A special guest at the rally where former President Trump was nearly assassinated spoke with Fox News Digital considers himself lucky after being only feet away from an individual who was shot and found unresponsive.
“Where that person was, if the shot was just a little different, it would have been me that was hit,” said Benjamin Shrader, a Texas-based CEO of Shrader Promotions LLC.
Prior to the rally, Shrader was able to meet Trump and said, “it was just like how he is on TV, he seemed in great spirits, great health, very happy. He has a strong handshake. And, he seemed very happy, and he was having a good time.” Shrader added that nothing seemed suspicious, and he saw plenty of security and tactical teams at the rally.
Trump rally, Butler PA (Benjamin Shrader)
The moment the assassination attempt occurred, Shrader said many around him didn’t immediately realize the severity of the situation and some thought fireworks had been snuck into the event. Shrader was located directly on the left facing the stage, with Trump to his right.
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“I remember I was yelling, ‘no it’s a shooter, it is a shooter.’ And, they were looking, and some people got up on chairs, and then you hear blood-curdling screams,” he told Fox News Digital.
Shrader said, “a lot of people were crouched around the ground. I know the mayor of the town was holding a woman who was crying.”
Shrader looked behind him after hearing gun shots and saw a puddle of blood and an individual who had been shot just a few yards behind him.
“There was so much blood, I could only see a lower body and legs,” Shrader said, callng the scene “horrific.” Shrader said CPR was performed, but the individual didn’t seem responsive.
He added that this was the only individual he saw that was shot, and is unsure if this was Corey Comperatore, a local fire chief who died protecting his daughter from the bullet from the assassination attempt. Other than the killer, he was the only person to die thus far in the tragedy.
“I saw the president put his hands to his head a little bit and hold up his vest, but I didn’t see any blood,” Shrader added.
He thought the president may have not been shot because he defiantly raised his fist in the air following the attempted assassination. He also applauded the Secret Service for immediately jumping on Trump to keep him safe. Trump was wounded in the right ear by a bullet.
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“The shots sounded relatively quiet. I was worried that somebody had pulled out a handgun behind me and was firing over at the president,” he said.
Shrader only realized later that there was a building that was swarming with tactical soldiers, where the shooter was located.
Soon after, the Secret Service showed up to the VIP section to direct guests out of the bleachers and helped guests exit quickly.
Shrader described being lucky and blessed for being alive after the rally.
Although Shrader said he enjoys politics and being involved in his community, it will be a long time before he attends another political rally.
“I’m definitely going to take a many-year break from rallies just because this was a genuinely close call for me,” he said. “I dropped everything and made sure I was here, and, just to think that it could have gone very differently is, it’s a scary thought.”
With that being said, Shrader is excited about voting for Trump in the upcoming election.
“I think that many Trump supporters are galvanized. The president showed great strength in the face of this. I will walk through broken glass to vote for him,” he said.
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Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Brooke Singman, and Lucas Y. Tomlinson contributed to this report