'We Were Terrified': Western Pennsylvanians At The Capitol Describe What They Saw During Civil Unrest
BUTLER, Pa. (KDKA) -- When chaos broke out at the capitol, over 100 Western Pennsylvanians were there. They told KDKA they were scared and didn't know what to do when the protest turned violent.
"Whenever we first got there it was really patriotic, everyone was upbeat. Once we got to the White House, we were looking forward to hearing the president speak," said Zach Scherer.
Scherer organized two buses with 112 people to head out to Washington, D.C. early Wednesday morning. After the President's speech, he said the group marched to the Capitol but only got as far as the lawn.
"When they did announce Pence would not support Trump any longer things started to go downhill from there," Scherer said.
He told KDKA one woman in the group was treated for facial injuries as the rest tried to stick together.
"We were terrified, we were in fear. We didn't know what was coming next after we heard shots were fired in there. People were storming in, we just saw hundreds of people climbing the walls and marching in the door. We didn't know what to expect or even what to do next," Scherer said.
He said not one person in the group expected the day to end in chaos.
"It's very unfortunate, we were not meaning to harm anyone and that was not our intentions in going down there and causing harm," Scherer said.
Meanwhile at home, Butler State Police were investigating as 30 cars and several homes of the protestors were broken into and damaged.
"We had multiple people crying didn't know what we were going to get when we got back to Butler," Scherer said.
Police are seeking to find who damaged the cars and homes. If you know anything, you are asked to call Butler State Police.