As Cops Scrambled at Trump Rally Shooting, Operators Assured 911 Callers Police Were in Control
On Wednesday, more than three months after the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Pennsylvania county officials finally released 911 recordings from the July 13 rally. The Intercept filed a lawsuit in September for the recordings, which Butler County refused to provide without a court order.
The calls began flooding the Butler County emergency services one minute after shots rang out at the Butler Farm Show grounds, the recordings show. Callers expressed fear, terror, and confusion in the chaotic aftermath. Relatives of attendees called the emergency lines in alarm, afraid for their loved ones.
Despite police and Secret Service agents having identified the shooter as a suspicious person at least 25 minutes prior to the shooting, 911 operators assured worried callers that law enforcement was aware of and handling the situation.
Gunshot at the Trump rally," a woman told the Butler County 911 operator on one of 15 audio files of 911 calls released to The Intercept. The operator told the caller police were on their way. Better get here quick," they said. In another call, the operator told a different caller that the situation was being handled.
Butler County redacted callers' names and phone numbers from the recordings.
People can be heard screaming in the background of several calls, adding to the sense of chaos that unfolded that day as attendees waited for police to respond to the shooting. We are at the Trump assembly and there's a guy shooting. He's been shooting up the place," one woman told the 911 operator on another call. The operator told her the police were aware of the shooting and were taking care of the situation. No one's injured, but I'm scared," she said.
In another call, a woman who said her husband was shot at the rally can be heard trying to figure out which hospital he was taken to for treatment. I called Butler hospital, he's not there. They told me to call 911," the woman said. The operator told her he could not get any information at that time but would call her back when they could.
Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, was shot and killed at the rally. Two other people were injured: 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver.
Another woman called 911 asking about her mother, who was in attendance at the rally. The operator assured her police were handling the shooting. What am I supposed to do?" she asked. The operator said police would start getting people out of the vicinity of the shooting.
They just tried to kill President Trump," said a man who called for a paramedic to assist a woman who fainted after law enforcement started evacuating the grounds. You might want to make a note of that."
Soon after the shooting, The Intercept submitted a request under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law for copies of recorded 911 calls during the rally. Multiple outlets requested the same materials, including reporters from Scripps News and NBC News, who also filed lawsuits against the county alongside The Intercept.
Butler County denied all three outlets' requests on identical grounds, citing part of the public records statute that generally exempts 911 recordings from disclosure. The county argued that releasing the 911 calls might jeopardize law enforcement investigations, but it ignored another crucial provision that allows officials to release recordings if the public interest in disclosure outweighs the interest in nondisclosure."
By contrast, police from Butler Township released body camera footage showing their frantic real-time response to the shooter from multiple perspectives. Video footage showed police blaming the Secret Service for failing to secure the building on which the shooter was found. One sergeant is heard making calls to family members at the rally to make sure they got out safely.
In August, the state Office of Open Records found there was a compelling argument concerning the heightened public interest" in the 911 tapes but deferred to Butler County's decision to withhold them.
In a consent order issued Wednesday, Judge Kelley T. D. Streib of the Butler County Court of Common Pleas wrote that the balancing test under Pennsylvania law favored releasing the recordings given the unique, historical circumstances."
The release of public records should be a top priority of government, not a reluctant one that happens only after the threat of litigation," said David Bralow, The Intercept's general counsel. On a personal level, I am saddened when non-profit news organizations have to endure the delay and expense that arises from the government's reluctance to provide what is obviously public information."
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