A San Diego man who has traveled to several Trump rallies was just 10 yards from the former president when gunfire rang out in what officials are now calling an assassination attempt.
Blake Marnell, 59, was in the center of the first row of the audience facing Trump when he heard a noise that came from his left.
“I was 10 yards away from where from where Pres. Trump was speaking and the rally had just started,” he said. “I turned left to see what it was; at first, I thought it was a prank. It seemed really close and nearby, and it was really loud.”
Marnell, who was also in Newport Beach on June 8 when Trump visited a home on Harbor Island during a private fundraiser and in Las Vegas a day later, then watched as Secret Service agents came running onto the stage where Trump was standing.
He knew the scenario was serious when he heard another series of shots.
“I thought, this is gunfire,” he said. “I squatted down for about five seconds, but I was concerned about the president. I could hear the Secret Service talking on stage and begin coordinating how they were moving him. I heard them do a countdown 5, 4, 3 … I didn’t know if I was going to see him carried out. I didn’t know how I would see him.”
He was relieved when he watched Trump — cloaked by Secret Service agents — stand up.
“I could see he had blood on his ear, but I didn’t know whose blood it was or what caused it,” Marnell said. “I could see by how he was shaking his fist and the fire in his eyes; it made me hopeful that he would be OK. He looked defiant and angry. He looked like he wanted to let people know he was OK.”
“When he did that pump, people were yelling and cheering,” Marnell said.
As Trump was swept away by Secret Service, the spectators around him showed all kinds of emotions.
“People were crying, praying, angry and shocked and in disbelief,” Marnell said. “But there was no panic, people weren’t running.”
Once he saw Trump taken away and the response from additional law enforcement agents, all with guns drawn, he felt “safe enough.”
But he could also tell something had happened in the stands behind where the former president had stood on the stage.
“Members of the public were attending to someone injured,” he said, adding that he did not see the victims up close. But he knew by watching the behavior of those helping that something awful had happened.
Marnell got to the rally site at 7 a.m., so he could get a front-row seat. The rally was the third he has attended. As a Republic National Committee delegate, he was on his way to Milwaukee, Wisc., when he learned of Trump’s plans to hold the rally in Butler County.
In 2019, during a campaign rally in Montoursville, Penn., Trump invited Marnell to come up on stage. Marnell was wearing a suit that had a brick wall design to represent a border wall, as USA Today reported.
“Now, we know who he’s voting for,” Trump said after shaking hands with him back then.
Marnell said he “wouldn’t think twice” about attending future rallies that Trump will hold.
“There will be a renewed focus on safety,” he said. “They’ll change the protocol and maybe the rallies won’t be held in big, open outside areas.”
Marnell now looks forward to seeing Trump when he is announced as the Republican candidate, he said, vowing to support him.
“I’m just glad he’s alive.”
