Bullets were once again aimed toward former President Trump on Sunday, Sep. 15, according to ABC News. The July 13 assassination attempt, which occurred within 15 miles of SRU, continues to affect the campus community.
Butler County firefighter Corey Comperatore lost his life that day. Slippery Rock’s Mayor Longo was close to the line of fire and several students were in attendance.
SRU senior Ben Lydon was at the July 13 rally alongside other students. His group arrived near 1:30 p.m. and said the day was “really busy and hot.”
He recalled seeing Longo and local politician Dave McCormick speak at around 3 p.m. as the crowd awaited the former president.
“President Trump was supposed to come on at five o’clock to give remarks but actually ended up getting delayed until six,” Lydon said. “Crowd was really excited for him to speak…about 8-10 minutes later is when everything started happening.”
Lydon reported being “midway” toward the stage when the incident occurred. His group did not see the gunman or any bullets, but they did see smoke trails.
“Soon as we heard those three pops, everybody screamed, hit the ground. It was just pure panic,” he said. “Shortly after that, there was four more pops, which we assume now was the Secret Service Officers.”
The SRU student said he was very confused and thought the noises were from firecrackers. He claimed one of the bullets hit a hose that began spraying water all over the crowd, which added to the confusion.
“You’re never expecting to be in the line of fire, never expect to be in the presence of a gunman,” he said.
After that, the crowd quickly disbanded. “It was like a stampede…we all just started running for the car, which was pretty far away,” Lydon said. Everybody in his group remained physically unharmed.
“It’s really hard to believe and kind of hard to talk about, just because me, personally, I care a lot about the president,” Lydon stated a few days after the incident. “Political violence on either side of the table, it’s just…heartbreaking. Put simply, I’m still pretty traumatized.”
“You don’t have to agree with everybody. That’s what makes America, America. And if we can all respect each other on either side, I think this country would be in a different place right now. I think we’d all be a little happier too,” Lydon said.
One SRU grad, Ian Phelps, attended high school with Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter, and agreed that violence is not the answer.
“This has affected our community directly, whether it be other students who might have been in attendance or just those who had family members and community members who were there. No matter what you think of Trump, we have to support each other and make sure that this violence does not continue,” Phelps said.
