Corey Comperatore Killed in Assassination Attempt on Trump

The protester killed in the failed assassination attempt on former President Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania on Saturday has been identified by the FBI as Corey Comperatore, a retired firefighter who died protecting his family.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Comperatore was sitting in the crowd when the shooter, who authorities identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks20, opened fire.

Retired firefighter Corey Comperatore.

(Corey Comparator)

Shapiro said he spoke to Comperatore’s wife, who wanted the public to know that he “died a hero.”

“Corey threw himself at his family to protect them last night at that rally,” Shapiro said at a news conference Sunday. “Corey was the best of us. May his memory be a blessing.”

Comperatore was a father of one daughter, a firefighter and attended church every Sunday, Shapiro said.

“And most of all, Corey loved his family,” the governor said. “Corey was a huge supporter of the former president and was very happy to be here last night with him in the community.”

Shapiro said he ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in memory of Comperatore.

Matt Achilles, 33, lives a half-dozen houses down from the Comperatore family in Buffalo Township — a community so small that “you blink and you walk through it,” he said.

Achilles and his wife chose the neighborhood eight years ago for its good schools and residents. Corey Comperatore, he said, was one of the best.

“He was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he didn’t deserve this at all,” Achilles said.

The two had been friends for years, but Achilles said Comperatore really stepped up in 2021 when Achilles suffered a health emergency while on vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He spent eight days in the hospital and said Comperatore was one of the first people to reach out and offer help, including contributing to a GoFundMe account that helped the family cover medical expenses.

“Helping is part of his instinct as a firefighter,” Achilles said. “Some people are born that way. Helping is part of their blood and their instinct, and that was exactly the kind of person he was.”

Comperatore’s death is the third incident to rock Buffalo Township in recent months. Last month, a man was killed by a car while mowing his lawn. A 13-year-old boy riding his bike home was struck and killed by a truck in May.

On Facebook, Comperatore’s sister, Dawn Comperatore Schafer, described him as a “hero who protected his daughters” as the gunshots rang out.

Comperatore had just turned 50, she wrote, and “there was still so much life left for him.”

“Hatred for one man took the life of the man we loved most,” wrote Comrade Schafer. “His wife and daughters experienced the unthinkable and the unimaginable. Hate has no limits and love has no limits.”

Contacted by telephone on Sunday, colleague Schafer declined to comment.

A man at Comperatore’s daughter’s home told Times reporters that she – and the rest of the family – did not wish to speak to the media at this time.

Witnesses at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, described the scene as traumatic and unnerving. Robert Runyan, 34, told Times reporters he was five to 10 rows away from the stage when the shots rang out.

He said that when Trump got up after being tackled to the ground by Secret Service agents, the crowd began cheering. But Runyan wasn’t celebrating with the others. He was more focused on a man in the stands who had been wounded by the gunfire.

Three people nearby tried to help her. One woman let out a “blood-curdling” scream, which Runyan said “will stay with her forever.”

Runyan said he did not know if the person he saw was Comperatore.

“I don’t want to have that image in my head,” he said, his eyes filling with tears. “Once I got home, I couldn’t watch the news or what people were saying. I just remember the way he was positioned. A guy in a blue shirt was holding him and looking around, and at the same time, there were people behind him cheering him on.”

A medic in the crowd, Joseph Meyn, 51, said he saw a man being shot in the stands nearby.

Meyn said he moved to help, meeting police officers and a medic who were already on the scene. He said he helped carry the man’s blood-covered body out of the stands.

Meyn said the man’s family appeared to be in the stands with him. He said he heard a woman in her 20s or 30s ask if the man was OK.

“Someone said, ‘No, he’s dead.’ She immediately burst into hysterical tears, she couldn’t breathe. You could physically see her soul breaking like it was an empty aluminum can,” Meyn said. “I’ll go to my grave with that etched in my memory.”

At a press conference Sunday, President Biden offered his “deepest condolences to the family of the victim who was killed.”

“He was protecting his family from the bullets that were being fired,” Biden said.

Trump, who has said he will “remain resilient” and continue his campaign events, wrote on Truth Social that he is praying “for the recovery of those who were injured and keeping in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed.”

Times reporters Lin and Goldberg reported from Pennsylvania, Mejia, Pinho and Orellana Hernandez from Los Angeles.