Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania
On July 13, 2024, Donald Trump, then a former president of the United States and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election, survived an assassination attempt while speaking at an open-air campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show Grounds in Meridian, Pennsylvania, just outside Butler. Trump was shot and wounded in his upper right ear by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who fired eight rounds from an AR-15–style rifle from a nearby building's roof. Though Trump survived the shooting, Crooks shot three audience members, killing Corey Comperatore instantly, and mortally wounding James Copenhaver, who died of complications from his injuries in 2026. Four seconds after he began firing, a member of the Butler County Emergency Service Unit shot at him and hit Crooks's rifle, preventing him from firing more shots.
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