The story
On July 13, 2024, former President Donald Trump was speaking at an outdoor campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, when shots rang out at about 6:11 p.m. A 20-year-old local man, Thomas Matthew Crooks, had climbed onto the roof of a building roughly 120 to 140 meters from the stage and fired eight rounds from an AR-15-style rifle. A bullet grazed Trump's right ear. Spectator Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer fire chief, was killed shielding his family, and two other men were critically wounded. A Secret Service counter-sniper killed Crooks seconds later.
Trump was campaigning for a return to the White House after losing the 2020 election, an election whose aftermath included the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and left the country deeply divided. Investigators, however, found no clear political motive for Crooks, a registered Republican who left no manifesto. The FBI reported that he had searched online for information about both Trump and President Biden and had flown a drone over the site before the rally.
As agents pulled him off the stage, Trump raised his fist and mouthed fight, an image that spread worldwide. The building Crooks used had been outside the Secret Service's secure perimeter, and local police had flagged him as suspicious before he fired. Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned ten days later, congressional reviews found serious planning and communication failures, and six agents were suspended in 2025. In September 2024 a second man, Ryan Routh, was arrested near Trump's Florida golf course with a rifle; he was convicted in 2025 and sentenced to life in prison. Trump won the November 2024 election.
Why it mattered
- Secret Service leadership changed after the agency's worst protective failure in decades.
- The image of Trump's raised fist became a defining symbol of his 2024 campaign, which he won in November.
- Congressional investigations led to new security rules for outdoor events and candidate protection.
- Concern over political violence rose further after the killing of Charlie Kirk in 2025.
Sources
- Questions remain about the Secret Service's handling of Trump assassination attempt KMPH
- 'Absolute bare minimum': Calls for more action after Secret Service agents suspended for security failure Fox News
- U.S. Secret Service director resigns amid fury over agency failures in protecting Trump Florida Phoenix
- Ryan Routh sentenced to life in prison for attempted assassination of Trump Fox 9
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