Six months after Butler County was thrust into the spotlight due to an assassination attempt July 13, Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy gets an unwanted reaction when he tells people where he lives.

The moment when a gunman opened fire over the Butler Farm Show grounds amid President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign rally altered the course of history for our nation, and for Butler County.

Trump was shot in the ear, Buffalo Township resident and former fire chief Corey Comperatore died shielding his family, and two others were critically injured before the gunman was killed.

The county received international attention. Its first responders and law enforcement received scrutiny. Its politicians fielded media requests from across the world. And its residents were left shocked.

Six months later, Dandoy braces for the reaction he predicts at this point.

“They respond with, ‘Oh, that Butler?’” Dandoy said.

The impact of the assassination attempt remains resounding.

The two critically injured on July 13, James Copenhaver and David Dutch, recently sent notices to Butler County, Butler Township and others that they plan to sue.

Meanwhile, Corey Comperatore’s wife, Helen, navigated the first holiday season without her husband, and the community rallied around her to make it bearable.

“The holidays were extremely difficult,” Comperatore said. “However, once again, there were moments of love and compassion from the community that made us smile and we were so grateful for.”

Helen Comperatore said she has no plans to sue the county. She said local law enforcement and emergency responders present at the rally performed well, reserving her criticism for the U.S. Secret Service.

“I praise Butler County for doing their actions during and after,” Comperatore said. “We are actually celebrating Butler County and their emergency responders at the inauguration parade.”

She intends to attend the inauguration for President-elect Donald Trump on Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C.

In the days following July 13, blame was thrown around.

In the city of Butler, Dandoy — who was not at the rally and whose city is not the location of the Butler Farm Show grounds — couldn’t avoid the immediate onslaught of media requests.

“When it first happened, I was bombarded with questions from national media, and I could not figure out why they were calling me, because this didn’t happen in (the) city proper,” he said. “Then, I realized that for the rest of the country, this happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, and I am the mayor of Butler, Pa.

“Therefore I became a de facto spokesperson of this community.”

The city’s website crashed, while phone calls and emails continued to pour in.

On the Monday following the Saturday assassination attempt, one caller said, “You failed, you failed. Put a gun to your head.”

Confusion headlined the week that followed.

“The thing that crosses my mind is how you can be at an event, witness an event, right in front of you, and yet there are so many different perspectives and multifaceted reactions,” Republican Butler County Commissioner Kim Geyer said. “Everyone comes away from that incident with a different perspective based upon their value system, political perspective, religious, etc.”

She and the other Republican county commissioner, Leslie Osche, were at the event, sitting not far behind Trump. As the then-presidential candidate was whisked off the stage, they ducked to the ground like the others in attendance at the rally.

“People are always going to be Monday morning quarterbacks,” Osche said of the event’s aftermath.

The assassination attempt — called the “largest security failure in 40 years” — prompted the Secret Service director’s resignation and the creation of a bipartisan Congressional task force led by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16, to investigate the incident.

The task force’s final report issued in December found there was a failure by law enforcement of any level to properly secure the AGR building on Whitestown Road, which the shooter used as a perch.

The report goes on to point out a breakdown in communication and said the Secret Service made no real effort to ensure the AGR complex was secured by local law enforcement.

Within the report, the task force issued 37 total recommendations, for the U.S. Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service jointly, and Congress.

The report echoed the findings of an earlier investigation by Spotlight PA, ProPublica and the Butler Eagle that showed the weaknesses that led to the assassination attempt were the breakdown of an already vulnerable system.

But that wasn’t what the public first heard. Until video footage from Butler Township police was released, blame was cast toward local law enforcement.

“I know there’s a lot of vindication,” said District Attorney Richard Goldinger, who oversees the county’s emergency services unit. “These guys are proud law enforcement officers. To take the blame like that, and dealing with such a slap in the face, it reinforces pride I have in them.”

Goldinger was one of the first voices to chime up, disputing congressional testimony on the rally from a state police colonel and defending local law enforcement and EMS.

Come Oct. 5, when Trump returned to the Butler Farm Show venue for another rally, the members of the Emergency Services Unit, who had just endured scrutiny on a national level, returned to assist the Secret Service again.

At this point, Trump had now survived two assassination attempts, the one in Butler County and another on Sept. 15 in West Palm Beach, Florida

“They’re proud to be members of that ESU team,” Goldinger said. “They didn’t let blame affect them.”

The months since July 13 have blurred together for Geyer, her calendar was filled with her usual responsibilities as a county commissioner supplemented by a slew of events spurred by the assassination attempt.

“(We’re) trying to continue to provide stability countywide for business to continue as normal,” Geyer said. “My focus is to continue helping the people of Butler County, provide leadership and forge a path forward.”

Departments within the county have kept busy fulfilling right to know requests. Now the potential for lawsuits from the two rally attendees who were critically injured is on the county’s radar.

Butler Township received the letter on Dec. 26 from a New York law firm, indicating the men’s intention to file suits, said Tom Knights, township manager. Osche confirmed the county has received the same letter.

“I still have regret that happened,” Democrat county Commissioner Kevin Boozel said. “I wish it hadn’t happened here in Butler.”

Boozel said he wants to use the first rally as a learning experience — one he wishes he didn’t have to use. He would like to see an ordinance implemented by the county government that requires a permit for events holding a certain number of people.

It wasn’t just the shooting, he said. There were dozens of medical calls related to heat at the rally too, and he wants to use the issues to plan better.

“I hate to beat that dead horse, but the reality is that I think, had we had a contract in place, we would have been better for it in many ways,” said Boozel, who had advocated for contracts for law enforcement to assist at the events in both July and October.

Reasons for this include transparency and clear delineation of who is responsible for what, Boozel said.

Osche emphasized that she doesn’t want to lose sight of the fact that a local man lost his life. Her approach to such matters has been “public safety first, and not politics,” she said.

“Unfortunately, we don’t seem to live in that world anymore,” Osche said.

Among the calls taken by Dandoy and city employees in the days after the assassination attempt was one from President Joe Biden, who told Dandoy that Trump was OK. Biden also talked about the stigma and challenges Butler would have to face.

“We’ve returned to the day-to-day work and commitment to our community that we had before this happened,” Dandoy said. “And for quite some time now, we’ve tried to continue moving the community forward to realize our potential, as always.”

Dandoy, like every other local official and law enforcement officer, wants to turn the spotlight around and show off the great place that Butler is.

“We just have to focus on the work at hand and help make this a better community, as we always have worked to help our people and make this community a great place,” Dandoy said.

Assignment editor Tracy Leturgey contributed to this report.