Attendee at Trump rally reflects on Saturday’s shooting

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Joe Nist was in attendance when former President Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet in the ear Saturday evening during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Nist, of Buffalo, New York, said Trump was about 12 minutes into his speech when gunshots rang out. Trump went down to the ground as Secret Service members surrounded him.

Pennsylvania State Police confirmed one man, Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed by the shooter, who was identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20. Secret Service agents killed Crooks while returning fire. Two people, David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, were shot and are now stable, according to CNN.

Nist said he and four friends decided to attend the rally the night before.

"We decided, obviously, this is a big election in our lifetime, honestly probably the biggest we'll see so what would be cooler than going down there and actually seeing one of the presidential candidates, especially the one I support," Nist said.

Nist said he and his friends got to the rally around 12:45 p.m. Saturday. He said the energy at the rally was initially everything he hoped for.

"It was amazing, it was everything I thought it was going to be, Nist said. "It had that patriotic feeling to it so that's exactly what I was looking for when I got there."

He said he walked through the entrance which took about two hours as people were shuffled through a metal detector upon entry. Nist and his friends spent the time waiting for Trump to take the stage to get water, food and a spot to stand. A while later, Trump got on stage.

While waiting, Nist and his friends looked around the venue in case something happened and they needed to get out. He also noticed very little security around the venue.

"I don't really see any security guards here," Nist said. "You know, you go to concerts, sometimes you see more security guards, and you're just like, all right, what's the most famous person in the world coming here, or is he not like, so I don't know, overall, it's just kind of weird."

"There were no policemen that I saw on the grounds at all like I guess within the crowd, you know. I don't know if that's normal or not, but obviously besides, like the Secret Service, the snipers on the roof and everything, I really didn't see, like, you know, people actively on the grounds there," Nist said.

"They were playing God Bless the USA at the time and I was kind of hoping he did his little dance up there, but he got up there and everyone was going crazy," Nist said. "You know, that's what I was really waiting there for, it was a long day, it was really hot."

Nist said Trump wasn't too far into his speech when shots were fired.

"He was just talking about the state of the country and just really where the Biden administration has left us right now and he kind of started touching on immigration, and that's kind of where everything hit the fan," Nist said.

Nist described the sound of the gunshots as similar to the initial spark of a firework, hearing a whizzing sound before he heard return shots from the Secret Service. Nist said the area where the gunman was was the clearest line of sight to Trump and was the only warehouse unmanned.

"We were all in shock, everyone was trying to get down, it was terrifying," Nist said. "Some people were running for the gates, you had other people laying down because you don't know if there's going to be any more shots."

Nist got down on the ground when the shots started but, got back up to videotape the scene.

"Everybody was just kind of looking to get out of there there were a lot of helpful people opening gates for everybody, helping some people that were not being able to move as fast," Nist said.

Nist said he did not see the shooter, but heard another man nearby yell "get down." He then heard someone say, "They got him".

"He yelled, 'they got him, they got him' and I heard that right as I was leaving, actually. So that gave me a sense of relief, I guess, in a way," Nist said.

Nist and his friends went back to their car shortly after the shooting. That's when the weight of the situation sunk in.

"It didn't really feel real at first, once we sat down in the car and everything were like Oh My God," Nist said. "Everybody was kind of just like, wow, I can't believe that happened like, nobody, nobody can believe it and realistic really you think about it like, this is stuff that they'll be talking about in history books for forever."

Nist said he hopes there's more security at future rallies for both political parties.