A Ukrainian Catholic priest who serves as pastor at churches in Wheeling and Carnegie, Pennsylvania, offered a benediction at the podium of former President Donald Trump’s Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

He offered a prayer of protection — shortly before a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump, the Republican nominee for president.

The Rev. Jason Charron of Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Wheeling said he also talked to other rally-goers and asked them to pray for Trump’s protection shortly before shots rang out. Charron has recounted his experience in Butler with several Catholic outlets, including the Catholic News Agency, the Eternal Word Television Network and the podcast “Pints With Aquinas.”

Charron told CNA he had met briefly with Trump before he took the stage, discussing the current war in Ukraine. Following his benediction, Charron said a group of about 15 people had called him to the barricade near the stage as he was leaving to talk.

“I said to them: I prayed for (Trump) and his safety, but that they have to pray, as well, because there are people who want to kill him,” Charron told CNA. “And little did I think — literally a few minutes later there was this kind of indistinct sound, and people began leaving, and at that point I heard someone saying that that was a gunshot.”

A bullet had grazed Trump’s ear as he was talking to the crowd. Other gunshots killed 50-year-old Corey Comperatore and injured David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74.

He was walking toward his car when the gunfire began, he told EWTN. He then noticed a throng of people coming toward him, not yet realizing an assassination attempt had occurred.

“I thought, ‘Oh, I’m never going to get out of here,'” he told EWTN. “And then someone says there were gunshots. So at that point, I thought, ‘Oh, my.’ So I was, by that point, in the car

“I get in the car, and my phone starts going off,” he continued. “And one of my parishioners who was in the crowd said they shot President Trump.”

The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by a sniper who was part of Trump’s security team.

As he looked back at Saturday’s events, Charron told EWTN that God’s grace was definitely seen that evening, as Trump narrowly dodged assassination.

“The grace of God is definitely a testament to the power of prayer in events,” he said. “I’m not saying me personally, but the effect, the invisible, powerful effect of the angelic realm and the grace of God operating in the affairs of men, it is influenced by our willingness to bow our head and invoke His blessing. This is a testament, again, to the power and efficacy of prayer guiding the affairs of men.”