TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A mystery is following former President Trump’s stop in Tucson last week. Several supporters have said they were left temporarily blind following the rally at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall.
The former president and current Republican nominee made his first stop after the September 10 presidential debate right here in Tucson.
People were lined up for hours ahead of the event, and hundreds had to be turned away.
According to the City of Tucson, over 40 calls for heat-related illness were made. Attendees located inside the music hall claim they faced health issues as well.
KGUN sat down with two Trump supporters who say they had to go to the emergency room after the rally, and then reached out to city officials to try to find out what happened.
Supporters were enthusiastic to attend former President Donald Trump’s first rally in Tucson since 2020.
“Halfway through the dinner, her eyes started watering really bad. She was just tearing up,” Eli said.
“It was horrible. On a scale from one to 10, it was an eight or nine. It was unbearable,” Fransena said.
Eli and Fransena Moreno were just two of the roughly 50 people allowed on stage during Trump’s rally. And while the rally had several heat-related calls, it wasn’t until afterward that Fransena says she noticed something was wrong.
“Symptoms were the red face, red neck, and that was painful, but not as much as my eyes. My eyes were my concern,” Fransena said.
Later that night, they made the call to get help.
“It got to the point where she told me, ‘You have to take me to the ER.’ And when she tells me that she has to go to the ER, I know it's serious,” Eli said.
The Trump campaign responded to the reports:
“The Trump campaign has been collecting information. We remain committed to the countless patriots that attend our high-energy, high-impact rallies across the country,” Danielle Alvarez, senior advisor for the Trump campaign, said.
Now the question is, what caused this?
“I don't think it was the lights, because lights won't cause me to have pain in my nostrils when I'm with someone who has been perhaps exposed to something at this point,” Eli said.
But what about the other side of the stage?
“Nobody that sat where I sat, on my side of the stage, had any ill effects. So it was isolated to the other side of the stage,” said Kathleen Winn, who ran for Congress against Juan Ciscomani in the GOP primary.
The City of Tucson did confirm to KGUN that a private company was brought in to handle the lighting, saying in a statement, “The Linda Ronstadt Music Hall stage lights were not used.”
"The City and the Tucson Convention Center management checked in with Tucson Police and Tucson Fire Department (TPD/TFD) paramedic teams that were on site on the day of the event. Neither police nor paramedics received or responded to complaints of any type of eye injuries or facial burning as described in some media reports," the city of Tucson official said.
The official also said the HVAC system was comprehensively serviced, repaired, and cleaned, including the duct system, when the music hall was getting upgrades in 2021.
"The filters are changed every quarter and were last changed in the Music Hall on Aug. 28, 2024."
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Blake Phillips is a reporter for KGUN 9. Originally from St. Louis, Mo., Blake grew up in Sierra Vista. During his college tenure at the Missouri School of Journalism, Blake worked for the NBC affiliate KOMU-TV in Columbia. He is excited to return to a place he calls home and give back to the community in which he grew up. Share your story ideas and important issues with Blake by emailing blake.phillips@kgun9.com.
