On July 13, 2024, Donald Trump, then a former president of the United States and presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election, survived an assassination attempt while speaking at an open-air campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.[6][7] Trump was shot and wounded in his upper right ear[8][9][10]by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks,[3][11] who fired eight rounds from an AR-15–style rifle from the roof of a nearby building.[3][12][13] Crooks also killed one audience member, firefighter Corey Comperatore, and critically injured two others.[3] Four seconds after Crooks began firing, Aaron Zaliponi, a member of the Butler County Emergency Service Unit, shot at him and hit his rifle, preventing him from firing more shots. Twelve seconds later, Crooks was shot and killed by the Counter Sniper Team of the United States Secret Service.[14]
As shots were fired, Trump clasped his ear and took cover behind his lectern, where Secret Service agents shielded him until the shooter was killed. Evan Vucci, a photojournalist for the Associated Press, captured photographs of Trump with blood on his face and ear, pumping his fist in the air and saying “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as agents escorted him offstage; the images went viral on social media. Trump was taken to a hospital, treated, and released later that day.[3][15] He made his first public appearance after the shooting two days later at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, wearing a bandage on his ear.[16]
The incident is regarded as the most significant security failure by the Secret Service since the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981.[17][18] The director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, faced bipartisan calls for her resignation when she testified before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on July 22; she stepped down the following day.[19][20]President Joe Biden ordered an independent review of the security arrangements,[21]condemned the violence, and called for a reduction in heated political rhetoric, emphasizing the importance of resolving political differences peacefully.[22]Misinformation and conspiracy theoriesspread on social media after the shooting.[23] Lawmakers called for increased security for major candidates in the election,[24] and the Secret Service subsequently approved enhanced security measures, including the use of bulletproof glass at Trump’s outdoor rallies.[25]
At the time of the incident, Donald Trump was the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election.[26] The shooting occurred two days before the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[27] A previous attempt at violence toward Trump during one of his rallies happened in 2016, when a man attempted to grab a police officer’s gun at a rally outside of Las Vegas.[28]
On July 3, 2024,[29] the Trump campaignannounced that Trump would hold a rally on July 13 at the Butler Farm Show Grounds in Connoquenessing Township and Meridian, near Butler, Pennsylvania.[30] On July 10, an advance team began setting up for the rally, including the installation of generators in a large open field.[31] The rally was part of the campaign’s attempts to garner votes in Pennsylvania, a swing state[32] with 19 votes in the Electoral College.[27] Dave McCormick, the Republican nominee in the state’s concurrent U.S. Senate election, was invited to appear onstage during the rally to increase support for his campaign.[33][34]
Security arrangements
The Federal Bureau of Investigation had no information about any particular threats before the incident.[35] However, the Secret Service had increased Trump’s security detail in recent weeks because of intelligence indicating that Iran was plotting to assassinate him.[36][37][38] The acting Iranian minister of foreign affairs rejected this claim, stating that Iran wanted a “legal path to bring [Trump] to justice” for ordering the assassination of Qasem Soleimani.[39]
U.S. Representative Mike Kelly said he had contacted the Trump campaign to recommend holding the rally in an area that could handle a larger crowd than the Butler Farm Show Grounds, and that their response was: “We appreciate your input, but we’ve already made up our minds”.[27]
Prior to the incident, attendees at Trump rallies were screened for prohibited items, including weapons.[3] The Secret Servicealso routinely screens and monitors buildings and businesses located near such events, including structures outside security perimeters.[40] The venue “had two layers of security – an outer area patrolled by state police and an inner perimeter manned by Secret Service agents, including an anti-sniper team on a roof behind the stage.”[41]In total, four separate counter-sniper teams were assigned to the event, two from the Secret Service and two from local law enforcement.[42] One of these teams, comprising three snipers (local SWAT officer Greg Nicol, SWAT team member from Beaver County Jason Woods, and a third shooter from Butler County’s SWAT team), was assigned to be positioned inside a building owned by AGR International.[43]
The Pennsylvania State Police, which serves as the law enforcement agency for Connoquenessing Township, were also involved in security matters, while Butler Township police were given traffic duties.[44]Butler City did not send any law enforcement personnel, and the event was not within that city’s boundary.[45]
