DENVER — Denver7 on Sunday talked with locals about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, which is undoubtedly a moment that will go down in history.
The sounds of the gunshots at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania Saturday, and the images of Trump raising his fist after taking a bullet to his right ear are already embedded in the memories of Americans.
“Initially, when I heard it, I went, ‘Oh my God! Here we go again.’ I was shocked, disappointed, and I’m always afraid when I think people resort to violence like that,” said Denver resident, Paul Borrillo.
The last assassination attempt on a president or presidential candidate was in 1981 when John Hinckley Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan as he left a speech in Washington, D.C.
Reagan recovered from the March 1981 shooting. Three other people were shot, including his press secretary, James Brady, who was partially paralyzed as a result.
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The last assassination in the U.S. was the 1968 shooting death of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination when he was killed at a Los Angeles hotel — moments after giving his victory speech for winning the 1968 California primary.
That means that those days had only been discussed in history class for younger people like Isabella Bolton. But on Saturday, she was just one of millions picking up her phone at dinner to watch it unfold in real-time.
“The first place I went was Twitter because I knew it would be all over Twitter. And I saw it and started watching the videos,” she said. “It was one of those moments where you were like, ‘Oh, this is a thing that people are going to talk about,’ And it’s the, ‘Where were you when it happened?’ type of questions.”
Some people Denver7 spoke to felt divisive politics played a significant role in what happened.
“I think there’s a lot of just pressure for leadership, and we don’t really have a lot of good choices in leaders at this moment in time, and this one is a little scary,” said Matthew Kelly.
Like many, he’s hopeful change and unity are on the horizon.
“Hopefully, as a country, we can come together and sort of find some unification of just values, like core values, you know, of just wanting to live in peace,” Kelly added.
‘I was shocked, disappointed’: Denver locals react to assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump
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