Rico Elmore was at the Trump rally and spoke at the event. He was an eyewitness and says he saw someone get hit by gunfire and rush to their side. He joins me on the phone. Rico, where were you in relation to the president?

So I was about 15 20ft to the president's right. I was a special guest, being that I spoke today with a few other friends of mine. We were speaking as well. And, yeah, I'm like 15 20ft away.

And then as the shots ring out, did you identify them as shots right away? How did you react?

So a part of me thought they were, they were fireworks. It was, it was, it was like a split mental thought, because I'm like, oh, you can't have a gun or anything in this area because of the security measures that are in place. It's impossible. So I, my brain says that's a firework going off. How did I get here? Who knows? But it's something small. And then I heard a second shot go off and I said, these were split seconds. So like I said, that's, that's, that's the gun, that's a firearm. So I got up, I yelled everyone to get down. Everybody was getting down, everybody was yelling, get down. I told people to get down. And, and then I'm just pointing people and telling people like, you know, get down, this is safe measures. And people were listening. And then I seen, they had yelled for the medic and there was an individual who was hit in the head and there was no medical personnel in the area, so I ran to, to try to get them, you know, to get help.

Was this the individual that we believe was deceased?

Yes. Yes. I ran, I jumped over the barrier that was there. I ran up into the bleachers and there was a towel that people had had. And I took the towel and I pushed it against the deceased head. And just to try to, it's all I can think about doing, was shocked to, you know, help him, but my efforts were in vain.

Yeah, Rico, you went, you went to what was supposed to be a rally. It's supposed to be a fun thing for, you know, the party and candidate faithful. And it turns to this. These things sometimes take a long time to sink in to know how close you were to danger. But have you seen any of the video and just share with me your thoughts.

My thoughts are for the family. My thoughts are for the ones that were lost tonight and an act that was senseless and cowardice, all because of a feeling that one would have against an individual. No one had to lose their lives. You can. You have the freedom of speech. You have the freedom to assemble. You have the freedom. You can go protest the fact that President Trump was there. Okay, that's fine. But to try to kill, to shoot into a crowd of thousands of people, I can't fathom that. But my heart goes out to the families.

When did you, when did you realize the former president had been shot?

I didn't see. Secret Service protects the president, so they.

Surrounded him, as they're supposed to do.

As they were? Yes. Yes, they did their job. My job was to get to the victims and to the people. I mean, that's what I felt my job was to do, you know?

Are you attending, are you attending the Republican National Convention this week?

No.

All right, well, Rico, thank you so much for. Yeah, good.

Unless. Unless, you know, they call me up and say, we want you to attend, and we'll fly you out here. I'm not attending.

Okay, understood. Listen, thank you for talking to us. I'm sorry you had to witness what you did. It's awful to hear. And thank you for taking the time. Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media.