New York Times photographer Doug Mills stunned Americans when he captured the iconic photo of former President Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend as a bullet grazed his ear and passed by him.
With the moment still in the spotlight as the Republican National Convention kicks off on Monday, Mills gave an interview to Fox News recounting her experience of the shocking incident.
“I happened to be below when the president was speaking, shooting directly below him with a wide-angle lens, and there was a huge flag flying directly above his head, and I happened to be taking a photo at the same time,” he told Milwaukee's America's Newsroom.
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Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“Then I heard a pop, so I guess I just kept pressing the shutter, and then I saw him reach for the camera. [ear]”He grimaced and grabbed his hands and I looked and there was blood and he collapsed and I thought, 'Oh my God, he's been shot,'” he continued.
Mills, like many others at the scene, didn't initially realize the sound was a gunshot.
He recalled how Secret Service agents surrounded the former president within seconds, blocking Trump's view.
This photo, taken by New York Times photographer Doug Mills, shows a bullet whizzing past the former president. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
“They were the only ones I saw, and [they’re] “Officers had their guns drawn, guns were everywhere and people were yelling, 'Down, down, down! There's a shooter, there's a shooter!'” he recalled.
“Probably it wasn't the smartest thing to do to run straight, but [photojournalists do.]”
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Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump raises his fist as he is hurriedly escorted off the stage during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Mills said the moment she realised she had taken a photo of a bullet passing by Trump was “surprising”.
That happened after he was ushered into a tent and began sending his editors the now widely circulated photo of the former president's defiant fist-pump.
“I thought, 'Oh my gosh. I remember taking photos of him when this happened. Let me go back and look at them,' and I started looking at them. I immediately started sending them out and I called one of my editors and said, 'Look closely at this. This might be close to the moment he was shot,'” he said.
“She called me about five minutes later and said, 'I can't believe this,'” he said. “I could actually see the bullet going off in the back of his head and I was like, 'Oh my God.'
Mills said he took photos of the rally with a Sony A1 camera.
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Taylor Penley is deputy editor at Fox News.