One year after a gunman came within a quarter inch of assassinating Donald Trump at a campaign rally, thrusting the tiny town of Butler into the international spotlight, many residents here in that western Pennsylvania town and its surrounding county are looking to forge ahead.
Last July 13, just six minutes into Trump’s speech to 15,000 fervent fans on the grounds of the Butler Farm Show, Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots from an assault rifle while atop the roof of American Glass Research, some 150 yards away.
A Secret Service counter-sniper quickly eliminated the threat with one round just 15 seconds after the initial shot, but Crooks’ gunfire struck four people, including Trump. Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter and father of two, was fatally wounded as he shielded his family, while two others, David Dutch, 58, and James Copenhaver, 74, were seriously hurt.
Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy said the “shock and sorrow” of that early Saturday evening still reverberates for many in the town of 13,000 residents, as well as 193,000 throughout Butler County, but he believes the region is ready to reclaim its identity.
“The people who were assembled were exercising the most fundamental of our basis rights: the right to assemble and the right to free speech,” Dandoy told Newsweek. “The attack on them was an attack on all of us and an attempt to stifle those rights.”
Dandoy said Butler and the other municipalities that make up the greater Pittsburgh metro area continue to remember those directly affected by Crooks, including Comperatore, whose memorial motorcycle ride on Saturday attracted more than 1,000 participants.
Still, Butler’s future cannot remain mired in its bloody recent past, Dandoy said.
“In the days and weeks that followed, the people of Butler showed remarkable unity, strength and care,” Dandoy said. “In the days following the incident, I sensed a desire to move forward and far beyond the events of that day. As with the rest of the country, there is much we do not agree upon politically. However, I sense a desire among our residents to try to function beyond the differences and build on our communities. We do not allow that moment to define us.”
Values like mutual respect and a commitment to civil discourse along with the “safety and well-being of everyone who calls Butler home” should be common goals, he added.
“We started that journey immediately after the shooting and I believe we continue to make progress in moving forward.”
Susan Norman, 75, of West Sunbury in Butler County, nearly missed last July’s speech due to heat exhaustion. She arrived with her son and his girlfriend at 7 a.m. — a full 11 hours before Trump took the stage — but caught history unfold from a fence along the perimeter.
“We heard the shots,” Norman told Newsweek Friday, standing outside the 100-acre Butler Farm Show property. “We saw him fall and from our angle, we didn’t know if they killed him or what.”
From her vantage point, Norman said the bulk of rallygoers froze in place as Secret Service agents ushered Trump offstage, but not before raising his fist and yelling to the crowd what has since become the iconic moment from that day: “Fight, fight, fight!”
Norman, a devout Christian, credited divine intervention for Trump’s survival.
“I believe our country was going to hell in a handbasket,” she said. “I truthfully believe that God intervened and saved his life to use him a vessel to save our country.”
In retrospect, Norman said she was surprised she was even able to watch Trump from a chain-link fence along the perimeter prior to Crooks squeezing the trigger — noting the various security lapses that day which led to the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and another six agents receiving 10- to 42-day suspensions without pay.
“We were so close to the bleachers and I said to my son, ‘I’m surprised that no one’s come over here and questioned why we’re standing here,'” Norman recalled. “We just went to our car. I could’ve had rifles in my car and carried them up here to the fence. So, I did question that at the time and that was before he got shot.”
‘We Failed’
Secret Service chief of communications Anthony Guglielmi gave a blunt assessment when asked by Newsweek for a response to Trump’s recent blunt evaluation that the “very talented, very capable” agents unequivocally had a “bad day” in Butler.
“We failed on July 13, 2024,” Guglielmi said. “Every day since, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that such a tragedy can never happen again. We’ve made significant investments in our people, processes, and technology, and we have embraced oversight as a necessary force for reform — reform that is making us a stronger, more resilient agency.”
Sean Curran, who replaced Cheatle in late January, noted he was by Trump’s side when Crooks forever upended U.S. politics amid a bitter, volatile campaign.
“My heart will always be with all those impacted on that day, especially Corey Comperatore, who lost his life while protecting those around him,” Curran said in a statement. “Since President Trump appointed me as Director of the United States Secret Service, I have kept my experience on July 13 top of mind, and the agency has taken many steps to ensure such an event can never be repeated in the future.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also praised Comperatore for “selflessly” protecting his family when tragedy unfolded.
“President Trump will never forget Corey and his beautiful family,” Leavitt said in a statement. “On that dark day, God spared President Trump’s life by a miraculous millimeter. Now one year later, President Trump is standing stronger than ever as he continues to ‘fight, fight, fight’ for the American people.”
‘Stronger Than Ever’
Representative Mike Kelly, the congressman whose district encompasses Butler County, chaired a congressional task force that investigated the attempted assassination. He called for continued prayers for the families of Comperatore, Dutch and Copenhaver, as well as the president.
“In the wake of tragedy, the Butler community remains united and stronger than ever,” the Pittsburgh-born Republican told Newsweek in a statement.
The task force issued 25 specific recommendations related to issues that directly led to security failures in Butler, as well as 11 general pieces of guidance correlated to leadership, training and agency resources.
“I continue to work with director Curran and the agency as my colleagues in Congress and I put these recommendations into action,” Kelly said. “Like many in the Butler community, I still have questions about everything that led up to, and unfolded on, July 13. May we continue to pursue the truth to get the American people the answers they deserve.”
Firm, Not Fearful
Chet Jack, 66, vividly remembers the July 13 rally. As a member of the Pennsylvania and Butler County Republican committees, he had VIP access and recruited 20 volunteers to help organizers for what was supposed to be a typical pre-convention campaign rally in the dead of summer.
“We arrived there early in the morning,” Jack told Newsweek. “Hot, hot, hot. Some of the folks were working in the parking lots, some were working intake and that type of thing. Despite the heat and miserable weather, the crowd was very enthusiastic, very happy. Music was playing; you know, people dancing. Everyone was really jazzed about getting the opportunity to see then-candidate Trump.”
Jack recalls how that mood instantly vanished as Crooks unleashed his assault. Comperatore, who was mortally wounded, was roughly 30 feet away from him in the bleachers.
“It could’ve been anyone,” Jack said. “The shots were being randomly taken. They hit Corey, they hit a couple guys that were across the way and hit Trump’s ear.”
Many people in the bleachers near the stage immediately ducked down or sought cover, but Jack was among those to stand up in an attempt to see who fired the shots and point them out to law enforcement. Miraculously, mass panic didn’t erupt, Jack said, something Trump himself noted in his convention speech a week later when he said “nobody ran and, by not stampeding, many lives were saved…They knew I was in very serious trouble.”
“Almost to a person, they all remained standing, as if they were in vigil,” he recalled. “I’m now convinced that there was something divine there, that kept the rest of those people safe by not stampeding and many of us not feeling fear. I can’t come up with any other explanation than that.”
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