A National Guard veteran helped take down the Butler County Trump shooter with a PSA rifle

The active duty Army likes to poke fun at the soldiers in the National Guard and Reserve components, sometimes calling them “Weekend Warriors.” But the Guard and Reserve play a critical role in supporting the active duty component and the broader Army’s mission. Nowhere was this more apprent than during the height of the Global War on Terror, when Guard and Reserve soldiers were regularly deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Just ask Aaron Zaliponi, a 14-year National Guard infantryman with three combat deployments. Zaliponi is also the law enforcement officer who first engaged and arguably neutralized the threat at Donald Trump’s 2024 rally in Butler County, Penn.

On July 13, 2024, Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots with an AR-15-style rifle from a rooftop towards President Trump, who was struck in his right ear. Two audience members were critically wounded and former volunteer Fire Chief Corey Comperatore was killed while shielding his family. The violence ended when a Secret Service countersniper shot and killed Crooks.

However, another shot was fired that day.

Zaliponi is a police sergeant with the Adams Township Police Department and is the Alpha Team Leader of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit. As the counter-assault team leader on the scene, it was his job at the rally to move towards and neutralize any threat that emerged.

At 6:09 p.m., Alpha Team was notified of a man on top of one of the agricultural buildings nearby. Despite communication breakdowns between the Secret Service and other security elements, Zaliponi and his team were aware that this person had previously been spotted and identified as a potential threat.

With news of movement to a rooftop, Alpha Team deployed towards the building.

Two minutes later, Crooks began firing. As Alpha Team continued towards the building, Zaliponi stood exposed in the grass field and raised his rifle to his shoulder; he could just make out the shooter’s head and part of his upper chest, laying prone on the rooftop 115 yards away.

Even a basic trainee can (or at least, should be able to) hit a 100-meter silhouette target with little difficulty from the prone, kneeling, or standing supported. Shooting offhand, with adrenaline going, at a significantly reduced target, is a different story.

But for Zaliponi, a seasoned hunter, combat veteran, and specially-trained police officer, the shot wasn’t nearly as difficult. Acquiring a sight picture through his EOTech EXPS3 holographic sight, Zaliponi engaged Crooks less than six seconds after the shooter’s first round was fired.

Zaliponi testified to the Congressional Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump that he believes his shot hit Crooks. Moreover, he recounted to the NRA’s American Rifleman that he observed the shooter jerk, slowly slump over his rifle, and slide back down the roof.

Although Zaliponi could only see a small portion of the shooter’s head after his first shot, he remained on target and prepared to fire a second shot to ensure that the threat was neutralized. Before he could, the Secret Service countersniper fired and struck the shooter’s head. Confirming the shot’s impact, Zaliponi raised a thumbs up to the Secret Service team and reported, “Good hit, good hit!”

Thanks to the quick actions and precise shooting of Zaliponi and the countersniper, there was no further loss of life.

Interestingly, Zaliponi’s patrol rifle was not a typical department-issued Smith & Wesson or Colt, nor was it a high-speed personal rifle from a Gucci manufacturer like Daniel Defense or KAC.

“A lot of guys go out and buy these expensive rifles, but I built this rifle with a PSA Guardsman-15 10.3-inch upper,” Zaliponi told American Rifleman. “I am hoping to get it back soon. It was taken as part of the federal investigation. They said I’d get it back in about two years and it has been nearly two years now.”

Palmetto State Armory is reportedly replacing Zaliponi’s rifle with one of their more premium Sabre models of AR-15 as well as inviting him to visit their facility in West Columbia, South Carolina.

For his actions on July 13, 2024, Zaliponi was presented with the “In The Face of Danger Award” by Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday in 2025. The National Rifle Association also selected Zaliponi as their 2025 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. Despite these accolades, Zaliponi remains humble about the events of that day.

“The only thing, and I told [Corey Comperatore’s] wife when I finally got to meet her, is that I am sorry I did not see [the shooter] sooner,” Zaliponi said.

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