Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Doug Mills had his finger on the shutter when a An armed man opened fire at former President Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday.
Mills, who was covering the rally for The New York Times, initially thought the noise was coming from a vehicle, but quickly realized it was something much more serious.
“When I saw him wince, look to his right, and then grab his ear and look at it, I thought, and then he fell. I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s been shot,'” Mills said.
Mills has been covering presidents since 1983, but never imagined he would witness an assassination attempt.
According to law enforcement, the shooter, identified as being 20 years old Thomas Matthew CrooksBethel Park, Pennsylvania, officer fired into the former president’s rally, firing six to eight rounds from an AR-style weapon. A Secret Service sniper quickly shot and killed him. Armed agents immediately removed Trump from the stage, blood streaming down the side of his face.
A member of the public, a firefighter from Pennsylvania Corey Companionwas killed in the shooting, and two other men are in critical condition.
Despite the chaos, Mills continued to take pictures with his Sony camera, which shoots at 30 frames per second.
“When he was being led off the scene, I thought this was going to be the picture where he was bloodied, where he threw a punch. And I thought, you know, looking at my camera, I’ll send pictures straight to The New York Times from my camera,” Mills said.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Mills suddenly realized he had forgotten to send the photos taken while Trump was speaking. As he looked at them, he noticed Trump grimacing and thought that might be the moment he was shot. He immediately sent the images to his editor and urged her to examine them carefully. Although she was initially skeptical, she called him back a few minutes later and let him know he had taken something bigger — an image that might be seen in the history books years from now.
“I got a text and a call from her saying, ‘You’re not going to believe this. We think we have a picture. You have a picture of the bullet in his head. And I was like, ‘Oh my God,'” Mills said.
Mills then sent the raw image file to make sure all the data was included. An FBI forensic scientist later verified that the photo did indeed show the bullet.
Another key image from the incident shows the former president raising his fist and yelling at the crowd to “fight.” Mills described how, at that moment, Trump appeared defiant, staring at the crowd and yelling. However, a few frames later, the shock seemed to hit him.
“He had a completely blank stare. He was very pale at the time, and then all the blood was on his ear and then coming out around his mouth. And I thought, ‘Oh my God. I hope this isn’t as bad as it looks,’” Mills said.
Mills’ mentor, the late Associated Press photographer Ron Edmonds, was present during the assassination attempt on former President Ronald Reagan. Mills recalled speaking with him many times during their 15-year collaboration and recalled his advice: “Never stop taking pictures.”
“When it happened, I instinctively moved forward rather than back. And that’s always stuck with me: You have to move forward, not back,” Mills said. “So when it happened, even though the former president’s staff was yelling at me to duck, duck, and the Secret Service was yelling at us to do it, I probably didn’t do the safest thing, but I ran to the side of the stage to try to capture those moments.”
See more photos of Mills in the New York Times here.
