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Published 18:14 IST, October 2nd 2024

Pennsylvania Town Grapples with Trump Assassination Attempt Ahead of His Return

The assassination attempt on the former president was felt deeply in Butler County, a mountainous community north of Pittsburgh.

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Donald Trump with Secret Service agents.
Donald Trump with Secret Service agents. | Image: AP

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is returning this weekend to the town where an assassin's bullet grazed his ear in July.

The assassination attempt on the former president was felt deeply in Butler County, a mountainous community north of Pittsburgh.

Trump enjoys wide support there, and many are expecting a large crowd at the Farm Show property west of town.

But there's also some apprehension and fear.

Residents say they have a sense that Butler’s wounds are still healing.

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, a lot of people who attended the rally came in to his café.

“A lot of the people that came into our shop were at the rally and I think they were still in shock from what they had seen, heard, smelled,” Cummings said.

Butler resident Jim Perry attended the July rally and said he sat a few rows above former Buffalo Township Fire Company Chief Corey Comperatore who was fatally shot.

“For a few days after, after the event, I believe, I just felt kind of numb.”

Updated 18:14 IST, October 2nd 2024