I had a similar experience at the Chicago rally.
It was my first rally and I didn't really know what to expect. I showed up (having told my parents I was going to visit the Baha'i temple for a religious studies class, because they are quite liberal and probably wouldn't approve of this) and pulled out my cardboard sign with the Gadsden on one side and a photocopy of the first page of the Constitution on the other. I got a few cheers from the people around me... there were even some college kids. A few people had guns, and I thought I recognized one of them... which kind of creeped me out, but I got used to it after a while. Anyway, it was going all right at first. I tried to get on camera but it was kind of crowded and I couldn't squeeze my way through. After an hour or so the police showed up (I mean lots of them, earlier there were just a few officers but as our numbers grew they sent for backup). A few squabbles and chants, but no violence yet. Then after another half hour or so, there was a sound kind of like a gunshot, I hadn't heard many real gunshots in real life so I couldn't tell for sure. People got really agitated and started shouting at the police... they began to move in on us... I was near the edge of the crowd so I was one of the closest ones to the police. Another gunshot about 5 minutes later (this one was definitely a gunshot, it was much closer to me than the last one, so I could easily tell). The crowd goes apeshit and the police start breaking it up and get on their radios to call more fuzz. A THIRD GUNSHOT that was even closer, probably less than 20 feet from me. The police start spraying pepper spray at this point and I get some. I'm on the ground and my eyes are tearing up almost to where I can't see. I guess the police thought it was me (I had a backpack on) so they pull me aside... two of them are holding me and one reaches for his taser. I was freaking out at this point... I'm about to get tased and I didn't do shit... I wipe the tears away from my eyes, and looking into the crowd, I see for a split second the man with the gun, the man that I had vaguely recognized from earlier, from these very forums in fact. Thornheart drew his Smith & Wesson .45 automatic handgun and fired for the fourth time. The bullet pierced the can of pepper spray, exploding it and blinding everyone within a 50 foot radius. The police scattered, mouthing furiously on their radios about a world-class sharpshooting teabagger. The bullet ricoched off a fire hydrant and glanced off the key that was still in a police motorcycle. The motorcycle whirred to life and zoomed straight towards me. "Jump!" Thornheart bellowed, his voice booming above the crowd. I jumped. The bike caught the strap of my backpack with its right handlebar, and I was whisked away beyond the crowd and beyond the police. The bike crashed into a light pole 30 seconds later, and I was thrown through the air, my eyes still stinging, until I landed with a thud. I rose, dazed, to find that I was in the parking lot, and I had landed right next to my car. I began to climb in, but before I left, I looked back at the crowd in the distance. I could see my savior one last time, unmistakable with his legendary 6 and a half foot stature. He cocked his hat, blew the smoke from his gun, and nodded in my direction before disappearing into the crowd.
