(Ken Silva, Headline USA) President Donald Trump may not acknowledge that it was a local cop, rather than the Secret Service, who may have saved his life in Butler, Pennsylvania nearly two years ago. But at least the National Rifle Association is honoring Butler ESU member Sgt. Aaron Zaliponi for his heroics on July 13, 2024.
The NRA announced Monday that it’s bestowing the 2025 Officer of the Year Award on Zaliponi, who fired at alleged would-be assassin Thomas Crooks about five seconds after the shooting started—and a whopping 10 seconds before the Secret Service finally returned fire.
The NRA’s press release recounted what happened from the time shots were fired to after Crooks was killed.
“Sergeant Zaliponi immediately scanned the area then heard a fourth gunshot and he looked at the top of the building and observed a gunman, in a prone position, at the apex of the roof,” the press release said.
The NRA is honoring the local cop who saved the day at Butler. Watch Sgt. Aaron Zaliponi's story here: https://t.co/W131eslb2Q pic.twitter.com/XFgMt2Of37
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) May 20, 2026
“The gunman then fired a fifth, sixth, and a seventh shot. Sergeant Zaliponi quickly acquired the gunman in his rifle’s red dot optic, just as the suspect fired his eighth shot. Sergeant Zaliponi then fired his one and only shot at the suspect, from 115 yards away, which was the ninth shot of the incident,” the NRA said.
“Immediately after Sergeant Zaliponi fired, he observed the gunman jerk to his right, then slowly slump over his rifle and slide down the backside of the roof.”
Ten seconds later, Secret Service counter-sniper David King fired the final shot.
While Zaliponi is convinced he hit Crooks, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Crooks have both denied that Zaliponi hit the gunman. The FBI has also stated that it has “no forensic evidence indicating that [the round fired by the local officer] either struck our subject or the subject’s rifle.”
But in the Fox Nation documentary, Butler ESU Commander Ed Lenz noted the obvious: Crooks stopped shooting after Zaliponi returned fire, so his shot must have hit something.
“You don’t shoot ‘one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight—and then just stop,” Lenz said.
Trump has largely ignored Zaliponi’s heroics. After the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Association attack earlier this month, he lauded counter-sniper King as the person who shot Crooks—saying that King fired from over 400 yards away and stopped Crooks within 4.2 seconds. Both of those statements are incorrect.
"They did the job… in my opinion, a much better job than Butler."
President Donald Trump compares the Secret Services' response from the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania to tonight at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. pic.twitter.com/9d7MfT4WFg
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) April 26, 2026
“Within 4.2 seconds from a distance of about 400 yards, one shot, and he was gone. His name is David … I like you very much, David,” Trump falsely said, referring to David King.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
