President Donald Trump honored Jim Copenhaver as a true American patriot after the Butler rally spectator died more than two years later from complications of wounds suffered in the 2024 assassination attempt.
Copenhaver, 76, died Wednesday surrounded by his loved ones. He had been shot in the arm and abdomen on July 13, 2024, when 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop during a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Newsmax reported that Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said Copenhaver died “from complications stemming from those wounds.” The death came more than two years after the attack that also killed Butler County firefighter Corey Comperatore, wounded spectator David Dutch, and left Trump with a gunshot wound to his right ear.
Trump posted a tribute on Truth Social on Thursday night. He called the loss tremendous and praised the courage Copenhaver showed after being hit while protecting his family.
President Trump wrote:
"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. Instead, Jim and so many other wonderful Patriots who love our Country, stood united in defense of our shared values of Freedom, Liberty, and Justice."
Fox News reported the Copenhaver family confirmed he passed away on September 23, 2026. The same account noted he lived with permanent injuries, including bullet fragments and the effects of multiple surgeries, after attending the rally.
Readers following James Copenhaver’s death two years after the Butler shooting already know how long the medical fight lasted. The injuries never fully released their hold.
Crooks fired from a rooftop near the rally stage. A Secret Service counter-sniper shot and killed the gunman. Comperatore died shielding his family. Copenhaver and Dutch survived the initial gunfire but carried the damage forward.
Copenhaver was hit in the arm and abdomen. He suffered nerve damage and underwent multiple surgeries, including a transection of his colon. Months later he told NBC News he had lost 30 pounds and had to walk with a cane. Family members described the injuries as life-altering.
Breitbart noted he was struck in the triceps and that another round damaged his colon, leaving permanent injuries and nerve damage. Those complications ultimately claimed his life.
Attorney Joseph A. Feldman, representing the family, said Copenhaver died Wednesday “surrounded by his loved ones.” Trump singled out Copenhaver’s wife, Marianne, in his condolences and asked God to bless the family.
Trump continued in the same Truth Social message:
"After being wounded while protecting his family, Jim showed tremendous bravery, courageously continuing to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT, and maintaining a positive spirit despite unimaginable hardships. His indelible legacy of love and devotion will forever endure. Our hearts and prayers are with the Copenhaver family, especially his incredible wife Marianne. God bless you all!"
In June, Copenhaver and Dutch, along with their wives, filed separate federal lawsuits against the United States. The suits alleged negligence by the Secret Service and charged that the agency failed to provide adequate security at the Butler rally.
That legal path mirrors other families forced to seek answers after security breakdowns. Charlie Kirk’s family has moved to sue over security failures tied to a separate assassination, showing how often loved ones are left to press institutions that should have protected the public in the first place.
The Butler cases put a simple claim on paper: the protective perimeter failed, and ordinary Americans paid the price. Comperatore never came home. Copenhaver spent more than two years fighting injuries that began that afternoon. Dutch survived but joined the same fight in court.
Just The News reported Copenhaver had been seated behind Trump when Crooks opened fire. Trump himself took a round to the ear in the same volley. The only fatalities that day were Comperatore and the gunman.
Trump framed Copenhaver’s stand in plain terms. The gunman tried to stop a political movement. Citizens in the crowd refused to scatter from their values. Copenhaver’s later years became a long recovery marked by surgeries, weight loss, a cane, and still a positive spirit, according to the president’s account and the family’s own words.
Assassination threats against the Trump family have not stopped. Iranian state TV has broadcast offers tied to harming Barron Trump, a reminder that the violence directed at this circle did not end on a Pennsylvania rooftop.
Marianne Copenhaver now carries the private weight of a public wound. Trump’s message kept the focus on her husband’s character and on the family’s loss rather than on politics alone. The record shows a 76-year-old man who attended a rally, took bullets meant to silence a campaign, and spent the rest of his life managing the damage.
Federal lawsuits still name the United States and point at Secret Service decisions that day. No court ruling is required to see the human result: one firefighter dead on the scene, two spectators wounded, a former president bloodied, and now a third death tied directly to those same shots.
Family pressure and public memory keep running on parallel tracks. Melania Trump has spoken about family time growing scarce as public life crowds private life. The Copenhavers learned that lesson the hardest way when a campaign stop turned into a medical ordeal that never fully ended.
Copenhaver’s name now joins Comperatore’s in the permanent ledger of Butler. Trump called him a patriot who kept fighting. The medical timeline and the attorney general’s statement leave little room for distance between the rooftop gunfire and the death more than two years later.
When citizens take a bullet at a political rally and still lose years later, the country owes them more than silence, and the agencies charged with protection owe a full accounting.
