Trump Incident Timeline: Shootings, Plots, and Attacks

Since July 2024, Donald Trump has survived two direct assassination attempts, been the target of at least two Iranian murder-for-hire plots, and been close to several armed breaches of his security perimeter, including a shotgun attack inside the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This timeline of Trump assassination attempts and security incidents lays out each confirmed attack and plot in order, what investigators found, and where the criminal cases now stand.

July 13, 2024: The Butler Rally Shooting

Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire during a Trump campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Crooks fired eight rounds from a legally purchased rifle from the roof of the American Glass Research building, which sat outside the Secret Service security perimeter. A bullet struck Trump in the right ear. Secret Service counter-snipers killed Crooks on the roof.¹

Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer firefighter from Sarver, Pennsylvania, was killed shielding his family from the gunfire. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said Comperatore “died a hero.”² David Dutch, a 57-year-old Marine veteran, was shot in the abdomen and spent 11 days in the hospital with bullet fragments that could not be removed. James Copenhaver, 74, was hospitalized for 15 days and still has a bullet lodged near his spine, causing lasting nerve damage.¹

In November 2025, the FBI formally closed its investigation, concluding Crooks acted alone and without any identifiable motive. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said: “There is no motive for it, there is no reason for it.”³ Investigators did find that Crooks had searched online for “how far was Oswald from Kennedy” on July 6 and had flown a drone near the rally site for 11 minutes earlier on the day of the attack.⁴

Senate and Government Accountability Office reports released in July 2025 found that the Secret Service had denied multiple resource requests for the Trump campaign, that Crooks had been reported as suspicious at least 25 minutes before he opened fire, and that information never reached Trump’s protective detail. Former Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned after the shooting, was found to have given false testimony to Congress about denied asset requests. No Secret Service personnel were fired. Six faced disciplinary suspensions of 10 to 42 days without pay.⁵

September 15, 2024: The West Palm Beach Golf Course Attempt

Two months after Butler, Ryan Wesley Routh positioned himself with a Norinco SKS rifle, steel armor plates, and a camera in the tree line near the sixth hole of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while Trump was playing. A Secret Service agent spotted the rifle barrel and opened fire. Routh fled and was arrested after a witness identified him.⁶

Investigators recovered a handwritten letter from Routh reading, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you.” Prosecutors said he had scouted Trump locations between August 18 and September 15, 2024, and in a separate letter offered $150,000 for someone to “finish the job.”⁷

Routh represented himself at trial. A federal jury convicted him on all five counts in September 2025, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate. He tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen immediately after the verdict and was restrained by U.S. Marshals. On February 4, 2026, Judge Aileen Cannon sentenced him to life in prison plus 84 months, finding that he showed “neither regret nor remorse.”⁸ His attorney has said he will appeal.

2024: Iranian Murder-for-Hire Plots

Federal prosecutors have charged two separate operatives linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with plotting Trump’s assassination. Asif Merchant, an IRGC operative, arrived in the United States in April 2024, met with undercover officers to arrange the killing of a U.S. political figure including Trump, and paid a $5,000 advance. He was arrested on July 12, 2024, the day before the Butler rally, as he tried to leave the country. A federal jury convicted him in March 2026 of murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism.⁹

In a second case, the Justice Department charged IRGC asset Farhad Shakeri, along with Americans Carlisle Rivera and Jonathon Loadholt, with murder-for-hire conspiracy. According to prosecutors, Shakeri was tasked by the IRGC in October 2024 with providing a plan to kill then-President-elect Trump. Shakeri remains at large in Iran.¹⁰

September 10, 2025: The Charlie Kirk Assassination

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a prominent Trump ally, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Tyler Robinson was charged with aggravated murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Robinson had messaged a roommate beforehand: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.” His mother told investigators he had become increasingly political and left-leaning in the preceding year, and he allegedly accused Kirk of “spreading hate.”¹¹ Robinson has not entered a plea. A preliminary hearing was scheduled to begin May 18, 2026.¹²

On September 25, 2025, Trump signed a national security presidential memorandum titled “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” citing the two attempts on his own life during the 2024 campaign. The order directed the FBI-led National Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate political violence, authorized the Attorney General to recommend formal designation of domestic terrorist organizations, and instructed the IRS to ensure tax-exempt entities were not financing political violence.¹³ A separate executive order that same week designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.

September 26, 2025: The Ryder Cup Impersonation

NYPD Detective Melvin Eng, who was on sick leave at the time, arrived at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black Course in full tactical gear and talked his way past Secret Service and state police by claiming to be part of Trump’s security detail. His deception was discovered only when he dropped his firearm magazine in front of working security personnel. Eng was suspended without pay and faces administrative charges for theft of services.¹⁴

February 22, 2026: The Mar-a-Lago Shooting

In the early morning hours, Austin Tucker Martin, 21, of Moore County, North Carolina, drove through the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago estate as another vehicle was exiting. He was carrying a shotgun and a gasoline can. Two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy confronted him. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Martin lowered the gas can but raised the shotgun “into a shooting position.” All three officers fired, killing him at the scene.¹⁵ No officers were injured. Trump was not at the estate.¹⁶

Martin had been reported missing by his family in North Carolina earlier that day. The FBI took the lead on the investigation and said one priority was building a timeline of his movements from North Carolina to Palm Beach County and establishing a motive.¹⁷ It was the fifth breach of the Secret Service perimeter at Mar-a-Lago since Trump’s second term began and the first to end in a fatality.¹⁸

April 25, 2026: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner Attack

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, rushed a Secret Service checkpoint at the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. He was armed with a Mossberg Maverick 88 shotgun, a Rock Island Armory .38-caliber pistol, two knives, and four daggers. Sprinting toward the ballroom where Trump and senior officials were dining, Allen fired at least one shotgun blast that struck a Secret Service officer in the chest. The officer’s bulletproof vest absorbed the shot. He returned fire five times without hitting Allen, who was tackled and subdued.¹⁹²⁰

Agents evacuated Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and several Cabinet officials from the ballroom. The dinner was suspended. From the White House briefing room that evening, Trump described the suspect as a “lone wolf.”²¹

Allen is a 2017 Caltech graduate who worked as a part-time teacher and amateur video game developer. Investigators recovered a manifesto in which he referred to himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and argued that attempting to kill Trump administration officials was compatible with his Christian faith. The document contained a list of targets within the administration.²² A Bluesky account believed to be Allen’s described Trump as a “sociopathic mob boss” and expressed the view that all three branches of the U.S. government were engaged in “treasonous behavior.”²³

A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted Allen on four counts: attempting to assassinate the president, assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, transporting firearms in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. The assassination charge alone carries up to life in prison.¹⁹ Allen pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on May 11, 2026, and is being held without bond.²⁴ No trial date has been set.

Where Reforms and Lawsuits Stand

The Secret Service reported in July 2025 that it had implemented 21 of 46 congressional recommendations stemming from Butler, with 16 more in progress. Changes include revised protective operations manuals, new mobile command vehicles for coordinating with local law enforcement, updated intelligence-sharing policies, and a requirement that outdoor event security plans be vetted by multiple experienced supervisors.²⁵ Congress allocated roughly $1.2 billion to the agency through the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed July 4, 2025, with funds available through September 2029 for recruitment, retention bonuses, and operational resources.²⁶ The GAO cautioned that many revised policies still “lack needed details.”²⁷

On June 1, 2026, Butler survivors David Dutch and James Copenhaver, along with their spouses, filed separate federal lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh against the United States, alleging negligence, recklessness, and carelessness by the Secret Service. The suits point to the decision to leave the AGR building unsecured, inadequate coordination with local law enforcement, and inoperative drone detection systems. Each lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $150,000.²⁸

1
CBS News. Trump Assassination Attempt One Year Later: Victims Recount Shooting
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NPR. Corey Comperatore, Man Killed in Trump Assassination Attempt
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The Hill. FBI Conclusion on Trump Assassination Attempt Probe
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U.S. Congress. Senate Hearing on the Attempted Assassination of Former President Trump
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U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Chairman Rand Paul Releases Final Report Detailing Secret Service Failures
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CNN. Ryan Routh Trump Assassination Attempt Sentencing
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U.S. Department of Justice. Ryan Wesley Routh Sentenced to Life Plus Seven Years in Prison for Attempted Assassination
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BBC News. Ryan Routh Sentenced to Life for Trump Assassination Attempt
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U.S. Department of Justice. Iranian Intelligence Agent Convicted of Terrorism and Murder for Hire in Connection With Foiled Plot
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U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Announces Murder for Hire and Related Charges Against IRGC Asset and Two Others
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BBC News. Court Releases Hearing Transcript for Man Accused of Killing Charlie Kirk
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PBS NewsHour. Court Releases Closed Hearing Transcript for Man Accused of Killing Charlie Kirk
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The White House. Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence
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Fox News. NYPD Suspends Detective Who Snuck Into Ryder Cup Pretending to Be Trump’s Security Detail
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The Guardian. Armed Man Shot and Killed at Mar-a-Lago
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Palm Beach Post. What We Know After Fatal Breach at Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago Club
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FBI. FBI Investigative Update of the Mar-a-Lago Fatal Officer Involved Shooting
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WPTV. Mar-a-Lago Has a Long History of Security Breaches
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U.S. Department of Justice. Indictment Charges Cole Tomas Allen With Attempt to Assassinate President and Assault Federal Officer
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CNN. Secret Service Shot at Correspondents’ Dinner
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NBC News. Shooting Suspect at White House Correspondents’ Dinner: Cole Tomas Allen
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Christianity Today. Washington Press Dinner Attacker’s Christian Faith
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The New York Times. Cole Allen Coldforce Bluesky Investigation
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WJLA. Cole Allen Federal Court Assassination Plot Arraignment
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U.S. Secret Service. U.S. Secret Service One Year Update Following July 13, 2024 Attempted Assassination
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GovExec. Secret Service Commits to Continued Improvements One Year After Trump Assassination Attempt
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U.S. Senate. GAO USSS Report Released by Chairman Grassley
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USA Today. Trump Rally Shooting Pennsylvania Men File Lawsuits for Negligence