New York couple reflects on aftermath of Trump rally

For Aaron Gaza and his girlfriend, Kailey Coelho, a day of joy and patriotism turned into their worst nightmare.

“It’s the most traumatic thing I’ve ever experienced,” Coelho said.

The Capital Region couple were sitting in the stands behind former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania when shots were fired.

“At first I didn’t think they were gunshots,” Coelho said. “They were so loud my ears were ringing. I was already sitting on the bleachers and I felt my boyfriend fall first, then he climbed on top of me to protect me from the bullets. But then we heard screams and saw people falling to our left. When I looked up and saw the blood, I thought, ‘This is real. This is happening,’” Coelho said.

It was Coelho’s first time at a political rally, while Gaza has participated in half a dozen rallies in support of Trump since 2016.

He said it had the strictest security and that in the moments before the shots were fired he could see something was wrong.

“I had looked behind the stands, I had observed the secret services who had been alerted by something a minute before. You could see the snipers pulling out their rifles. You could see the crowd way beyond the roof. They were under the roof and they had been alerted by something. They were running. You could see them scattering on the pitch. So as soon as the shots rang out, I knew it was something serious,” Gaza said.

Both are hesitant to participate in another large-scale event, but their message to others is simple.

“Of course, you can’t live your life in fear. You always have to keep that in mind, as if it could happen and it was a possibility. So you have to know your environment and know what to do,” Coelho said.