Bystander killed at Trump rally ‘died instantly,’ witness says

A bystander killed Saturday in an anti-Donald Trump shooting during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania “was struck in the head and died instantly,” a witness interviewed by NBC News said.

“We heard several shots and the guy next to me got hit in the head and he died instantly and fell at the feet of the bleachers,” said Joseph, whose last name was not given.

“A woman was hit on her forearm and hand. From that moment on, it became very chaotic,” he said.

“Just before the Secret Service intervened, President Trump was shot in the ear,” he added, adding that the footage first hit viewers before the former US president was unharmed.

According to him, the deceased was in the “line of sight” between the shooter and the former president.

“Most people initially thought it was a joke and my feeling was that it might look like firecrackers. But I saw the man hit the head and the woman hit the forearm, and I immediately knew it wasn’t just a firecracker,” said Joseph, who said he heard seven explosions.

A second anonymous witness, who said he was an emergency room doctor, testified to a CBS reporter that he tried to help one of the victims.

“Someone there shouted that he had been shot dead […] So I reached out and said, ‘I’m an emergency doctor, I’ll help you,'” he said in a blood-stained white shirt in a video that was widely broadcast on X.

“The guy turned around and found himself stuck between the benches. He had a bullet in his head,” she added, noting there was “a lot of blood” and “brain matter.”

Two others were wounded, according to a press release from the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting prominent US political figures.

It was Donald Trump’s last rally before the July 15-18 Republican convention, where he will officially be nominated as the Republican nominee against outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden in November’s election.