'Going to be like The Purge tonight': Milwaukee reacts to Trump shooting

MILWAUKEE — In the hour after former President Donald Trump was apparently struck in the ear with a projectile at a rally in Pennsylvania, people preparing for the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin met the news with a mixture of shock, bewilderment and vigilance.

Michelle Altherr, a Republican National Convention delegate from Arizona, stood outside Fiserv Forum rages: “When you think about it, you’re like, no, this just ramped up to another level. If you thought we were MAGA and extreme before, we went to another level now. When you see on the video Trump is mouthing 'fight, fight' — oh, no, he didn’t have to say it. We’re at another level.”

“Get ready, it’s going to be like 'The Purge' tonight,” a late 20-to-early-30-year-old server said as the former journalism student exited the bar and raised a loosely clenched fist.

A woman in Milwaukee stands in silence as she watches coverage of the shooting at a Trump rally. (Matt Laslo / Raw Story)

“They didn’t have an excuse,” the local server said. “Now they do.”

Trump is scheduled to be in Milwaukee this week to name his vice presidential running mate and formally accept the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Milwaukee is — and has been — braced for violence ahead of the Republican National Convention. His campaign issued a brief statement Saturday evening saying Trump, who was observed with blood on his face, is “fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility. More details will follow."

“Oh, Trump just got shot here?” a local in a summer sleeveless tee and jean shorts asked.

“No,” a bartender in the empty bar chimed in. “Pennsylvania.”

“Oh,” she said as she took her complimentary ice water to go.

Another woman — possibly a local rocking lots of country club Republican red — inquired.

“Oh, that was Pennsylvania?” she replied, never looking at the bartender as her eyes stayed transfixed to the screen. “WOW.”

“Trump got shot in the ear. They don’t think it’s bad. But f—. I don’t know. This is still bad,” a young man in a blue sportcoat yelled into his phone as he hustled down 2nd Street near the Fiserv Center, where the GOP convention is being conducted.

The streets in downtown Milwaukee were lightly populated on Saturday when news of the shooting took place. Full security protocols and street shutdowns near convention venues aren’t set to go into effect until Sunday, with the convention itself beginning Monday.

But near the Fiserv Forum, along Kilbourn Avenue, 20 police officers patrolled up and down on bicycles at one point. Several cruisers, with lights on and sirens off, slowly rolled down perimeter roads.

A large, unmarked helicopter circled low overhead with two people, on tethers, hanging out the open side door.

In the restaurants along King Drive, TV screens flipped to Fox News and CNN, and patrons watched on loop the scene where Trump apparently was hit in the ear with a projectile, his face streaked with blood as seen in an Associated Press close-up photo.

Secret Service tend to Republican pesidential candidate former President Donald Trump onstage at a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Angie Prowell from Kentucky had just come from a boat ride and was walking toward Fiserv Forum to take a picture.

“My daughter screamed, 'Oh my God, Trump just got shot,'" Prowell said. “My stomach hurt. My next reaction was, 'I’m not shocked. I expected this.' That’s what I expect from my country anymore. It’s sad. That’s what we’ve become.”

Coleman O’Donovan of Lake Forest, Ill. and Jeanine Sweeney of Milwaukee, said they were walking in a plaza outside Fiserv Forum when they heard the news.

“We were just talking about where the security snipers would be,” O’Donovan said.

They got updates on Trump’s situation in the most direct of ways — by standing near where ABC’s Jonathan Karl was reporting in the plaza.

“It’s horrifying,” Sweeney said. “It was terrifying. It should be a happy time — democracy in action. People need to take a breath. This is just crazy.”

Altherr, the Arizona delegate, compared the presumed attempted assassination of Trump to the "shot heard ‘round the world."

"The enemy has just overplayed his hand because it’s just taking a whole lot more people to another level," Altherr said. "Now is not the time to be cowering and being afraid and ashamed to say that you support President Trump."

Altherr encouraged Trump supporters to start "talking to the streets."

"We are the majority. Start coming out of the closet and start supporting President Trump. He’s willing to put his life on the line. You better start putting your ego on the line for him," Altherr said.