A chaotic scene—and police intervention—played out during Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on Friday, just 75 miles from the town of Butler, where a would-be assassin shot at the former president last month, killing one rallygoer and injuring two others.
As Trump spoke onstage, a man in the audience attempted to enter the cordoned-off press pen, according to multiple reports and videos from the scene. The individual was able to breach a barrier of bicycle racks surrounding the pen, and was climbing a riser on which reporters and cameramen were stationed when he was tackled and subdued by security officers and law enforcement officials, who eventually tased him.
Law enforcement officers detain a rallygoer who tried to climb onto the press riser during a campaign event for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 30, 2024.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
The unnamed man was subsequently taken into custody, the Johnstown Police Department told the Daily Beast on Friday night, but has subsequently been released. No information concerning his identity or potential motive has yet been made public; speculation on social media has presented him as either an incensed Trump supporter or a radicalized counter-protester. Pick your poison!
(The Daily Beast has reached out to the Johnstown Police Department and the Cambria County Sheriff’s Department for further comment.)
At the time of the incident, Trump was criticizing the media for its coverage of his campaign and the election more broadly—and, in particular, attacking CNN’s recent interview with his opponent, Kamala Harris.
As the man was detained and removed from the rally, the former president quipped, “Is there anywhere that’s more fun to be than a Trump rally?” per the Associated Press.
