Jim Copenhaver, one of two spectators shot during the July 2024 assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, has died at 76, never having fully recovered from wounds that left bullet fragments lodged in his body.
Copenhaver died September 23, 2026, at West Penn Hospital, surrounded by family, more than two years after a gunman's bullets tore through a crowd of rallygoers and grazed the president's ear. The Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed his death but has not yet released an official cause.
President Trump honored Copenhaver on Truth Social shortly after the news broke, calling him "a true American Patriot" and describing the loss as "tremendous."
On July 13, 2024, twenty-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop as Trump addressed thousands of supporters at the Butler Farm Show grounds. One bullet grazed Trump's ear. Another killed Corey Comperatore, an off-duty firefighter who died shielding his family. Copenhaver and fellow attendee David Dutch were both severely wounded.
Copenhaver took two rounds. One struck his triceps. The other, according to the Washington Examiner, shredded part of his colon and lodged in his body, leaving him with permanent nerve damage. He underwent multiple surgeries in the months that followed. Bullet fragments remained inside him for the rest of his life.
Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, Mayor Jondavid Longo put it plainly:
"He 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."
A Secret Service counter-sniper killed Crooks moments after the attack. But the damage, to Copenhaver, to Comperatore's family, to Dutch, and to public confidence in the protective agencies responsible for the event, was already done.
The shooting triggered intense scrutiny of the Secret Service. Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned, and six agents were suspended in the aftermath. Questions about how a twenty-year-old with a rifle reached an elevated position within clear line of sight of the president, and a crowd of thousands, have never been satisfactorily answered.
Those security failures became the subject of congressional investigations that blindsided GOP lawmakers with previously undisclosed FBI documents about the shooter.
Copenhaver did not spend his final years quietly. In October 2024, he and Dutch sat for an NBC News interview in which they described what they believed were failures by the Secret Service and other agencies responsible for rally security.
On June 1, Copenhaver and his wife Marianne filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against the federal government. The suit alleged that security failures surrounding the rally allowed the attack to happen and sought more than $150,000 in damages. Dutch also pursued legal action against the government.
The status of that lawsuit, and whether Marianne Copenhaver will continue the case, remains unclear. So does the question of who, specifically, within the federal security apparatus bears responsibility for the gaps that allowed Crooks to set up his firing position.
Separate FBI documents revealed disturbing behavior by Crooks in the weeks before the attack, raising further questions about whether warning signs were missed.
Trump's full statement on Truth Social echoed the defiant spirit of the rally itself, and of the moment, seconds after being shot, when the president pumped his fist and mouthed those three words to the crowd. Just The News reported on the tribute, which Trump signed with his full name.
"After being wounded while protecting his family, Jim showed tremendous bravery, courageously continuing to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT, and maintaining a positive spirit despite unimaginable hardships. His indelible legacy of love and devotion will forever endure."
Trump directed prayers to "the Copenhaver family, especially his incredible wife Marianne."
The Copenhaver family released a statement through Fox News calling Copenhaver "a true American Patriot who believed deeply in the freedoms and ideals upon which this nation was founded." The House Republican Conference also offered condolences, saying Copenhaver "endured unimaginable hardship with strength and perseverance."
Headline USA Editor Ken Silva noted what many close to the case already knew: "It was no secret that Jim was dealing with permanent injuries from Butler."
President Trump has repeatedly demanded accountability over the Butler shooting, including calling for former FBI Director Christopher Wray to face consequences for the handling of the investigation.
Copenhaver was a military veteran from Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a small borough along the Ohio River northwest of Pittsburgh. He went to Butler on a summer Saturday to hear a presidential candidate speak. He came home with two gunshot wounds, a body full of metal fragments, and a future defined by operating rooms and chronic pain.
Corey Comperatore never came home at all. David Dutch survived, but with severe injuries of his own. And the agencies tasked with preventing exactly this kind of catastrophe have faced ongoing scrutiny and personnel actions that suggest the failures ran deep.
Copenhaver's death does not change what happened in Butler. But it does change the cost. The rally shooting now has a second fatality among the innocent, a 76-year-old man who spent his last two years living with the consequences of someone else's failure.
When the people in charge of security cannot keep a gunman off a rooftop, the people in the crowd pay the price. Jim Copenhaver paid it for two years, and now his family pays it for good.
