Hero cop who killed would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks erased from narrative by embarrassed feds: family – New York Post

Hero cop who killed would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks erased from narrative by embarrassed feds: family  New York Post

Sgt. Aaron Zaliponi, the hero local cop who took out would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks at a rally in Butler, Pa., in 2024 has been snubbed for years by embarrassed federal officials, his family claimed to The Post. 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 officials, his family claimed to The Post. Local SWAT team member Sgt. Aaron Zaliponi is recognized in official reports as firing the shot that stopped would-be assassin Thomas Crooks at the campaign rally on July 13. “The shot neutralized Thomas Crooks,” Kim Geyer, Zaliponi’s mother-in-law, told The Post in an exclusive interview.

“It prevented a mass shooting. He saved a lot of lives that day.” “Ask anyone who was there. There was over a 10-second pause, and it wasn’t until after that 10 seconds a Secret Service sniper took Thomas Crooks down.” Crooks opened fire at 6:11 p.m. from the roof of a shed located just outside the main security perimeter about 400 feet from Trump, and got off eight shots before Zaliponi responded. His shot, known 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