James Copenhaver, the Pennsylvania veteran shot twice at President Trump's July 2024 Butler rally, has died at age mid-70s, two years after an attack a congressional task force concluded was entirely preventable.
Copenhaver's family confirmed his death on September 23, 2026, in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. He was surrounded by loved ones. The family described him as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and military veteran who "believed deeply in the freedoms and ideals upon which this nation was founded."
Copenhaver, a resident of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, spent the last two years of his life enduring multiple surgeries and living with bullet fragments permanently lodged in his body, injuries sustained when Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on a crowd at the Butler Farm Show complex on July 13, 2024. Corey Comperatore, a Butler County firefighter, was killed that day. A third rallygoer, David Dutch, was also wounded but survived.
Earlier this year, Copenhaver filed a lawsuit against the United States. The status of that case remains unclear.
In a 2025 interview with Pittsburgh's KDKA, Copenhaver recounted the seconds that changed his life. He described feeling his sleeve yanked, then catching a glimpse of something moving fast.
As Copenhaver's ordeal became public, his own words painted the sharpest picture of what the crowd experienced that afternoon:
"I could see a portion of it going by pretty fast, and I heard 'pew.' I heard it, and I didn't realize at the time that I had gotten shot."
He told KDKA the bullets went "into soft material." The impact, he said, felt like a jolt, not enough to knock him over, but enough that he didn't want to stand anymore.
Those bullets never fully left him. Journalist Ken Silva, who wrote a book about the assassination attempt, reported that a person close to the Copenhaver family confirmed he had been dealing with permanent injuries, including fragments still embedded in his body, up until his death.
Crooks scaled the roof of a glass manufacturing building near the rally site and took aim at then-presidential candidate Trump. The security breakdown that allowed a shooter to reach an elevated position with a clear line of fire became a national scandal.
Then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned less than two weeks after the attack, taking responsibility for the lapse. She had previously cited the roof's slope as a reason it was not secured, an explanation that drew open disbelief from lawmakers. Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, a member of the bipartisan House task force investigating the shooting, climbed onto the very roof Crooks had used and told Fox News Digital he was incredulous at how easy it was to scale.
Six Secret Service agents were later suspended without pay in connection with failures surrounding the rally. Investigations uncovered breakdowns in planning, communication, and security around the site. The bipartisan House task force concluded the attack was preventable, identifying failures in planning, execution, and leadership.
Newly released FBI documents have since revealed disturbing details about Crooks's behavior in the weeks before the attack, details that have raised further questions about whether federal agencies missed warning signs.
Those records caught even the lawmakers who led the congressional investigation off guard. GOP investigators said they had not been briefed on some of the material before it became public.
Mayor Jondavid Longo of Slippery Rock, a nearby Pennsylvania community, mourned Copenhaver's death in a post on X. Longo, who spoke at the Butler rally, wrote that Copenhaver "survived that day, but he never fully recovered from the wounds."
"For two years he lived with surgeries, remaining fragments, and pain that never left him. Those of us who were there that day have never forgotten Corey Comperatore, David Dutch, or Jim."
Longo added that Butler County "still carries that afternoon" and offered prayers for Copenhaver's wife, Marianne, and the rest of the family.
The House Republican Conference posted an obituary on social media, calling lawmakers "deeply saddened" by the news:
"Jim endured unimaginable hardship with strength and perseverance. We join his family and loved ones in mourning his loss and praying for them during this difficult time. May he rest in peace."
President Trump returned to Butler in October 2024, less than three months after the shooting, for another rally at the same site, honoring Comperatore. Trump had raised his fist and mouthed the word "fight" moments after the assassination attempt, an image that defined the final stretch of a campaign that sent him back to the White House. He became the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve two nonconsecutive terms.
Separate FBI files later revealed that Crooks had used a false alias and that an anonymous donor covered his cremation, details that deepened the mystery surrounding the shooter's planning and connections.
Copenhaver's family described him as a man whose "dedication to this great country was a defining part of his life." He served in the armed forces. His family said his love of country never wavered, and that he "embodied the very best traits of our great nation."
"Throughout that difficult time, James faced every challenge with the same strength and resolve that defined his life, and the kindness shown by so many brought great comfort to him and to those who love him."
The family asked for privacy as they mourn and said they welcomed continued thoughts and prayers.
Several open questions remain. The specific cause of Copenhaver's death, and whether it was directly attributed to his 2024 wounds, has not been publicly detailed. The status of his federal lawsuit is unknown. And whether the six suspended Secret Service agents faced any further consequences remains unclear.
James Copenhaver went to a rally to support a candidate he believed in, exercising the most basic right of a free citizen. He left on a stretcher. He spent two years paying the price for a security failure that the government's own investigators called preventable. The people who let it happen resigned, got suspended, or moved on. Copenhaver never got that option.
