(NewsNation) — A man who was not far from the bleachers Saturday at former President Donald Trump’s suburban Pittsburgh rally said he knew what was happening almost immediately.
“It was apparent they were trying to kill the president,” said Dr. Joseph Meyn, who said he also witnessed the fatal shooting of a man near him.
The former president was the target of an apparent assassination attempt Saturday at the rally, reported The Associated Press. The rally was held days before he was to accept the Republican nomination for a third time. A barrage of gunfire set off panic, and a bloodied Trump, who said he was shot in the ear, was surrounded by Secret Service and hurried to his SUV as he pumped his fist in a show of defiance.
“The first few shots hit people,” said Meyn. “In the bleachers right ahead of me, a man got a gunshot wound and was killed instantaneously. It was a direct hit. His body immediately fell into the bleachers.”
As shocking as that was, Meyn told Nexstar’s NewsNation, he watched the victim’s relatives trying to help, and ask if the man would be OK.
“I just remember someone saying, ‘No, he’s dead.’”
Beyond his immediate location, Meyn saw Trump look to the left (from Meyn’s view) just before the shots.
“Donald Trump was a hair’s breadth away from being assassinated,” he said. “Had he not looked to the left … he would have got hit directly in the head. (Instead) it looked like a piece of his ear got sliced off from one of the rounds.”
And after the shots came from the gunman, it was just a couple of seconds before Secret Service agents returned fire, Meyn said.
“Almost instantaneously, rounds were coming back in the other direction going back to where the source of the original gunfire was. I was absolutely amazed.”
And once he had a chance to digest the events of Saturday night, Meyn reflected on what he labeled “the most uncivil thing that you’ll ever witness in your life.”
“There’s a mental illness problem in this country, but it’s not just mental illness. There’s a mental illness problem and there’s an anger problem. There’s just a lot of angry people, and it needs to stop,” he said. “This political violence thing has gotten out of hand.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.