BUTLER COUNTY, Pa.—Ever so faintly, a rainbow began to spread across dark clouds blanketing the Butler Farm Show on July 13, inspiring awe among people who gathered for an event called “The Butler Miracle Anniversary.”
The group honored the memory of Corey Comperatore, who died while heroically shielding his family when shots rang out at the site a year earlier, and they praised God for sparing the life of President Donald Trump. Then a presidential candidate, he was eight minutes into his campaign speech when a rooftop gunman opened fire on July 13, 2024.
Many millions of people have seen “the video footage of Trump turning his head just a fraction of an inch—necessary at the exact millisecond when a bullet would have penetrated his brain and certainly killed him,” an event organizer said.
“It was, I believe, the most-witnessed miracle in all of human history—and it happened here in Butler,” she said.
That uniquely positions believers to “point others to the awesome God who miraculously spared Trump for a purpose,” according to the organizer.
She and others requested anonymity to avoid political blowback at their jobs or in the community.
“The miracle doesn’t negate the tragedy of Corey Comperatore’s death, nor does that tragedy negate the miracle,” the organizer said.
The event highlights the community’s struggle to strike an appropriate balance between celebrating Trump’s miraculous survival and mourning Comperatore’s tragic death. Butler is also torn between moving forward and searching for answers about the gunman, his motivations, and the security deficiencies that allowed him to carry out his nefarious deed.
A week before the anniversary of the history-making rally, Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche told The Epoch Times that people discussed setting up public events to mark the occasion but that “nothing felt right.”
“What that says to me is that either we’re not ready or it is too soon,” she said.
“When you have something that’s historic, it’s usually going to be many, many years later before people process it.”
2 Gatherings, 2 Statues
Although several events honored Comparetore on July 11 and July 12, no large public gatherings were held on July 13. Instead, a pair of small, unpublicized events featured prayers, reflection, and the debut of two statues—one of Comperatore and one of Trump.A bronze statue of Comperatore and a commemorative plaque will be placed permanently next to the Farm Show office, his widow Helen Comperatore said. An invite-only “Celebration of Life” for him was held on the Farm Show grounds, with about 100 people attending on July 13.
At about the same time, Shawn Morin walked to the site from his nearby home.
Unaware of the gathering inside the fenced-in area, Morin was alone. He knelt in front of a small, weathered “Remember Corey Comperatore” sign near the fatal shooting site. Morin graced it with a bouquet of purple and orange artificial flowers. Then he removed his ball cap and prayed.
As Morin walked away, he told The Epoch Times why he felt so emotional about Comperatore’s death, in addition to the fact that he was a beloved member of the community.
“I could have been the one with the bullet in my head that day,” Morin said.
He and his wife were positioned in the line of fire that killed Comperatore, a 50-year-old married father of two who was attending his first Trump rally.
Morin said he had always previously voted for independent candidates. He cast his ballot for Trump as the best 2024 option, even though he is “not a fan” of Trump’s brashness, Morin said.
At the July 13, 2024, rally, when the American flag twisted itself into an angel-like shape, Morin viewed that as a sign that Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement is righteous.
‘A Sign’
Likewise, a participant in the July 13 “Butler Miracle Anniversary” program interpreted the rainbow as a sign from Heaven.“It just felt like a complete blessing. It was kind of like healing. I really feel that it was a symbol of hope, too. It was just amazing,” Lee Ann Galante told The Epoch Times afterward.
“It was a sign that God is smiling down and sending healing and hope. Really—it was beautiful.”
She marveled at the timing and location of the rainbow. It appeared over the farm show site during the July 13 commemoration as the 6 o’clock hour approached.
That was the same hour one year earlier when Trump took the stage. Galante’s son had snapped a selfie with her, showing Trump behind them at 6:08 p.m. Three minutes later, the gunman opened fire.
The procession ended at a parking lot adjacent to the site of last year’s shooting.
As the rainbow spread overhead, it formed a complete arch above the Trump sculpture, spanning the shooting site in the distance.
Observers pointed, took pictures, and said, “Wow.”
Shortly after 6 p.m.—roughly coinciding with the time that Trump took the stage a year earlier—clouds were drifting away. By 6:08 p.m., the skies had become clear and sunny.
Attendees held a moment of silence for Comperatore at 6:11 p.m.—the exact moment of the 2024 shooting. At that point, one leader spent a full five minutes on his knees leading a prayer for the slain man’s family and others who were traumatized by the events that day.
Shortly after the prayer, the program wrapped up. The sculptor trucked the Trump statue back home with him, saying that he hasn’t settled on a site for its permanent display.
Cindy Hilderbrand, chair of United Republicans of Butler County, said the people in attendance were “a small group of Republican friends who wanted to do something as a show of support.”
She said the event was kept under wraps—and was limited to about two dozen close-knit supporters—because of the fear of political repercussions.
Although Hilderbrand said she has many Democrat friends, she said her group and other Trump supporters have been targeted by hateful rhetoric and threats.
The area is about 75 percent Republican and heavily supportive of the Republican president, Hilderbrand said, but she urges fellow Republicans to “be praying for the other side, because their hearts need to be filled with God.”
“I hope that next year we can do this a little bit differently, and it can be publicized,” Hilderbrand told The Epoch Times after the event.
The Epoch Times attempted to interview several local Democrats, but they either declined to comment or did not respond to messages.
About the Aftermath
The “Butler Miracle Anniversary” group reviewed some of Trump’s accomplishments since he took office in January after surviving the shooting and winning the election. They pointed out his stance on cutting illegal immigration and other issues. They also said the United States would likely be headed in a drastically different direction if Trump hadn’t survived, and they sang “God Bless America.”Many people who attended the July 13 observation were present at the July 13, 2024, rally.
Among them was Galante. She said loud sounds still make her nervous, reigniting memories of the gunfire that day. After lying atop her son, Marc Galante, to protect him at the rally, she said she realized, “You can never get low enough when bullets are flying.”
Nick Masto, 27, who wore a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey to the July 13 program and carried a large Trump 2024 flag, came with two friends who were present when Trump was shot.
“We’re three of Trump’s biggest supporters in Butler County,” he said.
But Masto said he did not go to the Butler rally because he was at a bachelor party.
“I feel like today was very important to come here and make sure that we were able to pray for Corey’s family and just have some sort of community with some of the people that were there,” he said. “You can feel so delighted that Trump was spared, but it’s always going to be shadowed by Corey losing his life that day.”
Trump Reflects
On the anniversary, Trump did not come to Butler, but he issued a statement acknowledging Comperatore and “those who carry scars from that July evening.” Two men, James Copenhaver and David Dutch, also suffered life-altering injuries.“First responders rushed to help the wounded, rallygoers guided their fellow citizens to safety, and patriots raised their fists in the air in an outpouring of support and national pride,” Trump wrote.
He characterized those people as ordinary Americans who rose to the occasion. But Comperatore “stands above all for selfless service and ultimate sacrifice on that fateful day,” he wrote.
“The world will never forget” that the firefighter, veteran, and devoted husband and father “did not hesitate to protect his wife and two daughters,” according to Trump.
“It remains my firm conviction that God alone saved me that day for a righteous purpose: to restore our beloved Republic to greatness and to rescue our Nation from those who seek its ruin,” he wrote.
“One year after the attempt on my life in Butler, our country is in the midst of a new Golden Age. History will remember the would-be assassin for his cowardice and failure, but the magnificent legacy of the heroes of July 13, 2024, will forever be etched upon the heart of our Nation.”
What the Name ‘Butler’ Evokes
The shooting also earned Butler a place in the history books.Many Butler residents have said that “it’s not the sort of thing you’d want to be known for,” Township Commissioner Ed Natali told The Epoch Times ahead of the anniversary.
The community is proud of being the birthplace of the Jeep, an iconic vehicle that has played a key role in aiding the U.S. military, an achievement celebrated at the annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival.
But because of the shooting, another theme about Butler has emerged.
“It’s about the resilience and the bounce-back of the people of this community,” Natali said.
He and others describe the citizenry as deeply patriotic, hard-working people employed mostly in manufacturing.
“I’ve always said that Butler represented all that was good about our country,” Osche said.
“We have an engaged community, people who will volunteer; if there’s a need, it’s always met. I mean, it is true-blue Heartland America.
“In some ways, I feel like it happened here, maybe for a reason, because maybe we’re going to show the world that there is resilience and that you can try to tear us apart, but we’re fighting to keep us together.”
Jondavid Longo, mayor of the Butler County borough of Slippery Rock, said that spirit was exemplified by Trump, the community, and other Trump supporters when the future president returned for an Oct. 5, 2024, rally at the same site.
“It showed that we were going to march back in there, chin up and chest out,” Longo told The Epoch Times recently.
As for Trump, Longo said, “it took a tremendous amount of courage and fortitude” to come back to the place where he was nearly killed. He called Trump’s return to Butler “essential to the healing process.”
Since then, however, deep political divisions have lingered, and in some ways, intensified—along with questions about the shooting, residents and leaders say.
Natali said the top question for him is why the president was “allowed to go out there and speak if they knew there was an issue.”
Timelines show that citizens and officers had spotted rooftop gunman Thomas Crooks, 20, well before Trump went onstage for his speech.
Osche said she also has questions but wishes that people would stop “pointing fingers” and search for real solutions, including seeking the root cause of Crooks’s apparent hatred for Trump.
He was not from the Butler area; Crooks lived about an hour’s drive away, close to Pittsburgh, so that makes it “even harder” to understand who he was and what his motivations were, she said. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper team.
Seeing a pattern with other young males who commit violent acts, Osche asked, “What is happening to our young men?”
Regarding the shooting itself, she said, “People are looking for the big ‘aha’ moment—and I don’t think it’s ever gonna come.”
