Man wounded in the 2024 Trump assassination attempt dies
By Eduardo Cuevas, CNN
(CNN) — James Copenhaver, one of the men who was wounded during the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally in 2024, has died, his family said through a lawyer Thursday.
Copenhaver died Wednesday at a hospital at age 76, according to the Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner. His cause of death was not disclosed.
A “devoted husband, father and grandfather,” Copenhaver was surrounded by loved ones when he passed, family lawyer Joseph Feldman said, adding “His family was the center of his world, and he was the center of theirs.”
“James’s dedication to this great country was a defining part of his life,” Feldman said in a statement on behalf of the family. “As a veteran, he proudly served our nation in the armed forces, and his love of country never wavered. James was a true American patriot who believed deeply in the freedoms and ideals upon which this nation was founded, and he embodied the very best traits of our great nation.”
On July 13, 2024, Trump was speaking onstage at a rally attended by thousands in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman on a roof nearby opened fire. Trump, who suffered an injury to his ear, was rushed off stage with blood on his face.
Copenhaver, of Moon Township, and another man who were sitting on the far end of the bleachers to Trump’s left were both seriously injured. Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old rally attendee, was shot and killed.
Copenhaver, then 74, was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, and his family said in a statement at the time that he was in critical condition but stable. They denounced the shooting as a “horrible, senseless, and unnecessary act of violence.”
Copenhaver was released from the hospital about two weeks later and told CNN affiliate KDKA-TV nearly a year after the shooting that a bullet tore into his triceps while another was still lodged in his body, leaving him with nerve damage.
Feldman, the family lawyer, said Copenhaver and his family were “deeply grateful for the outpouring of love, prayers and support they have received over the past two years” since the shooting.
“Throughout that difficult time, James faced every challenge with the same strength and resolve that defined his life, and the kindness shown by so many brought great comfort to him and to those who love him,” Feldman said.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and House Republicans mourned Copenhaver in posts on X.
“Lori and I extend our prayers to James Copenhaver’s loved ones — who now, as Corey Comperatore’s family has faced for over two years — will have an empty seat at their dinner table,” Shapiro said. “The political violence that occurred in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024 is never okay. I said it at the time in Butler and I say it again today: we all have a responsibility to take down the temperature, rise above hateful rhetoric, and search for a brighter future for this nation.”
House Republicans said, “Jim endured unimaginable hardship with strength and perseverance.”
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