More than four months after a 20-year-old gunman attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, Butler County officials have released 911 calls from that day.
One redacted call came from the wife of a 74-year-old shooting victim from Moon Township, telling police her husband was shot at the rally, but she does not know what hospital he was transported to. James Copenhaver, a 74-year-old man from Moon Township, was shot and critically wounded at the rally.
“Paramedics serviced him. I called Butler Hospital. He’s not there. They told me to call 911,” the woman can be heard telling a dispatcher.
The dispatcher tells her to stay on the line and not hang up.
“I won’t,” she says.
Other 911 calls released by Butler County give more insight into the moment gunman Thomas Crooks fired approximately eight times, nicking Trump in the ear, killing Corey Comperatore, and injuring Copenhaver and another man named David Dutch.
“Gunshots. Gunshots at the Trump rally,” one caller can be heard saying. “You better get over here quick.”
“We’re at the Butler Farm Show. We need assistance now,” says another.
“We’re at the Trump assembly, and there’s a guy shooting,” another caller can be heard telling dispatchers.
James Copenhaver
One woman called 911 to check in on her mother, who had been at the rally. She notified dispatchers that there had been a shooting, and dispatchers respond that police are on the way.
“What am I supposed to do?” she asks.
Another caller tells dispatch that a paramedic is needed in the “green section” of the rally after “somebody passed out.”
The calls reveal a chaotic scene after shots rang out at the rally, with attendees unaware whether the shooter was an active threat to those attending the event.
Further investigation revealed that Crooks had accessed the roof of a nearby building by climbing HVAC equipment and piping on the side of the building, which was outside the official perimeters of the rally but less than 200 yards from where Trump was speaking on stage.
About an hour before shots were fired, a Beaver County sniper took a photo of a suspicious male near the AGR building using a range finder pointing toward the stage. That suspicious male was later identified as Crooks.
The sniper reported that information to the Pennsylvania State Police. The FBI previously said this sighting occurred around 5:10 p.m. on July 13, one hour and one minute before Crooks fired his first bullet at 6:11.
A local officer with Butler County identified where the shots were coming from, located the shooter, and fired one round at Crooks with his rifle, “which caused the shooter to recoil and briefly fall out of sight,” Adams Township Police Department Sgt. Edward Lenz testified in September.
A Secret Service counter sniper then fired the fatal shot that neutralized Crooks on the roof of the AGR building, where he was perched with a direct line of sight to Trump.
On the day of the rally, Crooks parked his vehicle and flew a drone between approximately 3:50 p.m. and 4 p.m. about 200 yards from where the former president would be speaking.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified during a July 17 congressional hearing that Crooks had been at the rally site for about 70 minutes the morning of the assassination attempt.
Investigators located eight casings on the roof where Crooks fired from.