Secret Service agents trying to rush him off the stage. But he told them to wait so he could grab his shoes – which were knocked off as they surged to his side – and pump his fist to the crowd.

“Fight, fight,” the 78-year-old yelled out, sparking cheers of “USA, USA, USA”.

Check, who joined in the chants, said: “We’re alive, and we will never stop.”

“America has been here, we will always be here, chanting USA. Because we’re not done. These people will not destroy our country,” he told the New York Times.