Doug Mills, a veteran photographer for The New York Times who has been taking photographs of Presidents since 1983, was only feet away from former President Donald J. Trump at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when shooting started.

He spoke with Victor Mather about the experience.

Q: What did you see and hear today?

Mills: It was a very standard, typical rally. The former President was maybe an hour late. The crowd had been hot all day. Donald J. Trump arrived, waving to the crowd, just like any other rally he does.

There’s a pool of photographers, maybe four of us, who were in what is called the buffer area just a couple feet from the former President. We were all jostling around in there trying to get our normal pictures.

All of a sudden, there was what I thought were three or four loud pops. At first I thought it was a car. The last thing I thought was it was a gun.

I kept taking pictures. He went down behind the lectern, and I thought, “Oh my God, something’s happened.”

Then all the agents started running on the stage, and they basically completely covered him. I could hear them yelling. At first someone saying, “Sir, sir, sir.”

With that, the counter-snipers, also members of the Secret Service, whom we rarely see unless they’re on a roof or something, they come up out of nowhere and were up on the stage holding automatic rifles.

I went from one side of the stage to another to see if I could see him any better. And that’s when he got up and put his fist in the air. And I thought, “He’s alive, he’s alive.”

I could see blood on his face. I kept taking pictures. As tough as he looked in that one picture with his fist looking very defiant, the next frame I took, he looked completely drained. Very, very shocked.

As he came down the steps, the Secret Service completely covered him in a blanket of people and they walked him all the way to his SUV.

Q: What happened in the aftermath?

Mills: I turned around and I saw people screaming and heard somebody had been shot in the crowd. They held us in Trump’s normal holding tent for probably 30 minutes.

Mills: When we came out we saw the littered field, plastic bottles, cellphones, a motorised wheelchair just abandoned.

Q: In your career, have you ever been in a similar situation?

Mills: I’ve always feared being in this situation. I always wondered what I’d do in this situation. I hope I get the right shot. I hope I’m not shot myself.

At first I thought right away, “Could I be shot?” It was scary.

I’ve never been in a more horrific scene. As much as I’ve covered Presidents for 35 to 40 years, it’s not something I ever wanted to witness.

There were a lot of members of his staff backstage crying, I got lots of hugs, all just saying, “I’m so glad we’re OK.” I never envisioned being in a situation like this.

New York Times News Service