By: HISTORY.com Editors

2024

Donald Trump is shot

HISTORY.com Editors

AFP via Getty Images

Published: July 09, 2026Last Updated: July 09, 2026

At a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, then-former President Donald J. Trump is shot by a would-be assassin, but escapes with an injury to his right ear. Two people are killed in the attack—a bystander attending the rally and the shooter himself.

Trump was in western Pennsylvania campaigning for the 2024 presidential election against incumbent President Joe Biden. Trump was just six minutes into his speech at the outdoor rally when gunshots rang out and people in the crowded shouted “Get down, get down!”

Eight shots were fired in total, including one that killed Corey Comperatore, a rally attendee sitting in the stands behind the former president’s podium. The 50-year-old father of two dove in front of his family when he was fatally shot in the head. Two other men in the crowd were critically injured.

How the Assassination of McKinley Gave Birth to the Secret Service

After President McKinley was shot, Teddy Roosevelt became president and the first to have round the clock protection by the Secret Service. But why did it take Congress 25 presidencies and three assassinations to make that happen?

4:07m watch

The upper part of Trump's right ear was pierced by a bullet or bullet fragment fired from an AR-15 rifle. Secret Service agents tackled the former president to the ground. As he was rushed from the stage, Trump raised his fist and—with blood streaked on his face—mouthed the words, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

The shooter, who was killed at the scene, was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Family and classmates remembered him as a highly intelligent and quiet young man who was going through a mental health crisis. A week before the rally, Crooks searched, “How far was Oswald from Kennedy?” and researched the layout of the Butler fairground. Investigators never established a clear motive for the shooting.

Trump’s assassination attempt was the first on the life of a sitting or former U.S. president since 1981. The director of the Secret Service resigned 10 days later and six agents on duty were later suspended. According to a 64-page report issued on June 30, 2026, breakdowns in communication contributed to the Secret Service's failure to act on multiple chances to identify and stop Crooks before he carried out the assassination attempt. Investigators also found that agency personnel never received 102 radio transmissions from local law enforcement documenting an escalating search for a suspicious individual.

Timeline

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Citation Information

Article Title: Donald Trump is shot
Author: HISTORY.com Editors
Website Name: History
URL: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-13/donald-trump-is-shot

Date Accessed: July 09, 2026
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: July 09, 2026
Original Published Date: July 09, 2026