James Copenhaver, a survivor of the 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, has died from complications of his wounds.
Copenhaver, in his mid-70s, passed away Thursday after spending nearly two years with permanent injuries from the shooting, including bullet fragments that remained lodged in his body, according to a person close to his family who spoke with journalist Ken Silva. The House Republican Conference announced his death on social media, with lawmakers stating they were “deeply saddened” by the loss.
“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,” the caucus wrote in its statement.
A person who answered a phone number connected to Copenhaver’s family directed Fox News Digital to a Pittsburgh-area law firm for confirmation and further comment.
Mayor Jondavid Longo of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, who had spoken at the Butler rally, mourned Copenhaver in a statement posted to X on Thursday. Longo noted that while Copenhaver survived the initial attack, he never fully recovered from his wounds.
“[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 wrote. “Butler County still carries that afternoon. May he rest in peace. Prayers for Marianne and the Copenhaver family.”
Copenhaver had described the moment he was shot during an interview with Pittsburgh’s KDKA in 2025. He explained that he had stood to look at the jumbotron behind him as Trump spoke.
“Next thing I know, my sleeve has been yanked,” he said. “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 the station he was struck a second time but that both bullets “went into soft material.” The experience, he recalled, was disorienting rather than immediately incapacitating.
“It was like a jolt. It didn’t knock me over, but I didn’t want to stand anymore,” he continued.
A lawsuit Copenhaver filed against the United States earlier this year alleged he was required to undergo multiple surgeries as a result of his injuries. His death adds to the toll of the July 2024 attack, when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks scaled the roof of a nearby glass manufacturing building at the Butler Farm Show complex and opened fire on the then-presidential candidate.
Butler County firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed in the bleachers behind Trump’s dais that day. David Dutch was also wounded but survived. The attack became one of the most scrutinized security failures in recent Secret Service history, triggering investigations that uncovered breakdowns in planning, communication and security around the rally site. Then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned less than two weeks after the shooting, taking responsibility for the lapse. A bipartisan House task force later concluded the attack was preventable and identified failures in planning, execution and leadership. Six Secret Service agents were subsequently suspended without pay.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, a Republican member of that task force, climbed onto the roof Crooks had used and later said he was incredulous at how easy it was to scale after Cheatle had cited the roof’s slope in explaining why it was not secured.
Trump returned to Butler in October 2024, less than three months after the attempt on his life, to hold another rally at the same site and honor Comperatore. His raised fist and mouthing of the word “fight” became a defining image of his successful campaign to become the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve two nonconsecutive terms.