Small city of Butler grapples with tragedy after Trump rally assault

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Butler, Pa. – Nobody in Butler, Pa. – inhabitants 13,000 – ever imagined their quiet neighborhood would change into the backdrop to an tried presidential assassination.

However on July 13, 2024, gunman Thomas Mathew Crooks opened fireplace at a rally for as soon as and future President Donald Trump on the native farm showgrounds, a burst of violence that reverberated far past western Pennsylvania's rolling hills and altered the course of American historical past.

One bullet grazed Trump’s ear and will have ended his life had he tilted his head even barely. Within the months that adopted, Republicans rallied fiercely behind him. Trump went on to win re-election in a wave of assist, with backers, and Trump himself, saying God had spared him to save lots of America.

Residents and rally attendees are nonetheless shocked that their city turned synonymous with the assault, and saddened that Butler’s picture as a peaceable farm neighborhood has been overshadowed by that darkish day.

FIRST RESPONDERS SIT DOWN WITH WIDOW OF FIREFIGHTER KILLED AT BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA TRUMP RALLY

<source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/343/192/2024-10-05t223841z_1928308640_rc2qu9augjya_rtrmadp_3_usa-election-trump-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/686/384/2024-10-05t223841z_1928308640_rc2qu9augjya_rtrmadp_3_usa-election-trump-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="192" width="343"><source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/672/378/2024-10-05t223841z_1928308640_rc2qu9augjya_rtrmadp_3_usa-election-trump-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/1344/756/2024-10-05t223841z_1928308640_rc2qu9augjya_rtrmadp_3_usa-election-trump-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/931/523/2024-10-05t223841z_1928308640_rc2qu9augjya_rtrmadp_3_usa-election-trump-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/1862/1046/2024-10-05t223841z_1928308640_rc2qu9augjya_rtrmadp_3_usa-election-trump-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"><source media="(min-width: 1280px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/720/405/2024-10-05t223841z_1928308640_rc2qu9augjya_rtrmadp_3_usa-election-trump-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/1440/810/2024-10-05t223841z_1928308640_rc2qu9augjya_rtrmadp_3_usa-election-trump-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="405" width="720"> The turnout coat of Corey Comperatore, a retired volunteer fireplace division chief who was shot and killed within the July assassination try towards Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump, is seen within the stands throughout a second of silence throughout a rally, in Butler, Pennsylvania, Oct. 5, 2024. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

"For one thing like this to thrust Butler into the nationwide and the worldwide highlight, it's extremely unhappy," J.D. Longo, mayor of Slippery Rock, informed Fox Information Digital.

"It’s not what anyone in Butler or western Pennsylvania desires to be identified for," Longo mentioned. "It is a place the place you can begin a household if you wish to, have an excellent life."

However most of all, their hearts break for the household of the firefighter who misplaced his life when Crooks fired eight pictures directed at Trump.

"Many people hope that, regardless of the ugliness and the horror of that day and the apparent lack of life that occurred, by the use of losing Corey Comperatore , that Butler County could be remembered extra for the best way by which we unified instantly following that second and the way we got here to the help and the protection of the Comperatore household and of the president."

TRUMP REVEALS CRUCIAL, SPLIT-SECOND MOMENT THAT SAVED HIS LIFE DURING BUTLER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Fox Information Digital interviewed Zach Scherer, a Butler native, outdoors Butler Farm Present grounds the place Trump's rally was held. (Fox Information Digital )

There may be delight in how Butler got here collectively after the tragedy. However some cannot overlook why it needed to.

"It positively put us in a tough spot," mentioned Zach Scherer, a Butler native who volunteered for a number of Trump campaigns. "There's some individuals right here that take into consideration this on a regular basis."

"Many people hope that, regardless of the ugliness and the horror of that day and the apparent lack of life that occurred, by the use of dropping Corey Comperatore, that Butler County could be remembered extra for the best way by which we unified instantly following that second and the way we got here to the help and the protection of the Comperatore household and of the president."

"We really feel actually unhealthy for Butler," mentioned Erin Autenreith of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, a longtime Trump marketing campaign volunteer and rally-goer.

"I’ve gone to the farm present for years," she added, referring to the annual occasion that pulls households from throughout western Pennsylvania. She described one in every of her favourite points of interest – an space the place cows stroll in to be milked and a constructing subsequent door that has vanilla milkshakes created from that milk. "It is simply so healthful. My husband likes the truck pull," she mentioned.

"It’s all the time been one thing we seemed ahead to, and now it’s tied to this."

REPORT GIVES NEW DETAILS ON TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT'S 'DESCENT INTO MADNESS'

"We really feel actually unhealthy for Butler," mentioned Erin Autenreith of Glenshaw, a longtime Trump marketing campaign volunteer and rally-goer. (Fox Information Digital)

The Butler Farm Present, which allowed the Trump marketing campaign to make use of its property for the rally, can be making an attempt to shake the affiliation with the capturing. Members of the media should not permitted to movie on the property.

"It’s put a stain on a very nice neighborhood," mentioned Autenreith. "It’s solely 45 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. it is such as you're reworked into, you already know, a bit of bit like, I might say Iowa."

Nonetheless, Butler residents say the capturing didn't break the neighborhood. Within the days and weeks after, they pulled collectively to assist the Comperatore household and others affected by the violence.

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"The overall Pittsburgh space, we're fairly powerful proper right here – because the president would consult with as powerful cookies," mentioned Bob Crankovic.

Lucie Roth, who had been seated simply behind Trump on the Butler rally, mentioned she didn’t hesitate to return. "The very subsequent rally that [Trump] had, I used to be proper behind him once more."