James Copenhaver, one of two audience members shot during the assassination attempt on President Trump at a 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, has died after two years of surgeries, pain, and bullet fragments that never left his body.
Copenhaver died on September 23, 2026, surrounded by his loved ones, his family confirmed in a statement. He was 76. The military veteran had spent the final two years of his life enduring what Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, Mayor Jondavid Longo described as wounds he "never fully recovered from." Multiple surgeries followed the July 13, 2024 shooting, but bullet fragments remained lodged in his body, and the nerve damage proved permanent.
Ken Silva, editor of Headline USA, first announced the death on X, writing that it was "no secret that Jim was dealing with permanent injuries from Butler." Silva declined to offer specific details about the circumstances of Copenhaver's death.
Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at the Butler Farm Show complex that day, striking President Trump, killing former Pennsylvania fire chief Corey Comperatore, and wounding both Copenhaver and a third attendee, David Dutch. Comperatore died shielding his wife and daughter from the gunfire. Dutch, who was shot in his chest and liver, survived and was discharged from Allegheny General Hospital weeks after the shooting.
Copenhaver took two rounds. One struck his triceps. The other shredded part of his colon and lodged inside his body, leaving lasting nerve damage that would shadow every remaining day of his life.
He was also released from Allegheny General Hospital later that July. His family thanked first responders, medics, and hospital staff at the time for providing "initial and continuing care." But continuing care turned out to mean years of procedures and pain management, not recovery in any ordinary sense of the word.
Longo, the mayor of Slippery Rock, a small borough about 20 miles north of Butler, offered one of the most direct accounts of what Copenhaver endured after the cameras moved on.
"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."
Copenhaver was a resident of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a small borough along the Ohio River northwest of Pittsburgh. He was a veteran, a man who had already served his country before a would-be assassin's bullet tore through a political rally and left him permanently broken.
The Trump administration has continued to mark the Butler rally as a defining moment of the president's political journey. Trump himself has used the presidency to honor the values and the people he associates with the America First movement, and Copenhaver's death prompted a direct tribute.
President Trump posted a tribute to Copenhaver on Truth Social, mourning a man he cast as a casualty of political violence aimed at the movement itself.
"Jim Copenhaver, a true American Patriot, has passed away, A tremendous loss! More than two years ago in Butler, Pennsylvania, a crazed gunman attempted to stifle our America First Movement."
Trump also extended condolences to Copenhaver's wife, Marianne.
The House Republican Conference confirmed Copenhaver's death in a separate statement and offered words that spoke to the toll of the past two years:
"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 political violence that struck Butler in 2024 has cast a long shadow. The assassination attempt left one man dead on the scene, a president wounded, and two other Americans carrying injuries that would reshape their lives. Copenhaver's death extends that toll in a way that formal casualty counts from that day never captured.
The broader question of political violence in American life has only grown sharper since Butler. The killing of Charlie Kirk and other acts of politically motivated aggression have underscored the real-world consequences of a climate where public figures and their supporters face physical danger for their beliefs.
Most Americans remember the Butler rally for the image of Trump raising his fist after being struck, or for the death of Corey Comperatore, the fire chief who gave his life for his family. Copenhaver's story received far less attention, and yet his suffering continued long after the news cycle moved on.
For two years, he lived with metal still inside him, with nerve damage that would not heal, with surgery after surgery. No official statement has linked his death directly to the shooting injuries, but Silva's remark that Copenhaver's permanent injuries from Butler were "no secret" leaves little ambiguity about the trajectory of his final years.
The Trump White House has remained active in honoring those who have supported the president through extraordinary circumstances. The administration's recent initiatives, from Trump Accounts drawing millions of sign-ups to broader outreach efforts, reflect a presidency that treats its base as participants in a shared cause, not spectators.
Copenhaver was one of those participants. He went to a rally, stood in a crowd, and paid for it with two bullets and two years of pain.
David Dutch, the third man wounded that day, survived his injuries. Comperatore did not survive the rally itself. And now Copenhaver, who walked out of the hospital in July 2024, has joined Comperatore on the list of Americans killed by what happened in Butler.
Jim Copenhaver went to hear his president speak and came home with bullets in his body. Two years later, the country that let a gunman get that close owes his family more than a statement.