Butler County residents still rattled after Trump assassination attempt

BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. — This western Pennsylvania area’s claim to fame used to be the birthplace of the Jeep. That all changed on July 13.

Former President Donald Trump, in his quest to return to the White House, held a campaign rally that day at the Butler Farm Show, a small fairgrounds site that straddles the border of Connoquenessing and Butler townships.

Less than 10 minutes after the Republican nominee took the stage, gunfire rang out. A bullet struck Mr. Trump’s ear, and he hit the ground as more shots were fired.

Sam Zurzolo, a Butler Township commissioner, said he was “almost in line with fire.” He said he watched as three bullets skimmed off the ground in a small open area near his position to the left of the stage.

“I think there were angels or somebody there because it saved some lives, I’ll tell you that,” Mr. Zurzolo said. “It was scary.”

Not all the rallygoers were spared. Firefighter Corey Comperatore was fatally shot. Mr. Zurzolo, who was in front of the grandstands where Mr. Comperatore was hit, saw first responders carry away his body. Two other rallygoers in the same general area were injured. One was removed on a stretcher.

Mr. Zurzolo said he thinks those bullets were intended for Mr. Trump but the shooter didn’t have a clear path after the former president hit the ground.

“I think what happened, when he hit Trump the first time, I think he lowered his aim to try to get him when he was down,” he said.

The Butler County community is “not the same,” Mr. Zurzolo said. “People, they talk about it. ‘It can’t happen in Butler. Of all places, Butler, it can’t happen.’ But it happened.”

Pat Collins was not at the rally. When she learned of the news from Facebook, she said, she thought there was no way the shooter was from Butler County. The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, is from Bethel Park, about an hour south in Allegheny County.

“Nobody from Butler would have had — excuse my expression — the balls to do that,” said the 68-year-old lifelong resident.

Ms. Collins, a Trump supporter, said the assassination attempt has not changed the community.

“People in Butler are proud of Butler. Butler has a lot going for it,” she said.

Terry Graham, 70, also a lifelong Butler resident, said chatter in the community has been about the notoriety as the scene of an attempted assassination.

“People are still a little bit shocked, I think, that it happened. And a lot of people know the property, and so they know where he was stationed,” he said. “It’s a little, kind of numbing, you know. I don’t think it’s all really kicked in to everybody.”

Mr. Graham said he did not attend the rally and was voting for Vice President Kamala Harris this fall. He said he was caught off guard by the news but has not seen much change outside the assassination attempt.

Mr. Trump “has Secret Service coverage, and all the local officers in the state, county and townships are all supposedly there,” he said. “It’s just a big surprise. That’s all I got to say — not in my backyard, that kind of situation.”

Angela Fleeger, Connoquenessing Township supervisor, said she and her husband visited the farm show site for preparations the night before the rally.

“We weren’t vetted, we weren’t asked questions, we weren’t asked our names, we weren’t checked,” she said. “And I thought that was odd at the time, but I also had never been present during a setup before, so I didn’t really know what to expect.”

Ms. Fleeger attended the rally and said she could “definitely see and feel the presence of law enforcement.”

For many, the shock remains.

“Butler County as a whole is still working on healing,” she said. “There’s a lot of people that are still dealing with mental trauma that are not OK right now. And those are the individuals that we’re still trying to help, trying to get them resources and direct them into the right places so that they can get the help that they need.”

Rep. Mike Kelly, who lives in Butler and represents the area in Congress, said people in the community talk about the shooting “incessantly.” The Pennsylvania Republican was at the rally with family members and is now leading a House task force investigating the assassination attempt.

“It’s hard for me, from either coming from Mass or going to Sam’s Club or Walmart, for people not to want to talk to me about it,” Mr. Kelly said. “So I think it has a lasting effect. I don’t know how long-lasting it will be, but it will be a while.”

Being known as the place where the Trump assassination attempt took place “rattles the local residents, especially the ones that have been here for a long time,” Mr. Kelly said. “They just can’t believe they have it happened in our town, at that site. It really disturbs them.”

The national and international attention has been “absolutely nuts,” said Butler County Chamber of Commerce President Jordan Grady.

“We would wish that the attention would be for something like, you know, we invented the Jeep here,” he said. “But it’s all in how you respond as a community. I think our community has responded really well. It’s always been a resilient and very giving community.”

In that spirit of resilience, Butler County officials and residents are trying to spin the attention from a tragic event into a positive spotlight on the community.

Mr. Grady said local tourism and hospitality have increased since July 13. He said he hopes visitors find a friendly and welcoming community and may even want to join the growing population.

“We’ve had opportunities to showcase Butler, Pennsylvania, as a great place to live, work and play and grow, start your business,” he said. “We just got to kind of run with that narrative: that this is a strong community, a tight-knit community, and there’s always some optimism in any event that happens.”