Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer fire company in Pennsylvania, has been identified as the victim who was shot and killed amidst an assassination attempt on Donald Trump on Saturday.
“He was a hero that shielded his daughters. His wife and girls just lived through the unthinkable and unimaginable,” Comperatore’s sister, Dawn Comperatore Schafer, said in a post on Facebook.
“My baby brother just turned 50 and had so much life left to experience. Hatred has no limits and love has no bounds. Pray for my sister-in-law, nieces, my mother, sister, me and his nieces and nephews as this feels like a terrible nightmare but we know it is our painful reality.”
Two other rally attendants were wounded. Pennsylvania state police have identified the other two victims as 57-year-old David Dutch of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and 74-year-old James Copenhaver of Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Both are listed in stable condition.
Comperatore’s wife and daughter described the scene at the rally, stating Corey Comperatore quickly moved to shield his family when the shots began.
“He shielded my body from the bullet that came at us. He loved his family. He truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us,” said his daughter, Allyson Comperatore, in a Facebook post.
His wife, Helen Comperatore, added on Facebook: “What my precious girls had to witness is unforgivable. What I had to was.”
Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, ordered flags to fly at half mast “to recognize the tragedy that occurred at a rally for former President Trump in Butler County last evening, and in honor of Corey Comperatore, a Butler county husband and father who was killed while attending the event”.
In a White House press conference Joe Biden paid tribute also, saying that Comperatore had died defending his family from harm.
A GoFundMe was started on behalf of Comperatore’s family, which had quickly exceeded its fundraising goal.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Comperatore worked as a project and tooling engineer at JSP, a plastics manufacturing firm in Butler, Pennsylvania.
