A hero cop who saved President Trump from assassination at the rally in Butler, Pa., in 2024 has been snubbed for years by embarrassed federal officers, his household claim to The Post.

Local SWAT workforce member Seargent Aaron Zaliponi is acknowledged in official reports as firing the shot which stopped would-be murderer Thomas Crooks at the marketing campaign rally on July 13.

“The shot neutralized Thomas Crooks,” Kim Geyer, Zaliponi’s mother-in-law, instructed The Post in an unique interview. “It prevented a mass shooting. He saved a lot of lives that day.”

Sergeant Aaron Zaliponi of the Adams Township Police Department stands in Valencia, Pennsylvania, Thursday, July 3, 2025. Zaliponi fired one shot at Thomas Michael Crooks after he saw him capturing at then presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. The Washington Post via Getty Images

The X-ray of Thomas Crooks taken during post-mortem reveals shrapnel in his shoulder from Zaliponi’s shot, which “stunned” Crooks and ended his capturing spree. Office of Rep. Clay Higgins

“Ask anyone who was there. There was over a ten second pause, and it wasn’t until after that ten seconds a Secret Service sniper took Thomas Crooks down.”

Crooks opened hearth at 6:11 p.m. from the roof of a shed positioned just outside the primary safety perimeter about 400 toes from Trump, and got off eight photographs before Zaliponi responded.

His shot, identified as the “ninth shot” in official reports, hit Crooks’ gunstock and shattered it “causing an explosion of shrapnel [which] smashed into Crooks’ right neck and jaw area,” according to the bipartisan congressional report into the capturing, stopping his bloody rampage before the Secret Service sniper fired the kill shot, which hit Crooks’ head.

Proud mother-in-law Kim Geyer instructed The Post, “There was no consideration that our local people, who weren’t there to protect the president, ended up being the ones that neutralized the threat.” courtesy of Kim Geyer

Officer Aaron Zaliponi is proven in an undated picture. Courtesy of Aaron Zaliponi/ Kim Geyer

Zaliponi, of the Adams Township Emergency Service Unit SWAT workforce, was stationed behind a barn 115 yards from Crooks, whose bullets grazed President Trump’s ear, killed 50-year-old former hearth chief Corey Comperatore and critically injured two other rally attendees.

“He was on the ground and he was shooting up to Thomas Crooks,” said Geyer, including that after Zaliponi fired, “Crooks rolled over and he was stunned.”

The “Final Report of Findings and Recommendations from the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of President Trump” concluded Zaliponi’s shot “set up the delayed but successful kill shot by a Secret Service counter-sniper.”

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. Butler County district lawyer Richard Goldinger said the shooter is useless after injuring former U.S. President Donald Trump, killing one viewers member and injuring another in the capturing. Getty Images

Helen Comperatore, spouse of Corey Comperatore, calls for assist moments after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened hearth on former president Donald Trump during a marketing campaign rally at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, July 13, 2024. Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old retired firefighter, was killed and two others were severely injured in the assassination try on the former president. Getty Images

It also included testimony from Zaliponi, who said: “I knew I hit him … I have combat experience. His demeanor … there was that jerking motion …  he kind of jerked down to my left, his right. Then he slowly rolled like he just had no strength, whatever.”

However, the FBI said it discovered no forensic proof the ninth shot hit Crooks or his rifle.

“As far as the FBI and the Secret Service go nobody needed to take this into account. They just needed the narrative to be that Thomas Crooks was killed and the risk was eradicated.

Injuries to gunman Thomas Crooks’ ear present where Zaliponi’s bullet knocked the gunstock into his face, “stunning” the psycho for ten full seconds before the Secret Service was ready to hearth a kill shot. Office of Rep. Clay Higgins

A photograph of Crooks’ rifle reveals where Zaliponi’s bullet hit the gunstock. Office of Rep. Clay Higgins

The ninth bullet ended Crooks’ killing spree and saved “countless lives.” Office of Rep. Clay Higgins

“The Secret Service needed the credit score, that after large safety failures they got their act collectively and took this man out.

“There was no consideration that our local people, who weren’t there to protect the president, ended up being the ones that neutralized the threat,” said Geyer.

That day Geyer was seated in the bleachers behind Trump some twenty toes away from the podium when photographs rang out and the bloodied once and future president hit the ground.

Helen Comperatore (R), the widow of firefighter Corey Comperatore, wipes away a tear as she and her daughters attend a marketing campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. This is the first time that Trump has returned to Butler since he was injured and Comperatore was killed during an tried assassination on July 13. Getty Images

Helen and Corey Comperatore are seen in an undated Facebook picture. Corey Comperatore was shot and killed by failed Trump murderer Thomas Matthew Crooks at a marketing campaign rally in Butler, Penn., Saturday, July 13, 2024. Facebook/Helen Comperatore

“That’s not to diminish what that Secret Service sniper did. He deserves credit. He was doing his job and protecting the president,” said Geyer.

The sniper who fatally struck Crooks has never been publicly named, though the president has referred to him as “David” in interviews.

According to detailed shot-by-shot audio and video evaluation compiled by a bipartisan House process pressure, 10.05 seconds elapsed between Zaliponi’s ninth shot and the Secret Service sniper’s shot.

A Panther Arms semiautomatic rifle used by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacker Thomas Crooks, recovered with a backpack at the Butler, Pennsylvania capturing scene, seems damaged down as investigators suspect is the manner it was carried, in an undated {photograph} launched Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, as half of the FBI investigation’s proof photographs. FBI

A Panther Arms semiautomatic rifle used by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacker, Thomas Crooks, seems damaged down as investigators suspect it was carried, in an undated {photograph} launched by the FBI on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, after being recovered with a backpack at the capturing scene in Butler, Pennsylvania. FBI

Meanwhile 5.86 seconds had handed between the second Crooks first opened hearth to when Zaliponi shot him.

X-rays from Crook’s post-mortem reviewed by The Post present a shattered bullet in Crooks’s proper shoulder.

Geyer said the gun her son-in-law used to neutralize the deranged killer was taken by the FBI for ballistics evaluation and still has not been returned.

Sgt. Aaron Zaliponi of the Adams Township Police Department poses for a portrait in Valencia, Pa., Thursday, July 3, 2025. Zaliponi fired one shot at Thomas Michael Crooks after seeing him capturing at then-presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. The Washington Post via Getty Images

Officer Aaron Zaliponi in an undated picture, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. Courtesy of Kim Geyer

Three months after the assassination try, a defiant Trump returned to the scene internet hosting a “Return Rally” in Butler on Oct. 4, 2024. During that occasion, he welcomed native first responders from the day of the capturing on stage.

Geyer said Zaliponi was working the October occasion, too, but amazingly not even invited on stage.

She said the household stays baffled by the presidential chilly shoulder, contemplating Trump has always been keen to rejoice hero cops.

Officers stand over the physique of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks after an assassination try on former President Donald Trump during a marketing campaign rally in Butler, Pa., Saturday, July 14, 2024. Obtained by NY Post

Republican candidate Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service brokers as he is taken off the stage at a marketing campaign occasion at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pa., Saturday, July 13, 2024. Trump was evacuated from the stage at the rally after what sounded like photographs rang out at the occasion, according to AFP. AFP via Getty Images

In his second time period alone he has established a new presidential honor, the Medal of Sacrifice, given posthumously to legislation enforcement officers killed in the line of obligation.

This yr Trump has also hosted police occasions in the Rose Garden, attended a memorial service for three fallen Florida cops and personally thanked NYPD officer Aaron Edwards at a White House occasion for his March 2026 actions during an tried terrorist attack in New York City.

But for the man who saved the president’s own life, it’s been zilch for Zaliponi.

In the meantime, gun rights organizations, the fraternal order of police, the Pennsylvania lawyer common and even the metropolis of Pittsburgh have all stepped up to acknowledge their native hero, showering accolades on him, that so far haven’t resonated outside his nook of the Keystone state.

Thomas Matthew Crooks walks through a crowd at a Donald Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, less than two hours before an tried assassination of the former president. Newly launched video footage captured Crooks at the venue prior to the capturing. Iron-Clad-USA.com via Storyful

A body seize from bodycam footage supplied by Beaver County Emergency Services Unit reveals the rooftip were Thomas Crooks shot at Donald Trump during a marketing campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. Beaver County ESU

“President Donald J. Trump’s life was saved by an armed American in Butler, Pennsylvania. Thanks to swift action by law enforcement officers like Sgt. Aaron Zaliponi, an even greater tragedy was prevented,” the National Rifle Association, which awarded Zaliponi its 2025 “Officer of the Year” award, wrote on social media to mark the two-year anniversary of the Butler incident.

Geyer, a Republican who serves as commissioner for Butler County, said she doesn’t believe the snub from Washington is private, including that she believes the FBI and Secret Service are so embarrassed by the occasions of that day, they’ve got no selection but to cling to the one redemptive element: their man saved the day, even if that means glossing over the native cops.

“They were thrown under the bus by the Secret Service and the FBI,” she said.

Helen Comperatore, spouse of Corey Comperatore, who was slain at a earlier rally where former US President Donald Trump survived an assassination try, attends a marketing campaign occasion at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Bloomberg via Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service brokers after being grazed by a bullet during a rally on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. Getty Images

“It all started with a coin toss. The president’s people said they wanted one of the local guys with the president’s motorcade. It came between Aaron and this other officer. Aaron said, ‘somebody flip a coin,’ and Aaron lost and was positioned outside the barn.”

The loving mother-in-law called it an “act of God” Zaliponi was even there in the first place.

Zaliponi refused to remark for this article, saying only that he’s “not looking for publicity.”

He also didn’t inform his household until weeks after that tragic day, when they were vacationing at a lake home.

“I had no idea about Aaron’s involvement until several weeks later. That’s the type of guy Aaron is,” said Geyer, who described the 40-something household man as a “humble” and “gracious” navy vet who had accomplished three excursions.

“I don’t know if they don’t want to recognize Aaron because they think he expects something. He really doesn’t. Aaron doesn’t want any glory,” the doting mother-in-law added.

“I just was hopeful Aaron would get to meet President Trump one day.”