Pennsylvania town grapples with Trump assassination attempt ahead of his return

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — Donald Trump is going back to Butler, where the world last saw him pump his fist and beseech followers to “fight,” even as blood streaked his face from a would-be assassin's bullet.

In announcing his return, the former president and current Republican nominee said he planned to “celebrate a unifying vision for America’s future in an event like the world has never seen before.”

The question is: Is Butler ready?

While many are predicting a large crowd to hear Trump speak back at the very Farm Show property where a bullet grazed his right ear on July 13, there is also apprehension in town, along with a sense that Butler is still healing.

“I’ve consulted with, at least, like 500 people since this has happened,” said registered nurse Shanea Clancy, who runs a mental health consulting service in Butler County and has seen people more anxious since the shooting. Some show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.

“The big theme, if you will, is just, ‘How did something like that happen in our backyard?’” Clancy said. “People don’t expect trauma to show up at their door on any given day.”

The assassination attempt has resonated deeply in the mountainous community north of Pittsburgh. Trump enjoys wide support there, having easily doubled Hillary Clinton’s vote total on his way to winning the White House in 2016. He nearly did so again against Joe Biden in 2020. But Butler County was better for Democrats two years ago, when the party's gubernatorial nominee, Josh Shapiro, took about 43% of the vote there.

To claim the pivotal swing state of Pennsylvania in November, Trump needs to drive up voter turnout in conservative strongholds like Butler County, an overwhelmingly white, rural-suburban community with a record of voting for Republicans.

On Saturday, the former president will speak where thousands of people, including children, witnessed him and the others get shot. Former Buffalo Township Fire Company Chief Corey Comperatore was killed, while David Dutch and James Copenhaver were both hospitalized with injuries. U.S. Secret Service killed the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Stunned in the aftermath, some rally goers held impromptu prayer groups as they walked back to their cars. It seems just about everyone in Butler County was either at the rally or knows someone who was.

Last weekend, retired food service worker Sally Sarvey was picking up Trump signs and a T-shirt from a Republican Party tent at a street festival in nearby Slippery Rock. She said she will “make it a point” to witness Trump's return this Saturday, but she's mindful of what happened in July.

“Hopefully they'll have more security that acts faster,” Sarvey said.

There are visible signs of the tension left behind. “Fight” graffiti — echoing Trump’s words in the immediate aftermath of the shooting — began showing up around Butler County in the ensuing two weeks. In some places, the word “fight” on roadways was countered by another spray painted message: “love.”

The assassination attempt has been the “No. 1 topic” of conversation since July 13, said Jim Hulings, chairman of the Butler County Republican Committee. He has so many lingering questions about the shooting and consequent investigations that he keeps a running list.

“There’s a lot of activity going on right now, people wanting answers,” Hulings said. “I am not in a minority there at all. There’s a lot of people asking questions.”

Police and emergency officials have faced questions from investigators looking into the shootings from the state police, FBI and Congress. The county government has fielded some 300 open records requests, five times what it normally gets in a year. Many are bracing for litigation that could extend for years.

“I'm not going to lie — it's a burden on all of us,” said Butler Emergency Services Director Steve Bicehouse. “It wears on you. And it's been a trying time the last several months.”

County Commissioner Kevin Boozel, the only Democrat holding countywide elected office in Butler, said what happened two months ago has some concerned about Saturday's rally. The previous security failure is the major issue, but authorities at the July event also contended with extreme heat and humidity that kept emergency responders busy treating people in distress even before the shooting. Several people required hospital treatment.

Boozel has fielded “plenty of emails saying, ‘Don’t let him back here,’” he said of Trump. “Because emotionally, we’re not ready for that.”

Retired librarian Kathy Kline, who lives in Butler, said she supports Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race and feels there has been insufficient consideration for those who oppose Trump returning. Kline belongs to a Facebook group, “Butler PA Women for Kamala Harris," that's grown to some 1,500 members in recent months.

“I personally am never opposed to any political figure coming into our community and sharing their policies,” Kline said. “That’s the American way. But you know, you need to come in with some respect and integrity and leave all of that chaos and ugliness out of it.”

Barry Cummings' coffee shop near the Farm Show property where the shooting occurred was closed briefly after the shooting. In the immediate aftermath, he said, he was determined to reach out to people who don’t share his political views.

“I tended to try to listen more than speak,” said Cummings, a registered Democrat. He wanted to hear “the feelings on the other side, you know, and I think that brought us a little closer together.”

Kim Geyer, a Republican Butler County commissioner, plans to attend the rally Saturday, just as she did in July when she sat behind Trump.

“I kind of have mixed feelings about it, but I’m resolved to moving forward,” Geyer said. “I think that the people that may be affected more negatively are going to just stay home. And the people that want to feel the inspiration and the energy from the Trump movement are going to attend to support President Trump and let him finish what he began.”

Some Trump supporters have been looking for ways to memorialize the attempted assassination. One artist is working on a 9-foot-high sculpture of Trump in Butler, although it's unclear where it might be installed. Another artist, Butler metal worker and Trump supporter Bill Secunda, spent two weeks reworking an existing life-sized Trump sculpture to better reflect his response after being shot, with his right arm raised and fist clenched.

Secunda and a friend quietly installed it in a tent at the Butler Farm Show in August, where it became popular for selfies. He's already had a $50,000 offer for the sculpture.

“I don’t even think I saw a sour look, which was kind of surprising because, you know, I’ve lost customers over doing a piece like that," Secunda said.

Meanwhile, the Butler Historical Society has put on hold until spring, at least, its plans to collect local residents’ stories about the shooting. The organization is looking into how it would keep the stories sealed for 75 years, as had been the plan.

Geyer said she expects Butlerites will find more ways to pay tribute to the victims.

“It was a tragic day and nobody wishes it happened or occurred in their county,” Geyer said. “I believe that the people who live and work here are resilient people. We’re going to move forward.”

A car passes signs supporting Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in Butler, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Dr. Shanea Clancy speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Butler, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

James Eckstein who is campaigning for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, holds is organizer containing sticker and buttons at the Butler Fall Festival in Butler, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Barry Cummings speaks with Jim Perry who witnessed an assassination attempt against Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, at his shop Cummings Candy & Coffee in Butler, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Painted rocks, including one expressing support for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris are seen at Heidi Priest's home in Butler, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Artist Bill Secunda posses for a photograph with his sculpture of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, in Butler, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Jim Perry who witnessed an assassination attempt against Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, plans to attend an upcoming rally, sits outside Cummings Candy & Coffee in Butler, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Show in graffiti in the area of the Butler Farm Show, the sight of an assassination attempt against Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in Butler, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Jim Hulings, chairman of the Butler County Republican Committee, poses for a photograph in Zelienople, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Heidi Priest speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Butler, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

People attend the Butler Fall Festival in Butler, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A sign supporting Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump is posted in Jim Hulings, chairman of the Butler County Republican Committee yard in Zelienople, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germans began Saturday mourning another violent attack and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor drove a black BMW into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers on Friday evening, killing at least two people, including a small child, and injuring at least 60 others in what authorities called a deliberate attack.

Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old who has been living in Germany for nearly two decades and practicing medicine there. He was arrested Friday evening at the site of the attack as medical officials tended to the injured, and was taken into custody for questioning.

But on Saturday there were still no answers as to what caused the man to drive into a crowd in the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg.

The violence shocked the country and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser were due to travel to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives," Scholz wrote on X. "We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.”

Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 people, west of Berlin, that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone, his head arched up slightly. Other officers soon arrived and took the man into custody.

The two people confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler, but officials said additional deaths couldn't be ruled out because 15 people had been seriously injured.

“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city," Saxony-Anhalt's governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters. “Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many.”

Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who moved to Germany in 2006 and who had been practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned the attack on X but did not mention the suspect’s connection to the kingdom.

Christmas markets are a German holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.

Hours after Friday's tragedy, the wail of sirens clashed with the market’s festive ornaments, stars and leafy garlands.

Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens. The cacophony was so loud “you had to assume that something terrible had happened.”

She called the attack “a dark day” for the city.

“We are shaking,” Steffen said. “Full of sympathy for the relatives, also in the hope that nothing has happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.”

The attack reverberated far beyond Magdeburg, with Haseloff calling it a catastrophe for the city, state and country. He said flags would be lowered to half-staff in Saxony-Anhalt and that the federal government planned to do the same.

“It is really one of the worst things one can imagine, particularly in connection with what a Christmas market should bring," the governor said.

Moulson reported from Berlin.

Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, center, is flanked by Tamara Zieschang, Minister of the Interior and Sport of Saxony-Anhalt, left, and Simone Borris, Mayor of the City of Magdeburg, at a press conference after a car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)

Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)

Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)

Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)

A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

In this screen grab image from video, special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)

Reiner Haseloff (M, CDU), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, makes a statement after an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)

A police officer speaks with a man at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A policeman is seen at the Christmas market where an incident happened in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)

A firefighter walks through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A view of the cordoned-off Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)

A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Forensics work on a damaged car sitting with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)