Fleming Joeri Bastiaen was standing metres from the gunman, who fired at Donald Trump

For Joeri Bastiaen and his family, Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania should have been the end of a pleasant holiday in the US. They made a six-hour detour to get to the event. "We had hoped to keep the last few days of our holiday fairly peaceful," Bastiaen explained. However, the visit to the rally quickly took a dramatic turn.

Security was weak

At the beginning of the event the atmosphere was very convivial. "You should see a campaign event like that as a kind of family event. There are many families with children and the atmosphere is very convivial. There were a lot of people, but still everything went calmly and quietly. It was also very hot: 35 degrees and not a cloud in the sky."

Initially Bastiaen also felt safe at the site. "There was a thorough security check. We were not allowed to take anything inside: no chairs and no electronics. Outside the site, people can always walk around with bad intentions, but once inside, not much can happen, I thought."

Still, Bastiaen did notice that, despite the strict security checks, there were some weaknesses in the security. "There were snipers entrenched behind the stage, but on the buildings behind us that was not the case. There was also a water tower. It would be an ideal opportunity for somebody with evil intent to do something, I thought. These thoughts now haunt me."

Perpetrator only a few metres away

Not much later, it happened. From the roof of one of the adjacent buildings, a 20-year-old man fired several shots at the former president. Mr Trump suffered minor injuries to the top of his ear. Several people in the crowd were hit and one person was killed. The security forces shot the perpetrator dead on the spot.

"It was not immediately clear what was going on," Joeri Bastiaen says. "A loud bang resounded, but people behind us said it was a firecracker. It was only when secret service agents opened fire on the suspect that it became clear to us what had happened. It took a few milliseconds for me to realise that shots had been fired. My wife caught on more quickly to what was going on and pulled our daughter down. She then lay down on top of our daughter."

History unfolds before Fleming's eyes

Crouched among people, Bastiaen watched as Trump was led off stage with his fist raised. "You hear people around you speaking and shouting, but generally everyone remained calm," he noted. "You notice that Americans are somehow prepared for this kind of situation. Everyone knew exactly what was going on and what to do."

For Bastiaen and his family, anger predominated after the shooting. And incomprehension, about how such a thing could happen. "The perpetrator was only a few metres from us," he says. "This could have ended much worse."