HE’S DEAD — TRUMP MOURNS THE TRAGIC LOSS OF BUTLER RALLY SURVIVOR
A painful chapter from the 2024 Butler rally has ended with devastating news.
James “Jim” Copenhaver, the 76-year-old Trump supporter who survived being shot during the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, has died.
Copenhaver was one of the people caught in the gunfire on July 13, 2024, when Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
More than two years later, the injuries were still part of Copenhaver’s life.
Now he is gone.
And Trump is mourning the man he described as a “true American Patriot.”
Trump paid tribute to Copenhaver on Truth Social, calling his death a “tremendous loss” and praising the courage he displayed throughout a recovery that included multiple surgeries and lasting physical problems.
“Jim showed tremendous bravery,” Trump wrote, describing him as someone who continued to fight despite what he called unimaginable hardships.
The president also extended his condolences to Copenhaver’s wife, Marianne, and the rest of his family.
But Copenhaver’s death is more than another tragic reminder of the Butler shooting.
It brings renewed attention to the people who survived the attack — and to the security failures that remain the subject of legal and political scrutiny.
The Man Behind the Headlines
Copenhaver was sitting in the bleachers behind Trump when the gunfire erupted.
Trump was grazed in the right ear.
Copenhaver was struck in the arm and abdomen.
Another rally attendee, David Dutch, was also seriously wounded.
And former Buffalo Township fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed while shielding his family from the gunfire.
Crooks was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
For Copenhaver, however, surviving the attack was only the beginning.
His injuries required multiple operations and a prolonged recovery.
According to accounts of his condition, he experienced continuing physical problems after leaving the hospital and rehabilitation facility. He eventually needed a cane to walk and continued dealing with the consequences of wounds that his family described as life-altering.
The shooting lasted only moments.
The recovery lasted years.
And now, Copenhaver has died.
Trump Remembers a “True American Patriot”
Trump's reaction was deeply personal in tone.
He remembered Copenhaver not simply as a victim of the Butler shooting, but as someone who remained committed to his beliefs and endured a difficult recovery.
Trump said Copenhaver and the other victims had stood together in defense of what he described as shared American values.
He also praised Copenhaver’s determination after the shooting, using the phrase “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT” in describing the way he continued through his recovery.
For Trump's supporters, the Butler attack has long been remembered as one of the defining moments of his political career.
The image of Trump immediately after being shot — blood on his face, surrounded by Secret Service agents, raising his fist and urging supporters to “fight” — became one of the most recognizable images of the 2024 campaign.
But Copenhaver was living through another version of that same moment.
While Trump was fighting to get off the stage, Copenhaver was fighting to survive.
A Recovery That Never Truly Ended
The physical consequences followed Copenhaver long after the rally disappeared from the headlines.
His injuries included damage to his abdomen, colon and kidney, as well as nerve-related problems, according to legal filings described in reporting about his case.
He underwent major medical treatment and rehabilitation before returning home.
Even then, his recovery was not over.
He continued experiencing physical limitations and required assistance walking.
His family said he confronted those difficulties with strength and determination.
That description is consistent with the way Copenhaver came to be remembered publicly: not only as one of the wounded victims of a historic attack, but as a husband, father, grandfather and military veteran.
His family emphasized his dedication to service and his love of country.
Those details took on new significance after his death.
His Family Was Still Fighting for Answers
Copenhaver’s final months also placed him at the center of another battle — this time in court.
He and his wife filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the security failures surrounding the Butler rally.
David Dutch and his wife filed a similar lawsuit.
The cases allege that the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security failed to adequately secure the AGR International complex near the rally grounds, including the building from which Crooks fired.
The lawsuits also point to broader investigations into the security breakdowns surrounding the shooting.
Those investigations identified problems involving planning, communications and coordination among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
That means Copenhaver’s death arrives while questions surrounding the Butler attack remain unresolved in court.
His passing cannot answer those questions.
But it adds another human dimension to them.
The Butler Attack Changed Everything
The July 2024 shooting was already one of the most consequential moments of the presidential campaign.
Trump survived.
One spectator died.
Two others were seriously wounded.
The gunman was killed.
And the images from Butler became permanently connected with the campaign that eventually returned Trump to the White House.
Copenhaver's death now adds another chapter.
He survived the initial attack by more than two years, but his injuries remained part of his life.
According to reporting, he even had a chilling connection to the investigation through video recovered from his cellphone.
Footage recorded shortly before the shooting captured a figure later identified as Crooks moving across the rooftop from which the gunman opened fire.
The footage provided investigators with another perspective on the moments leading up to the attack.
Copenhaver never expected his phone to become part of the historical record of an assassination attempt.
Yet it did.
Condolences Cross Political Lines
Trump was not the only political figure to mourn Copenhaver.
House Republicans also expressed condolences, remembering the hardship he endured after being wounded.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, also expressed sympathy for Copenhaver’s family while condemning political violence.
That response is significant because the Butler shooting remains deeply tied to one of the most politically polarized periods in recent American history.
Yet Copenhaver’s death brought the focus back to something much simpler.
A man was shot while attending a political rally.
He survived.
He spent more than two years living with the consequences.
And his family is now grieving his loss.
The Questions Left Behind
There is still an important distinction surrounding Copenhaver’s death.
Early reports from his family did not initially establish an official cause of death, even though his death came after years of complications and lasting injuries from the Butler shooting.
That distinction matters.
The Pennsylvania attorney general later described his death as involving complications stemming from the wounds he suffered in the attack, according to the account provided in the source material.
But the broader significance does not depend on speculation about what happened medically.
Copenhaver was one of the people whose lives were permanently changed by the Butler shooting.
Now his family must face a different reality.
He is no longer recovering.
He is gone.
And Trump's message made clear that the president viewed Copenhaver as more than a name in the history of the attack.
He remembered him as a patriot who endured.
“Jim” Becomes Part of the Butler Legacy
The Butler shooting is often remembered through the image of Trump raising his fist.
It is remembered through the sound of gunfire.
It is remembered through the death of Corey Comperatore.
It is remembered through the dramatic escape of the presidential candidate.
But there were also people standing behind the cameras, behind the headlines and away from the political speeches.
People like Jim Copenhaver.
His story is a reminder that the consequences of political violence do not necessarily end when the gunfire stops.
Sometimes they continue for months.
Sometimes for years.
And sometimes the people who survived the original attack never truly escape its consequences.
Copenhaver survived Butler.
He endured surgeries, rehabilitation and lasting injuries.
He returned home and continued his life.
But more than two years after that terrifying afternoon in Pennsylvania, his family is now mourning him.
Trump's tribute ensures that his name will once again be associated with one of the most consequential moments of the 2024 campaign.
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But behind the politics is the story of a husband, father, grandfather and veteran who went to a rally — and whose life was changed forever.
Jim Copenhaver survived the gunfire. His family now carries his memory forward.
