Ashland’s Trump rally survivors recount harrowing experience

ASHLAND — Kelly and Patrick Eckrich stood a mere 50 feet away from former President Donald Trump with thousands of other supporters when shots rang out on July 13 in Butler, Pa. 

Now, a week later, Kelly wakes up with splitting headaches, rattled from disturbing dreams. Patrick is still processing the traumatic experience.

In the moment that lasted seconds, she thought she and her husband were part of another mass shooting, like the one that left 60 people dead at a 2017 Las Vegas concert.

The Eckrichs, Ashland residents, traveled to the suburb 50 miles north of Pittsburgh to witness Trump’s rally.

Kelly had seen the former president in 2016 at a similar rally in Dayton, with her mother.

“That was the first rally I’ve been to,” she said.

She and her husband of 34 years, parents to four grown children, have more down time these days. They are both registered Republicans, but haven’t considered themselves politically outspoken. Neither of them own Trump garb.

The couple appreciate Trump’s business acumen and his policy at the Mexican border. Patrick said he also prefers Trump in office over Joe Biden, especially considering their son serves as an officer in the Army National Guard.

“If he were ever called to war, I wouldn’t want Biden overseeing him,” Patrick said.

Their 25 year-old son just married in June. He now lives in Kansas City with his new bride. The couple married in Pittsburgh. 

“I used to show horses in Butler, so we were familiar with the area,” Kelly said. “I thought, ‘Well, we’ve been to the area, we have time right now — let’s go check it out.’ ” 

The original plan was to take her mother. But the day’s heat made her reconsider and Patrick agreed to tag along. They’d make a day of it, and stop at their favorite Italian restaurant — Station Square in Liberty — on the way home.

They arrived at the Butler Farm Show grounds at around 3 p.m. Trump was due to begin speaking at 5 p.m.

Patrick Eckrich remembers waiting in line for a long time. There were two security checkpoints, where spectators were ushered through metal detectors and guards used wands to confiscate prohibited objects.

They meandered their way to a favorable spot, where they then waited shoulder-to-shoulder with others. Supporters, they noted, were of all ages — young children, teens, college-aged, middle age and seniors. 

At one point, Kelly — who stands 5-foot-2 — climbed onto a railing of a fence to gain a better view.

The couple spotted Trump’s motorcade arriving at around 5 p.m. It was another hour before Trump began his speech.

‘Those shots aren’t going to hurt anyone’

At 6:11 p.m., a volley of three gunshots rang out. Kelly and Patrick thought they were firecrackers. A couple seconds later, another five shots.

“I saw (Trump) fall. My husband grabbed me down. I still have a bruise from when he grabbed me. We hit the ground and got down,” she said. 

Patrick said instinct took over. While on the ground with his wife, Patrick remembers hearing a hissing sound. He discovered a speaker had been shot, and it was spewing an oily fluid. He heard some screams, but overall those surreal moments were “calm,” he said. 

Kelly, while on the ground, thought someone was messing around with firecrackers. 

But then she turned her head and saw others hit the ground.

“We were under siege. And I thought to myself ‘we’re getting mowed down.’ I thought of Las Vegas,” she said.

Kelly has a background in counseling people through trauma. She’s a licensed counselor with Family Life Counseling and Psychiatric Services.

She described her next thought as her brain’s way of processing the horrific reality. 

“My next thought was … ‘those shots aren’t going to hurt anyone.’ It sounded so soft,” she said, acknowledging she does not have experience with firearms.

“I’ve never shot (a gun). I’m not really privy to hearing gunshots in person.” 

The next moments were filled with confusion, both remembered. The couple worked to get out of there and back to their vehicle.

During the mile walk, they overheard people saying Trump had blood on his shirt, that he was hit in the shoulder, that he was hit in the head.

“People we’re crying, ‘he’s dead.’ Just all this talk going on. We really didn’t know what to believe at that point,” Patrick said. 

The couple remembered hearing people chant “USA” and “Fight,” but their focus was getting back to their car. Kelly stopped along the way to check on people’s well-being, but she said she didn’t bother to look behind her.

Patrick said he can’t erase one image still imprinted on his mind. Recalling the memory, his voice became shaky. 

“A father — and he was hunkered down with his son. Just trying to tell him that everything was going to be OK and just holding him and just — just kneeled down by the back of his pickup truck,” he said. 

Kelly wrote a short essay about the experience and shared it to her 428 Instagram followers. She also was struck by the impact the assassination attempt will have on youth.

“… it was a privilege to see these younger generations care about what matters to them. But these guys lose. I saw it today very clearly. Their eyes said it,” she wrote.

The couple hopes that sharing their experience will help bring unity during a dark time.

“This is an opportunity to rally all of us through as a unit, to come to a sense of understanding of others’ beliefs,” Kelly said. “Let’s be civil and maybe even a tad nicer than basic civility.

“Good always wins anyways.”

Processing the experience

The couple attended a work-related golf outing on Sunday, the day after the rally. Kelly said she was out of it, not present mentally. But she went to work on Monday. 

However, on Tuesday, she woke up unable to breathe. 

“My head was pounding. I was just constantly thinking about this incident,” she said.

The symptoms are typical, she explained. It’s called acute stress disorder, and if the symptoms persist for a month, patients can be diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. She took the rest of the week off, in order to process.

On Saturday, a week after the shooting, Kelly said she woke up to “a dream of a fire in a large field.” 

Patrick is still processing. 

“What if there was another shooter? What if there were a couple people and they just sprayed the crowd? We were 25, 50 feet from some of the victims. And the speaker, right back of us, that was shot … we were probably in direct line right there,” he said. 

For now, both are grateful to be alive