One year after Butler: Remembering the shooting that shook the nation

When then-candidate Donald Trump stood onstage at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last year and accepted the GOP nomination for president of the United States, the moment was historic on multiple fronts. Not only was Trump one step closer to becoming the first president since Democrat Grover Cleveland to win non-consecutive terms in the White House, but it came just days after a gunman nearly ended the former president’s life at a campaign rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania. 

On July 13, 2024, a 20-year-old gunman shot and killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore – and nearly killed a former (and future) U.S. president. The assassination attempt would become a stark embodiment of political violence in the United States and mark a turning point in the 2024 presidential election. 

One year after the deadly attack in Butler County, City & State examines what we now know about the 2024 rally – and what changes could be coming from federal officials to improve the president’s security. 

A Rally-Turned-Tragedy

In the middle of the July 13 rally, the gunman – Thomas Matthew Crooks – fired several shots from atop an American Glass Research building that was roughly 200 yards away from where Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was speaking at the Butler Farm Show Grounds. 

A bullet grazed Trump’s ear, prompting Secret Service agents to bring Trump to the ground, shielding him from further gunfire. While the president’s life was spared, Crooks killed Comperatore and injured two others attending the rally, David Dutch and James Copenhaver. A Secret Service counter-sniper and Butler County Emergency Services Unit operator returned fire, killing Crooks. 

Trump – who, after being shor, raised his first in the air in a sign of defiance as he urged his supporters to “Fight!” – was evacuated from the grounds safely. The deadly event sparked multiple investigations into the incident, including a congressional task force investigation led by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, who represents a large swath of western Pennsylvania that includes Butler County. 

The ensuing congressional investigation identified a slew of security failures, chief among them that law enforcement officials failed to secure the American Glass Research grounds and building where the shooter was located. The task force also concluded that a “fragmented communication structure and poor decision-making prevented vital information from reaching pertinent law enforcement personnel.”

“These technology and communication breakdowns hindered law enforcement’s pursuit of Crooks and caused missed opportunities to intervene,” the task force’s final report reads. 

As a result of the incident, United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned shortly after the incident, and the fallout from the incident has yet to cease: Just this week, six United States Secret Service agents were suspended without pay following the rally.

One year later, Kelly wonders why federal law enforcement agencies allowed Trump to go onstage at the rally when there was knowledge that a suspicious person was present. “They knew there was a suspicious person on the grounds for an hour and a half before the president came out on the stage,” Kelly told City & State. “After everything was said and done, I still ask, why did they let President Trump come out on the stage when they knew the site was not secure? That will forever be my question.”

Kelly said there were “clear mistakes” made by federal agencies during the Butler campaign rally – including a lack of centralized command, a lack of communication with local law enforcement and inadequate preparation – and he added that “there is still more work to be done” to learn from the events of July 13.

Remembering Corey Comperatore

An event with national implications was also the site of a heart-wrenching local tragedy. 

Corey D. Comperatore, a Sarver, Pennsylvania resident who was 50 years old at the time of his death, died shielding his family from Crooks’ gunfire. He was an engineer at a Butler-based plastic solutions company and a volunteer firefighter with the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company. 

In a video uploaded by The White House, Comperatore’s family recalled the day’s events, with Corey’s widow, Helen Comperatore, remarking how her family’s lives were forever changed. “All chaos broke loose, and our lives have never been the same since,” she said. “I want justice for him. I want them to know what they took from me and my kids.”

Helen Comperatore spoke with Fox News ahead of the one-year anniversary of the shooting, noting that she has outstanding questions about July 13, 2024. “Why Butler? Why was that such a failure? Why weren’t they paying attention? Why did they think that that roof didn’t need cover? I want to sit down and talk to them. I have the right to. They need to listen to me,” she told the outlet. 

In the aftermath of Comperatore’s death, Butler County residents and Trump supporters rallied around the family, with several GoFundMe accounts set up to raise more than $7 million for the Comperatore family. 

A year later, the greater Butler County community is holding an event on July 12 – Corey’s Cruise & Concert – to remember and celebrate the life of Comperatore. The event will feature a memorial motorcycle ride and live music, with proceeds donated to local churches and first responders. 

Kelly said Butler is a resilient community and acknowledged that the shooting likely brought the community closer together. “I continue to pray for the Comperatore family as we near the anniversary of the shooting,” he said. “I know the Butler community continues to rally around them and lift them up not just this weekend, but every day.”

What’s changed – and what comes next

The congressional task force – formally known as the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump – issued a slate of recommendations after not one, but two attempts against the then-candidate’s life in 2024. (A second man was arrested on charges of attempting to assassinate Trump in Doral, Florida on Sept. 15, 2024.) 

Recommendations related to the Butler incident addressed a range of concerns. Congressional lawmakers investigating the incident said the Secret Service should request and consolidate operations plans from all participating law enforcement agencies at political events, and that the agency should consider Secret Service coverage both inside and outside the event’s secured perimeter – as Crooks was located outside the secured perimeter when he fired off eight rounds toward Trump.

The report, noting that the shooter had an unobstructed line of sight from the American Glass Research property to the stage where Trump was speaking, recommends that the Secret Service document all line-of-sight vulnerabilities and state how the vulnerabilities will be addressed. 

Kelly said that following the task force investigation, he and his colleagues are exploring ways to strengthen and modernize the Secret Service, telling City & State that he is considering legislation to move the agency out of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and back under the purview of the U.S. Treasury Department. 

The assassination attempts against Trump are just one example of violent political attacks that have occurred in the United States in recent years, the shockwaves of which lawmakers at all levels of government will likely have to reckon with. 

In April, Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were the victims of an arson attack at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion – though the governor and his family were safely evacuated. Two months later, in Minnesota, state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed in their home in a targeted attack. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot multiple times by the same perpetrator, but survived, according to a report from the BBC. 

Trump recently commented on the Secret Service and their handling of the July 13 rally. 

“They should have had somebody in the building (Crooks shot from) – that was a mistake,” the president told his daughter-in-law Lara Trump in a Fox News interview set to air on Saturday. “They should have had communications with the local police; they weren’t tied in, and they should have been tied in. So there were mistakes made … But I was satisfied in terms of the bigger plot.

“And I have great confidence in these people. I know the people,” he added. “And they’re very talented, very capable. But they had a bad day. And I think they’ll admit that. They had a rough day.”