People standing close to Donald Trump when he was apparently hit by gunshots have spoken about what they saw happen.
Mr Trump was talking about migration when the gunfire began at about 6.10pm local time on Saturday, Mr Trump raised his hand to his right ear before quickly crouching to the ground and screams rang through the crowd behind him.
One woman, named as Erin, told NBC News that she was standing in the front row and saw the “fresh blood” coming from the former president’s ear.
And a man called Joseph said he counted seven shots and saw a man in the audience get hit.
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Joseph, who is a doctor and was in the third row, said the man hit by gunshots was in the bleachers and seemed to have been hit in the head from behind.
“He was killed instantly as far as I could tell. At that point, state police and a SWAT team started evacuating the bleachers and I helped carry the man out to a tent.”
Joseph said a woman was also hit. “She flinched and then it looked like she had taken a gunshot to the forearm and hand,” he said.
The doctor told how the man who died had been standing with family members. “They were in shock – they didn’t know what was going on but the man was definitely killed instantaneously,” he said.
Pic: AP
The woman witness called Erin told NBC News: “The guns came up to start. Clear. Clear right, clear left. They said, ‘get him up’. So they lifted him up. Trump said, I gotta get my shoes on, first. His shoes must’ve come off. We couldn’t see it underneath that but his shoes must’ve come off when they dropped him down to the ground. We could all hear it.
“And when he stood up, I see the red teardrop of blood – fresh red blood. Just a little tear. Then, when they got him up and they turned him, I could see the blood from the top of the ear to the bottom. It wasn’t gushing but it was covered. And then he put the fist bump up, ‘stay strong’, and they walked him off.
“I thought it was fireworks,” she said. “Pop pop pop. That’s what it sounded like.”
Erin went on: “His ear must’ve been nipped and it killed somebody in the stands, over to the left.”
She said: “It does appear that he was probably nicked by that bullet and he turned his head just in the nick of time.”
Pic: AP
Speaking about her own safety, Erin said: “I was totally not scared… None of us in that front row went down to the ground. Not one. We only wanted to only help the president. That’s all we wanted to do.”
And on her feelings about the incident, Erin said: “It’s just very sad. All of these people who came to see him and they have him hurt.”
She added: “I feel sad for our country – I feel sad for everybody. You don’t like the guy, don’t vote for him. Don’t kill him. We love the guy, we’re gonna vote for him. I mean, what is up with this violence?”
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Pic: AP
Joseph said he had earlier told friends that if something bad was to happen then “this would be the perfect place to do it… and it happened.”
He said that people in the crowd at first thought it was a prank, but that he “knew it was a gunshot cos I just saw a guy get hit”.
Describing the “dangerous and deadly situation”, he said: “It sounded more like a firecracker. I knew better – I know what gunshots sound like.”
He said he thought people started taking it seriously when the Secret Service jumped the barriers.
Rico Elmore, who spoke at the Trump rally, said he tried to help the person who was shot and killed.
After realising no medical personnel were in the immediate area, Mr Elmore said he ran up the bleachers to help.
“I jumped over the barricades,” he told our partner network NBC News.
“I ran up into the bleachers, and there was a towel that people had. I took the towel and I pushed it against the deceased’s head, but my efforts were in vain.”
Pic: AP
Mr Elmore said his heart goes out to the families of those killed and injured at the rally.
And David McCormick, who was sat in the crowd behind Trump, told how the former president had invited him on stage but then said he should join him later.
“Within a minute or two, the shooting started. There were six or seven shots and it was pretty clear straight away that it was a gun and people dropped.”
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Mr McCormick described watching Trump getting back up and then realising that someone behind him had been wounded.
“Sadly, it looked like pretty severely wounded and the people in the bleachers next to him were trying to stop the bleeding. It was clear that even though President Trump had been nicked, that others were very seriously wounded. It was a very frightening moment.”
He added: “People were in disbelief. It was very chaotic and very confusing for quite some time.”
And he went on: “It quickly went from the shooting, to dealing with what had happened – but also with the uncertainty of whether the shooting was done.
“At the time I thought it was possible there were two shooters, not just one, because it felt like the sounds were coming from multiple directions.”
Another eyewitness said he saw a man on the roof of a building near the rally, and reported this to police.
Ben Macer said he saw the suspect “moving from roof to roof”.
He said he didn’t immediately realise what was happening when he heard gunshots, saying: “Once it became clear what I heard, it was just getting out of there. I helped a lady that had a four-year-old kid, helped them get out.”
Mr Macer also said he was a “little bit” shaken after the attack, adding: “I’m just curious like anybody else and just seeing what all is still going on. I live close to here so I’m just taking it all in and seeing what’s going on.”