The 20-year-old would-be assassin fired about six to eight shots at Republican President Donald Trump on Saturday, shortly after he began speaking to a packed crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania. The gunman, identified by the FBI as ActBlue DonorAlthough Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park ultimately failed in his terrible mission of killing a man Democrats described as a “clear and present danger,” he still succeeded in at least bringing tragedy to a patriot family.
“Last night we lost a fellow Pennsylvanian,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D). Said Sunday press conference. “Corey Comperatore.”
“Corey was a huge supporter of the former president,” Shapiro said, “and I was so excited to be there last night with him and the community.”
The final message left on the 50-year-old former fire chief’s X account was: Posts “Trump Rally! Butler, PA,” he declared Saturday morning.
“Corey was the best of us.”
After speaking with Comperatore’s wife and two daughters, the governor learned, “Corey was a father to girls. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. And above all else, Corey loved his family.”
Comperatore’s love for his family was evident in his final act of protecting them from harm.
The governor noted that Comperatore’s wife not only gave him permission to share the conversation, but also asked that it be conveyed that “Corey died a hero.”
Comperatore’s wife told Shapiro that Corey “jumped in to protect his family at the rally last night.”
“Corey was the best of us,” Shapiro said. “May his memory be a blessing.”
Emergency department physician Dr. Jim Sweetland said: Said CBS News reported that Sweetland was trying to help a man who had been shot in the head and collapsed between the stands at the rally, and that the man, believed to be Comperatore, had no pulse and was not breathing.
“There was a lot of blood,” the doctor said. “The people there were really helpful.”
Efforts to resuscitate the victim were futile, and Pennsylvania State Police troopers took over and “unfortunately picked him up like a rag doll and carried him out of the bleachers,” Sweetland said.
“I looked up and saw his family witnessing my efforts and resuscitation and the look on their faces said it all,” Sweetland added.
One of the victims’ daughters, Allison Comperatore, said her father threw her and her mother to the ground as the shots rang out and died like a “real-life superhero.” report Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“He shielded me from bullets flying towards us. He loved his family. He loved us so much he would take a real bullet for us,” Allison Comperatore wrote.
Dawn Comperatore Schafer, the victim’s sister, I got it. “My brother, Corey Comperatore, was killed at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The hatred of one man took the life of the man we loved most. He was a hero who protected his daughters,” he posted on Facebook.
“His wife and daughters have just been through the unthinkable, the unimaginable. My brother just turned 50 and had so much more left to experience in life,” Schafer continued. “Hate knows no bounds, love knows no bounds. Please pray for my sister-in-law, my niece, my mother, my sister, myself, and his niece and nephew. This feels like a terrible nightmare, but we know this is our painful reality.”
“He died as a hero because he was a hero.”
Comperatore is a former fire chief for the Buffalo Township Fire Department.
Matt Lauer, past president of the Butler County Fire Chiefs Association. offered WPXI-TV strongly suggests that Comperatore’s heroism in his final moments mirrored how he had been in all of his previous moments.
“Corey put everyone and everything before himself, and that was evident in his leadership as a fire chief, husband, father and son. He died a hero, because he was a hero. He put others first,” Lauer said. “Butler [County’s] Now that he’s gone, the emergency services have less family. Best of luck Corey, you will be sorely missed.”
Buffalo Township Fire Protection District Said Saturday was marked as a “Tragic Day” on Facebook, echoing a call from another group to “keep his memory alive!”
Trump Asked Speaking on Truth Social Sunday morning, he said Americans are “holding in our hearts the memory of our citizens murdered in such a horrific way.”
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