SHOCKING: Hero Cop's 115-Yard Shot at Trump Rally Gunman Saves Lives!

11 min By Shawn Boburg ADAMS, Pa. — As gunfire erupted at Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Butler last July, Aaron Zaliponi glanced up and caught sight of the shooter’s head and shoulders jutting above the peak of a roofline about 115 yards away. The Butler County SWAT team operator, standing in an open field between the gunman and the rally stage, snapped up his rifle, aligned the red dot of its scope with the shooter’s chin and fired a single shot. Would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks immediately jerked to his right and slumped back from the roof’s ridge, Zaliponi recalled, ending his volley of eight gunshots over five seconds that left Trump bloodied, one rallygoer dead and two seriously injured. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement “I just got you,” Zaliponi recalled thinking. Zaliponi, a 46-year-old Army combat veteran, is convinced that his round — which public officials have called the “ninth shot” — struck Crooks’s rifle and forced him to stop shooting. His belief that he cut short the assassination attempt has been echoed by Butler County’s district attorney, the county’s SWAT team commander and a congressman who investigated the events that day. Yet one year later, the significance of Zaliponi’s shot is still unresolved. The FBI has said it found no forensic evidence that the ninth shot hit Crooks or his rifle. What is certain is that Crooks, who had additional ammunition and an AR-style rifle that was still operational, never fired again. Zaliponi’s shot was followed by a 10-second pause in gunfire that ended when a U.S. Secret Service countersniper killed Crooks. A livestream of Trump's Butler rally last July captured the sound of ten shots. The ninth was fired by Zaliponi. (Video: The Washington Post) In the months after the assassination attempt, the nation’s attention — and multiple investigations — focused on the Secret Service’s most glaring security failure in decades and on vexing questions about the shooter’s possible motives. The story of the local officer’s quick and decisive action amid chaos was largely overshadowed. Advertisement Zaliponi’s account has been documented in closed-door interviews with congressional investigators and celebrated quietly within his SWAT team. The Washington Post reported on the ninth shot last July but did not identify Zaliponi, who declined interview requests through an intermediary at the time. Advertisement Advertisement The father of two grew up about two miles from the Butler Farm Show rally site. He joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard after high school and was deployed on three combat tours overseas. In 2011, he became a police officer in rural Adams Township, where he is now a sergeant in addition to serving on the county SWAT team. At 6-foot-3 and 285 pounds, Zaliponi is physically imposing. He is also laconic and fiercely private, saying he prefers to keep to himself and avoid the media spotlight. Advertisement “I’d rather be on 5,000 acres in Montana on a hillside where I can see all approaches,” he told The Post, in his first extensive media interview since the assassination attempt. Skip to end of carousel Read our award-winning coverage arrow left arrow right (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) The Washington Post’s coverage of the July 13, 2024, shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting. Read the stories: Pops, screams and then blood: On the scene at the Trump rally shooting Post photographer’s view as Trump rushed off stage Witnesses describe chaos at rally shooting: ‘Oh my God, they got Trump’ Obstructed view may have delayed sniper response at Trump rally Trump rally gunman stopped firing after local officer shot at him ‘We lost sight of him’: Radio traffic shows failed search for Trump rally shooter Trump says he was shot in ear during Pennsylvania rally shooting 1/2 End of carousel He reluctantly agreed to talk to The Post, he said, because his SWAT team’s commander told him it was important to share his story. Advertisement Advertisement Zaliponi might not have been in a position to take the ninth shot if not for a coin toss, he and his SWAT team commander, Sgt. Ed Lenz, told The Post in an interview this month. Two days before the rally, the Secret Service asked if one member of the Butler County SWAT team would take on an especially high-profile role: joining a federal counterassault team tasked with staying close to Trump during his visit. Advertisement Zaliponi and another SWAT team member, a Marine veteran, were both candidates for the coveted assignment, a rare opportunity to meet the then-former president. Lenz suggested flipping a coin. Zaliponi’s colleague bet on “heads” — and won. Zaliponi’s loss left him in command of a local counterassault unit posted in a red barn behind and to the north of the rally stage. “That’s how I ended up out there,” he said. Hours before Trump’s arrival, a local officer told Zaliponi he was concerned ab...