Four photographers shot iconic images when gunfire rang out at Trump rally

And Doug Mills with The New York Times took that remarkable photo appearing to show a bullet streaking past the former president's head. 

The four photojournalists said they knew they were dangerously close to the line of fire when they heard the shots Saturday, but their professional instincts kicked in.

‘There to do a job’

Vucci, AP’s chief Washington photographer, said the event began like any of the thousands of political campaign rallies he’s covered in his more than two-decade career.

“Over my left shoulder, I heard several pops, and I knew right away it was gunfire,” Vucci recalled. “I just went into work mode. I was looking through my viewfinder, I saw the Secret Service agents rushing in, covering the president. I ran to the stage, I got my wide angle lens, I started making photographs.”

Mills and Moneymaker had the same reaction,

“I’m there to do a job,” said Moneymaker, who joined Getty Images in 2021. “All of a sudden history is unfolding. You just have to keep making pictures."

“I was saying to myself under my breathe like, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,' but I just kind of like said, ‘Anna, just like keep going, keep making pictures. Get your settings correct,’” she said. “I went into like auto-drive and just kept going.”

Mills said he never experienced anything like it in his more than 40 years covering U.S. politics. 

“He went down and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, he’s been shot,' because everybody was yelling, 'Down, down, down, active shooter, active shooter!'” he said. “I get chills now saying it because, you know, it’s still very raw.”

In addition to images, Botsford was also able to capture video of the moment by wearing Ran-Ban Meta smart glasses that take short videos, which he told The Washington Post he had “somehow” remembered to turn on. 

“It was super scary,” he told the Post. “Nobody knew what was going on. The president fell to the ground, and I was going to make a picture of it even though the staff was like, ‘You guys need to get down.'”

“I’m still trying to process it all,” he said. 

Capturing the moment Trump was shot 

Mills said the moment he got backstage, he began to frantically transmit photos to his editor in New York when it dawned on him that he may have captured the moment Trump was shot.

He called his editor and asked her to look closely at the images. 

“She called me back about five minutes later and said, ‘You won’t believe this.’ I was like, 'What?’ I thought I’d messed something up,” he said. “And she said, 'No, no you captured the bullet piercing behind his head.'”

Mills said he happened to have his finger on the shutter at that moment, with the speed set at 1/8,000th of a second. 

“One forensic guy told me it’s between one in a million and one in 5 million chances to do that, because they’ve tried to do that, simulate that, and it’s very difficult to catch a bullet flying like that,” he said. 

“I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it,” he said. “That that happened was, again, very, very lucky.”

A long history of 'amazing photojournalism' 

Their images will join others that captured some of the darkest days in U.S. history, such as the famous photo by Bill Eppridge showing a busboy helping Robert F. Kennedy moments after the presidential candidate was assassinated in 1968, and the images by Associated Press photographer Ron Edmonds of President Ronald Reagan being rushed to his motorcade after being shot in 1981. 

Mills credits Edmonds, a former colleague and longtime mentor, with helping him hone his instincts.

“He always went in, not away,” Mills said. “Luckily, I didn’t blink like Ron didn’t blink. None of my colleagues blinked. Everybody ran straight for the news.”