Butler, Pennsylvania

Moments before, the crowd that had waited for hours in the sweltering heat for Trump to show up — and he turned up an hour later than scheduled — was enchanted by him. They cheered when he asked if they minded if he went off the teleprompter. He had just been turning his head to reference a graphic showing how many fewer illegal deportations there were when he was in office.

Then there were some popping sounds that, from where I was (far in the back, close to the exit), sounded like pop rocks or fireworks. A pause followed and Trump disappeared from view. The people around me were confused, then there was screaming up front.

I exited to the road in the back and heard a woman saying, “Is he OK? No! I miss him!” Someone also said, “they don’t let you have alcohol in here but that guy gets away with this?”

People were holding hands and I heard some praying. Shock, disbelief, obviously confusion. But to me they seemed calmer that I would expect. I bee-lined across a field to where my car was parked.

Earlier in the day I heard a woman reassure her friend who had asked if she was worried about snipers at these events: “No, the Democrats aren’t cool enough to have a snipe gun.”