Onlooker describes moment Donald Trump arrived at Pennsylvania hospital after being shot in ear at rally
Rally-goers were already at the hospital suffering from the effects of the heat when the wounded ex-president arrived
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Louise Thomas
Editor
A Donald Trump supporter watched the former president's arrival at a Pennsylvania hospital on Saturday following an assassination attempt.
Richard Foerster was planning to attend the rally with his wife Karen. He had purchased VIP tickets and got to the field in Butler, Pennsylvania early to snag good spots. But the 97-degree Fahrenheit heat and lack of shade at the rally proved to be too much for Karen, who fainted and required transport to the nearby Butler Memorial Hospital.
"There was nothing between us and the stage except a metal barrier," he said. "I'm literally 15 feet from the podium," he told Fox News Digital. "At about 4:30 p.m., my wife was getting dizzy and faint, and so we went to get help, and they took her to a cooling tent,"
He said his wife's "blood pressure spiked," which caused the medical workers at the event to send her for advanced care in a hospital.
While his wife was receiving treatment in the hospital, Foerster saw that some of the staff were watching Trump's rally on a hospital TV and joined them.
He called a friend who was at the rally, but was interrupted when someone told him "Oh my gosh, President Trump has been shot."
Trump was shot at by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, for reasons that are still unknown. As shown in the now iconic images taken of the moment, Trump's right ear was damaged in the attack, and he has made appearances since the shooting wearing a large, white bandage on his head.
Crooks also killed a 50-year-old Trump supporter who was at the rally. The 20-year-old was killed by Secret Service snipers moments after his volley of shots at Trump.
Foerster told Fox News Digital that the anguish of Trump being shot caused a nurse to cry and a lady to fall out of her wheelchair.
He then learned that he'd still get a close encounter with Trump — it was just going to be at the hospital.
His wife told him that the police were going to bring Trump "here since we're only like 10 minutes, but six miles away."
In a video filmed by Foerster, several people in the hospital watch the as Secret Service members arrive to secure the parking lot in preparation for Trump's arrival. Trump is barley visible in the video, but he does arrive at the hospital at the end of the footage.
Foerster said he got "emotional" when he saw Trump walking. He had expected Trump to be dead or on a stretcher.
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