Was trump really shot during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
Executive summary
Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024 and was struck by gunfire — grazed in the ear — but survived; federal authorities identified the shooter and called it an attempted assassination [1] [2]. The incident killed at least one rallygoer and the suspected gunman, prompted national investigations and criticism of protective operations, and generated persistent conspiracy theories about accomplices and security failures [3] [4] [5].
1. What happened on July 13, 2024 — the immediate facts
Shortly after former President Trump took the stage at the Butler Farm Show grounds, gunshots rang out, security rushed him offstage and Secret Service agents shielded him as law enforcement and first responders converged on the scene; authorities later said Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet and was taken to safety [6] [2]. Local officials and multiple national outlets reported that one rally attendee was killed and others were wounded, and the suspected shooter was dead at the scene; the FBI later identified him as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania [7] [4] [3].
2. The federal response and official characterizations
Federal authorities opened a criminal and counterterrorism investigation, with the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service publicly treating the incident as an assassination attempt on a major-party presidential candidate and former president; lawmakers and law-enforcement leaders testified and described weapon details and security gaps during post-incident briefings [1] [8]. The FBI and Pennsylvania State Police remained involved in the probe, and public officials including the governor issued statements condemning political violence and confirming coordination among agencies at the scene [3] [4].
3. How the media and participants described Trump’s injury
Contemporaneous reporting and video showed Secret Service agents covering and escorting Trump after the shots, and outlets repeatedly reported that he had been hit — often described as a graze — while speaking onstage, with the campaign and Trump himself posting public acknowledgments in the aftermath [2] [9] [10]. Coverage uniformly notes he survived the attack; subsequent retrospectives and reporting a year later continued to describe the event as a near-fatal attempt that “nearly killed” the former president and sparked questions about protective failings [11] [12].
4. Unanswered questions, competing narratives and conspiracy currents
Despite the confirmed shooting and the FBI’s identification of a shooter, the incident spawned alternative explanations: polling indicated many Americans suspected the shooter did not act alone, and the lack of publicly released detailed timelines and some perceived security lapses fueled conspiracy theories and partisan debate over responsibility [5]. Independent reviews and officials publicly critiqued coordination and planning among agencies, which critics say left openings exploited by the attacker; reporters, officials and investigators continue to examine communications, command structure and how the weapon was concealed [11] [1].
5. Bottom line: was Trump really shot at the Butler rally?
Yes — contemporary, multi-outlet reporting and federal statements record that Donald Trump was struck by gunfire during the July 13, 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, suffering what officials described as a graze to the ear while an assailant opened fire; the shooter was identified by the FBI and the episode is treated as an assassination attempt that killed at least one attendee and the suspected gunman [1] [2] [4]. Reporting also documents downstream political and operational fallout — investigations, critiques of the Secret Service and persistent questions about whether others were involved — and those threads remain active in public reporting [11] [5].