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Photographer Doug Mills on capturing bullet during Trump’s rally assassination attempt
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Doug Mills had his finger on the shutter when a gunman opened fire during former President Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday.
Mills, who was covering the rally for the New York Times, initially thought the noise came from a vehicle, but he quickly realized it was something much more serious.
“When I saw him kind of grimace and look to his right and then grab his ear, and looked at it, I thought, and then he went down. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s been shot’,” said Mills.
Mills has covered presidents since 1983 but never envisioned he would be witnessing an assassination attempt.
According to law enforcement officials, the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, shot into the rally the former president was holding and fired six to eight rounds with an AR-style weapon. A Secret Service sniper quickly shot and killed him. Armed agents immediately whisked Trump off the stage, blood running down the side of his face.
One audience member, Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed in the shooting, and two other men are in critical condition.
Despite the chaos, Mills kept taking photos with his Sony camera, which shoots 30 frames per second.
“When he was ushered off the stage, I thought that was going to be the picture that, you know, he was bloodied here, gave the, you know, fist pump. And I thought, you know, as I’m looking back at my camera, I’m sending pictures directly to The New York Times from my camera,” said Mills.
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Mills suddenly realized he had forgotten to send the photos taken while Trump was speaking. As he reviewed them, he noticed Trump grimacing and thought it might be the moment he was shot. He immediately sent those images to his editor and urged her to closely examine them. Although she initially doubted it, she called back a few minutes later and let him know he had captured something bigger – an image likely to be seen in history books years from now.
“I got a text and a call from her saying, You won’t believe this. We think we have a picture. You have a picture of the bullet on his head. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh’,” Mills said.
Mills then sent the raw image file to ensure all data was included. An FBI forensic expert later verified that the photo indeed showed the bullet.
Another pivotal image from this incident shows the former president raising his fist and yelling at the crowd to “fight.” Mills described how, at that moment, Trump appeared defiant, looking at the crowd and yelling. However, just a few frames later, the shock seemed to hit him.
“He has a completely blank look. He looked very pale at the time, and then all the blood was on his ear and then coming out of it around his mouth. And I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. I hope it’s not as bad as it looks’,” said Mills.
Mills’ mentor, Ron Edmonds, the late photographer for the Associated Press, was present during the assassination attempt on former President Ronald Reagan. Mills recalled speaking with him many times over their 15 years working together and remembered his advice: Always keep shooting.
“When it happened, I just instinctively went forward rather than backward. And that always stuck with me, that go forward, don’t go backward,” Mills said. “So when it happened, even though the former president’s staff were yelling at me to get down, get down, and the Secret Service were yelling at us to get down, I probably didn’t do the safest thing, but I ran around the side of the stage to try and capture those moments.”
See more of Mills’ photos in the New York Times here.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Wagon rolls over at Wisconsin apple orchard injuring about 25 children and adults