10 Chilling Murder Attempts Caught on Camera

10 Chilling Murder Attempts Caught on Camera

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at ten chilling times that a murder attempt was caught on camera.

Chicago CTA Train Platform Attack

A true nightmare scenario was caught on camera back in December of 2025. Surveillance footage from Chicago’s Harlem Blue Line station revealed a tense confrontation between a commuter and a man begging for cash. When the commuter declined to give him any, the situation quickly spiraled out of control. The camera then captured the aggressor shoving the man to the floor, chasing him down a ramp, and striking him in the back and head. The incident reaches its climax when the victim is pushed onto the active train tracks - a flagrant murder attempt caught in broad daylight. Fortunately, the injured victim was rescued thanks to a quick-thinking transit worker, and the attacker was subdued by arriving police officers and charged with attempted first-degree murder.

The Shooting of George Wallace

On May 15, 1972, Alabama Governor George Wallace was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination at a rally in Laurel, Maryland. But chaos erupted as he stepped out from behind his bulletproof podium to shake hands with the crowd. Arthur Bremer, a disturbed individual seeking notoriety, pushed his way to the front and fired five shots from a .38 caliber revolver. News cameras rolling at the event captured the scene as the gravely-injured Wallace crumpled to the ground. The footage then shows the immediate frenzy of bystanders and Secret Service agents tackling the gunman. While Wallace ultimately survived the attack, the devastating injuries left him paralyzed for the rest of his life.

The Edmonton Crowbar Road Rage Attack

We all experience frustrations while driving, but this incident from Alberta, Canada proves how quickly everyday road rage can escalate. In 2017, Chelsey Schendzielorz honked her horn at a driver who was blocking a busy intersection. Infuriated, the man tailed her vehicle all the way back to her home. Violence erupted when Schendzielorz stepped out of her vehicle, and the audio was captured by her car’s dashcam. The enraged man sprinted toward her, swinging a heavy metal crowbar aimed directly at her skull. Relying on pure survival instinct, the woman threw up her arms to absorb the blows. Both of her arms were broken in the attack, but she ultimately survived. This vital piece of recorded evidence eventually led to the man’s ultimate conviction for aggravated assault, but he was acquitted of attempted murder. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

The Stabbing of Monica Seles

Sports fans tune in to watch athletic brilliance, but in April 1993, they witnessed a murder attempt on live television. During a tennis match in Hamburg, Germany, nineteen-year-old phenom Monica Seles was resting during a standard changeover. Gunter Parche, an obsessed fan of Seles’s rival Steffi Graf, sneaked onto the clay court and plunged a boning knife directly between her shoulder blades. The live broadcast missed the initial impact, but it captured the subsequent footage of Seles screaming in pain and clutching her bleeding back. The incident changed stadium security protocols worldwide and sidelined the dominant tennis superstar for two difficult years. The German court ruled that Parche was “mentally unbalanced”, and he was given two years of probation.

The Portland MAX Train Push

Public transit platforms can be unnerving, and this video from December 2022 illustrates why. TriMet surveillance cameras at Oregon’s Gateway Transit Center captured a disturbing and unprovoked assault. As a mother and her three-year-old child stood waiting for their train, a woman named Brianna Workman sprang from a nearby bench. Without any warning, Workman shoved the toddler face-first off the platform edge. The little girl crashed onto the metal tracks below, but a bystander quickly reached down and scooped her back up. Luckily, witness statements and police reports confirmed that there was no train approaching the station at the time. Regardless, it still serves as a chilling reminder of the random dangers that can sometimes lurk in plain sight. Workman was subsequently placed under the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board and committed to the Oregon State Hospital.

The Attempted Assassination of Imran Khan

During a political protest march in Wazirabad on November 3, 2022, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan waved to supporters from the roof of a modified container truck. But the celebratory atmosphere was quickly shattered by a rapid burst of gunfire. Multiple cameras, including live television feeds and bystander smartphones, captured the exact moment that the bullets struck Khan. Viewers watched in real-time as Khan was shot in the leg and ducked for cover behind the vehicle’s metal barricades. The video highlights the sheer panic of the crowd and the frantic rush to subdue the shooter, who was tackled by a heroic supporter named Ibtisam Hassan. Khan survived the attempt on his life, but unfortunately, bystander Moazzam Gondal was killed by a stray bullet.

The Attempted Assassination of Jair Bolsonaro

During a polarizing election campaign in September 2018, Brazilian politician Jair Bolsonaro was carried on the shoulders of supporters through the packed streets of Juiz de Fora. Given the public turnout, countless cell phones were recording the spectacle before the mood turned dark. The staggering footage captures the exact second that an assailant thrusts a large knife into Bolsonaro’s abdomen. The cameras often shake in panic as the politician cries out in agony and collapses backward into the arms of his team. Bolsonaro lost 40% of his blood in the aftermath and underwent multiple life-saving surgeries. Of course, he eventually made it through and was even elected President later that year, with the national coverage of the stabbing helping paint him as a martyr.

The Shooting of Pope John Paul II

May 13, 1981 started as a joyous day at the Vatican. Thousands of pilgrims packed Saint Peter’s Square to see Pope John Paul II as he passed through the crowds in his open-air popemobile. Naturally, the historic event was being filmed by international news cameras, some of which caught the proceeding crime on video. Mehmet Ali Ağca, an armed assassin hidden among the worshipers, raised a pistol and fired four shots, two of which hit the Pope. The video displays the terror as the pontiff gets hit and slumps into the arms of his aides, grievously injured. He ended up losing three-quarters of his blood but ultimately survived, thanks to what he considered divine intervention. He even went on to publicly forgive his shooter just four days after the attack. The courts weren’t so forgiving, and Ağca spent 29 years behind bars.

The Shooting of Ronald Reagan

1981 was a rough year for public figures. On March 30 of that year - just six weeks before the Pope was shot - newly elected President Ronald Reagan was leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. News crews were routinely filming his brief walk to the waiting limousine outside. But in a flash, the scene erupted into chaos when a gunman named John Hinckley Jr. pulled a revolver and fired six rounds in under two seconds. The raw and now-iconic video of the shooting captures the loud pops, the immediate scramble of Secret Service agents pushing the President into the car, and the frantic takedown of the shooter. The broadcast footage stunned the globe, providing a visceral, front-row seat to an event that nearly altered the trajectory of modern American history. Reagan was left in critical condition but survived and left the hospital twelve days later to an adoring public.

The Grazing of Donald Trump

This is probably the most “what if” sliding doors scenario in modern political history. Back in July 2024, Trump was addressing his supporters at a massive rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when a sudden volley of sharp cracks echoed through the air. Live cameras captured the exact second that Trump reacted in pain before immediately ducking behind the podium. As it turns out, a gunman had shot at Trump from a nearby rooftop, and the bullet had missed his skull by mere inches, instead grazing his right ear. Moments later, a bloodied but defiant Trump stood back up and fiercely pumped his fist into the air, much to the delight of those in attendance. Unfortunately, a former fire chief named Corey Comperatore was killed by one of the gunshots while shielding his wife and daughters. The footage is simply extraordinary - and deeply chilling.

Do you know of any other scary examples? Let us know in the comments below!