Firefighter Corey Comperatore  killed at Trump rally ‘died a hero’

Pennsylvania — Firefighter and father of two, Corey Comperatore was killed during the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Sunday.

Comperatore was one of the thousands of people who attended the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, part of Trump’s 2024 reelection effort. He died trying to protect his family, according to the governor. Pennsylvania State Police confirmed his identity on Sunday.

As of Sunday afternoon, a GoFundMe claiming to be for Comperatore's family had reached $482, 686. Merit Street Media reached out and is awaiting confirmation that the fundraising page is official. 

Authorities have identified the gunman in Saturday’s attack as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was reportedly killed by Secret Service agents at the scene after the shooting. The FBI is investigating the attack as an assassination attempt, the agency said.

“I just spoke to Corey’s wife and Corey’s two daughters,” Shapiro said Sunday.

“Corey was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. Most especially, Corey loved his family.”

“Corey was an avid supporter of the former president and was so excited to be there last night with him in the community,” the governor said.

“I asked Corey’s wife if it would be okay for me to share that we spoke. She said ‘yes.’ She also asked that I share with all of you that Corey died a hero,” Shapiro added.

“Corey dove on his family to protect them last night at this rally.”

Shapiro said he has directed flags be flown at half-staff in Comperatore’s memory.

In addition to Comperatore, two people were critically injured in the incident, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania, are in stable condition, state police said in a press release.

The Marine Corps League of Pennsylvania, Inc. identified Dutch as a commandant in their organization’s location in Westmoreland County. Vice Commandant Matt Popovich said on Facebook that Dutch underwent two surgeries after being “shot in the liver and chest.”

“These victims and their families are certainly in our thoughts today,” said state police commissioner Col. Christopher Paris. “The Pennsylvania State Police continue to work tirelessly alongside our federal, state and local partners as this investigation continues.”

The former president was shot in his right ear, he said on social media, leaving his face covered in blood.

A GoFundMe campaign for the victims’ families, verified by the fundraising platform, had raised over $2 million by Sunday afternoon, more than double its initial goal. More than 28,000 donations had poured in, according to the website.

Speaking Sunday afternoon, President Joe Biden expressed his condolences to the Comperatore’s family.

“We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was killed,” the president said. “He was a father; he was protecting his family from the bullets being fired when he lost his life. God love him. We are also praying for the full recovery of those who were injured.”

Shots fired, then ‘a bloody scene’

Witnesses have described a wave of chaos and terror that unfolded after the shooter, perched on a rooftop just outside the venue, fired several shots from an AR-style weapon.

As shots rang out and the former president ducked below the podium, swarmed by Secret Service agents, as attendees screamed and crouched toward the ground, video from the scene shows.

GOP Congressman Dan Meuser told CNN he was sitting in the front row of the rally with Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick and Republican Rep. Mike Kelly. He saw a man fatally shot “no more than 20 feet behind” them, he said.

Joseph Meyn, a surgeon from Grove City, Pennsylvania, told CNN that he helped carry a man’s body out of the stadium.

“Everybody started, certainly, screaming, asking for a medic, and honestly, it was a bloody scene,” Meuser said.

He was to the far right of the podium, filming Trump’s speech, when he heard the gunshots.

“Just as I was panning back, I heard seven gunshots in rapid succession, in under two or three seconds. I am familiar with guns, I knew immediately it was gunfire,” Meyn told CNN. “I saw him get hit.”

Meyn said he looked back in the direction the gunshots had come from. “I saw a man in the bleachers was hit directly in the head … there was a woman who was hit in the hand and forearm, a noncritical wound.”

He said he went over to see if he could render any aid, but another doctor was already tending to the woman who’d been shot.

“I helped carry the body of the man out of the stands,” he said. “They took the body to the tent behind the bleachers.”

Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas said that his nephew was also injured in the shooting.

In an interview with Fox News, Jackson said his nephew “was grazed in the neck, a bullet crossed his neck, cut his neck and he was bleeding.”

The congressman called it a “horrific, horrific experience.”

Another attendee who witnessed the shooting described an atmosphere of “complete shock.”

“It was too close for comfort,” Donna Hutz told CNN. She and her son were just a few rows in front of the attendees who were shot. She looked up and saw the injured attendees with lots of blood covering the bleachers, she said.

The shooting created shockwaves around the world, with international leaders including Biden, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Vatican condemning the attack and political violence more broadly.

Authorities are still investigating both the shooter’s possible motives and how he was able to access the area with a weapon.

“It is surprising, but all the details of that will come out in the investigation,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek said in a news conference when asked how the shooter was able to fire several shots.

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