With temperatures soaring into the 90s, an ambulance was shuttling back and forth between the July 13 Trump rally in Pennsylvania and Butler Memorial Hospital. According to Karen Foerster, 53, she was among those affected by the intense heat.

Karen and her husband, Rick Foerster, 56, frequently attend Trump rallies within a 100-mile radius of their Beaver County, Pennsylvania, home. This time, they had secured front-row seats.

Arriving at 9 a.m., they waited until the gates opened at 1 p.m. Just as the initial speakers began, Karen started feeling unwell due to the heat. Rick had gone to the car to get drinks. Karen remembered a shaded tree she saw upon entering the event and decided to seek refuge there. On her way, she met Rick, who immediately noticed her condition. He called for assistance, and soon, a golf cart transported her to the medical tent. Shortly after, she was in an ambulance heading to the hospital.

Medics informed her that the hospital was bustling with many heat-related cases from both the rally and a nearby car show at the airport. Upon arrival, she noticed the waiting room was crowded.

In a room with a nurse, Karen saw that the nurse was watching the Trump rally on her computer. After a test, while they were returning, Rick ran up to them with startling news.

"I ran down the hallway toward the bathroom and shouted, ‘Karen! Karen! Trump was just shot in the head,’" Rick told The Epoch Times. He had been near another rally attendee who received a call from someone still at the rally, reporting the incident.

The nurse and Ms. Foerster were in disbelief. A woman they met in the waiting room fell against the wall and immediately started crying.

They worried about their friends still at the rally: Were they in danger? And what did they see?

“What a horrible, horrible thing to witness,” Ms. Foerster told to the journalist.

She knew they were at the closest hospital and thought it was likely they would bring the former president there. A lot of people were crying. Most in the waiting room had heard the former president had been shot in the head but didn’t know he was able to walk to the car.

“Next thing I know, cops fly in, Secret Service flies up, and the shortest girl gets out, starts pointing at windows and doors, and telling people where to go,” Ms. Foerster said.

The hospital immediately went into lockdown, the Foersters said, and the computer system was down at that time, seemingly as part of the security protocol. People gathered by the window of the emergency room and watched as former President Trump emerged from his vehicle. They were elated once they saw him walking on his own. Secret Service had him surrounded.

Mr. Foerster recorded the moments on video and in photos. He did get one blurry photo of the former president. Most compelling were the voices of concern in the waiting room. Later they learned the bullet struck his ear and narrowly missed his skull.

At the same time former President Trump arrived, a state police vehicle that looked like it was part of the motorcade also arrived. That vehicle had a shattered front driver’s side window, and the people in the emergency room thought someone in that vehicle was being treated medically.

The Pennsylvania State Police told The Epoch Times in an email that “the trooper had to enter the vehicle quickly and did not have a key fob.”

Waiting Room

In the waiting room, Mr. Foerster announced that he and his wife were going to pray for the former president and invited others to join them in a corner.

“We had four or five people come over and we just prayed and interceded for him. We held hands. Each one of us took a turn praying, and lifted him up,” Mr. Foerster said.

While in the waiting room, many people were comparing notes about the news coverage of the assassination attempt. Mr. Foerster then read aloud a quote made by President Joe Biden days before:

“I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” President Biden reportedly said on a private donor call.

The Secret Service overheard the word "bullseye" and took Mr. Foerster into a room for questioning. He explained that he was reading the news, that he loves former President Trump and has attended many of his rallies. The agent let him go.

No one was allowed to leave until former President Trump left. Before he made his way to the car, the Secret Service came into the waiting room, closed the shades, and said no more photos and videos, Mr. Foerster said.

It struck Ms. Foerster that they had witnessed a moment in history from a different vantage point than most people experienced that day. The couple left the hospital that evening, with Ms. Foerster in better health, and even a bit grateful that her illness sent them to the hospital, so they were not present for the shooting.