Two supporters of President Donald Trump who were shot during an assassination attempt at his July 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, sued the federal government Monday, alleging the Secret Service’s failure to properly secure the event left them with life-altering injuries.
The lawsuits, filed by James Copenhaver and David Dutch, both of Pennsylvania, represent the first legal action taken by rally attendees against the government stemming from the attack on July 13, 2024. The gunman, Thomas Crooks, opened fire from an unsecured roof, killing attendee Corey Comperatore and wounding Trump in the ear before being killed by Secret Service counter-snipers.
Copenhaver’s lawsuit states he was struck twice by gunfire and suffered injuries to his abdomen, spine and left arm. His wife, Marianne Copenhaver, is also a plaintiff in his suit. Dutch was shot once and, according to his legal filing, suffered “severe, serious, permanent and grievous injuries.” The lawsuits seek at least $150,000 in damages each.
“The events which led to [Dutch’s] grievous and permanent injuries were shocking and preventable, should not have happened, and the failures, as highlighted herein, exposed President Trump and all Butler Rally attendees … to grave, mortal danger,” Dutch’s lawsuit states. It characterized the security failures at the rally as “rampant.”
A House of Representatives task force and a Senate committee on homeland security have both found that the Secret Service had “significant failures” in security at the event. Those findings included failures by the agency to act on intelligence tips about Crooks in the days and hours before the rally. The Secret Service subsequently suspended six agents for their actions.
MSI previously reported on the broader pattern of security challenges around protecting the former president, including a separate incident in April 2026 when a gunman breached the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.