Dramatic video shows the moment Secret Service agents rush Donald Trump to a Pennsylvania hospital after he was shot during an assassination attempt on Saturday.
Police can be seen scrambling to secure the main entrance of Butler Memorial Hospital as frantic members of the public swarm against the glass, hoping to catch a glimpse of the former president, who was shot in the ear at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“President Trump had just been shot and they rushed him here,” said Rick Forster, who was behind the camera.
A woman can be heard crying in the background before agents escort Trump from the SUV and lead him out an emergency exit.
“He was walking alone and I got emotional thinking he might be dead or someone might be carrying him,” Forster said. He told Fox News on Wednesday.
One ardent Trump supporter said a motorcade of SUVs rolled into the hospital parking lot just six minutes after people in the waiting room witnessed the former president being gunned down at a televised campaign rally.
The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, grazed President Trump’s ear and killed one spectator, while two other people at the rally were also wounded in the gunfire.
Ironically, Forster had a front-row seat at the rally and would have witnessed the mayhem firsthand, but he had to give up his VIP seating when his wife began feeling unwell about 90 minutes before the bullets began flying.
“There was nothing between us and the stage except a metal barrier,” he told Fox News. “I was literally 15 feet away from the podium.”
The couple arrived at the Butler Fairgrounds at 9 a.m. to secure a seat, then braved 97-degree heat with no shade.
His wife, Karen, was taken to hospital at about 4:30 p.m. suffering from dehydration.
Ms Forster watched the rally from inside the hospital and saw Mr Trump fall to the ground and be carried off the stage by Secret Service agents.
He also spoke by phone with a friend who was at the rally, who told him, “Oh my goodness, President Trump has been shot.”
The head nurse was “in tears” and another woman fell out of her wheelchair after hearing the announcement.
“I was just freaking out and then after probably about six minutes I heard these loud sirens,” Forster told Fox News.
“Karen saw me and said she was going to take him. [Trump] It’s only about 10 minutes from here, but it’s six miles away.”
At that point, the crowd ran to the windows to watch the presidential candidate walk in himself, and Forster captured the historic moment on film.
The motive for the assassination attempt on Crooks remains unclear.
