Corey Comperatore died the day a leftist gunman tried to kill President Trump at Butler.
Jim Copenhaver survived that day – but never really escaped it.
The veteran spent the last two years fighting what those bullets left behind – and now his family says he lost that fight too.
Two Years of Surgeries, Fragments, and Pain
Copenhaver, of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, was standing in the crowd at the Butler Farm Show on July 13, 2024, watching Trump speak.
He turned to look at the jumbotron.
That's when Thomas Matthew Crooks – the 20-year-old who climbed onto a nearby rooftop with a rifle – shot him once, then twice.
"It was like a jolt," Copenhaver told Pittsburgh's KDKA in 2025. "It didn't knock me over, but I didn't want to stand anymore."
He was airlifted to Allegheny General Hospital in critical condition.
Doctors saved him.
But the bullets left behind fragments that surgeons couldn't fully remove – permanent damage, permanent pain, lodged in his body through multiple operations over two years.
He filed a lawsuit against the United States government earlier this year over the injuries.
On September 23, 2026, Jim Copenhaver died.
Surrounded by his family.
A Veteran, a Patriot, a Man Who Just Wanted to Support His President
The Copenhaver family released a statement Thursday that said everything you need to know about the man.
"James's dedication to this great country was a defining part of his life. As a veteran, he proudly served our nation in the armed forces, and his love of country never wavered," they wrote.
He was a devoted husband.
A father who drilled values of hard work and integrity into his children.
A grandfather who found his greatest joy in his grandkids.
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He went to Butler because he believed in America First.
He came home with bullet fragments in his body and never fully recovered.
Mayor Jondavid Longo of Slippery Rock – who spoke at the Butler rally that day – said it plainly: "Butler County still carries that afternoon."
The House Republican Conference mourned Copenhaver Thursday, saying he "endured unimaginable hardship with strength and perseverance."
That's the understatement of the decade.
The Accountability That Never Came
Jim Copenhaver is now the second man to die as a result of that attack.
Corey Comperatore died in the bleachers, shielding his wife and daughters with his own body.
Copenhaver died in a hospital bed, two years after bullet fragments lodged where surgeons couldn't reach them.
A bipartisan House task force concluded the Butler attack was entirely preventable – failures in planning, execution, and leadership at every level.
The Government Accountability Office confirmed that senior Secret Service officials knew about a potential threat before the rally and still failed to act.
Director Kimberly Cheatle – appointed by Joe Biden – resigned in disgrace after Rep. Carlos Gimenez climbed onto the same rooftop Crooks used and found it trivially easy to access – the same roof Cheatle had claimed was too sloped to secure.
Six agents were suspended without pay.
Nobody went to prison.
Here's the part that should make your blood boil.
The Biden administration denied enhanced security requests for Trump's protection in the months before Butler – confirmed by the GAO report and multiple congressional investigations.
Biden's team looked at requests to better protect his political opponent – a former president, the leading candidate – and said no.
Crooks got on that roof because the resources to stop him were requested and denied.
Corey Comperatore died because of that decision.
Jim Copenhaver just did too.
A decorated American veteran went to a political rally and came home dying – because the people responsible for keeping that stage safe decided the protection wasn't worth the budget.
Cheatle got early retirement.
Jim Copenhaver got two years of surgeries and a funeral.
That's the Biden legacy at Butler – and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Sources:
- Charles Creitz and Alexis McAdams, "James Copenhaver, man shot at Trump Butler rally, dies of complications from injuries," Fox News, September 24, 2026.
- "Secret Service had major failures ahead of Butler assassination attempt," Government Accountability Office report via Yahoo News, 2026.
- "Critical security lapses, Secret Service exposed in new report on Trump assassination attempt," Fox News, 2024.
- Rep. Mike Kelly, "Kelly leads resolution marking second anniversary of Trump assassination attempt in Butler," Press Release, July 13, 2026.