BUTLER, Pa. — Former Richland Source and Ashland Source reporter Tracy Leturgey is in the midst of the biggest story of the year in Butler, Pa.
If that location sounds familiar, it’s because Butler was the site of an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump late Saturday afternoon.
The Butler Eagle reported at 8:35 p.m. the shooter is dead and at least one other person was killed. Trump was wounded in the right ear, but broadcast reports state that he is OK while being treated locally.
Meanwhile, Leturgey is embarking on this ever-evolving story.
She works for the Butler Eagle, where she’s been the assignment editor and is the digital editor of the community’s daily newspaper. She was originally assigned to work on Saturday, but switched off her shift.
The news cycle changed her plans though, and she sprang into action on Saturday night, when the “all hands on deck” call went out after the shooting.
She was kind enough to call Richland Source on her way to the office.
“My kids are safe and I’m OK,” Leturgey said. “I was originally scheduled to work on the desk today, but I had other plans. Now I’m going back in, though.”
Butler County is about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh, in one of Pennsylvania’s conservative strongholds from a political perspective.
Trump’s campaign stop was planned ahead of time, yet Tracy said Butler officials have been concerned all week about crowd control.
“It’s really been chaos here,” Tracy said. “People were really excited about Trump coming into town.”
Local officials were concerned the crowd could overwhelm the venue.
“This was at the Butler Farm Show, not the fairgrounds. The venue isn’t necessarily big enough to sustain such a crowd (as Trump drew),” she said. “It could hold about 15,000 people at most.”
Tracy said the newspaper had two reporters and a photographer at the scene before the shooting.
She said photographer Morgan Phillips captured an image of Trump bleeding from his right ear, before defiantly shaking his fist toward the crowd and shouting “Fight, Fight, Fight,” while being surrounded by the Secret Service.
At that point, we had to let Leturgey go do her job, coordinating her staff.
The Republican Party national convention is scheduled to begin Monday in Milwaukee, Wisc.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) is a finalist for a spot on the Trump ticket, which the former president said he will unveil at the convention.
Vance took to social media to offer comment on the shooting.
“Today is not just some isolated incident,” Vance said. “The central premise of the (President Joe) Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs.
“That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
President Biden offered a statement Saturday night shortly after the incident.
“I have tried to get a hold of Donald, he’s with his doctors. Apparently, he’s doing well. I plan on talking to him shortly,” the president said. “Look, there’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick.
“It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening,” Biden continued. “We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a Mansfield native, also condemned the shooting in a statement.
“Connie and I are relieved that President Trump is safe, and are praying for the health and safety of all those attending the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania tonight, and for our country,” Brown said.
“We’re grateful to the law enforcement who responded immediately. Political violence is completely unacceptable and has no place in our democracy.”