Evansville man sees attempted assassination of Trump from front row

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — An Evansville man is recalling the moment he witnessed the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump from the front row.

“I was about 10 minutes into the speech when I heard pop pop pop, and right away, I knew it was gunfire,” says Michael Boatman.

Boatman was about 10 feet away in front of Trump when the gunman opened fire, injuring the former president, killing a bystander, and wounding several others.

“I could have been right there… and my family could be planning my funeral right now. That is how close I was to Trump,” Boatman says.

Boatman says the man who died, Corey Comperatore, was standing across from him in the bleachers behind Trump.

“You should not have to plan a funeral for someone who was just trying to support a person who they want to be president. This has got to stop,” Boatman says.

Boatman is part of a group called “Front Row Joes” and has seen Trump speak 129 times, 94 of which were at rallies, like the one in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“He has come down and shook my hand and said ‘Thank you, Mike,’ so yeah, he knows who I am,” Boatman says.

Boatman says he felt safe at previous rallies and feels more should have been done to protect the former president. He says several people pointed out the man climbing onto the roof with a rifle to the Secret Service.

“The Secret Service dropped the ball on this one. They did not start reacting until bullets started coming out. I guarantee you if I rushed that stage with a gun, they are shooting me, and they should,” Boatman says.

Despite what happened at the rally, Boatman says he still plans on going to more. But he says it could be a while.

“I do not think we will have an outside rally for a long time. If an outside rally is going to take place, it will be in a place with no buildings nearby,” he says.

With the November election coming up, Boatman says he hopes voters will remember the assassination attempt and its impact.

“We should be more united. We are the United States of America,” says Boatman.

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