The man killed at President Trump’s rally on Saturday has been identified as 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, a local father and former fire chief from Buffalo Township, Pennsylvania. His daughter confirmed his passing in a Facebook post.
“Yesterday time stopped. And when it started again my family and I started living a real-life nightmare. What was supposed to be an exciting day that we had all looked forward to (ESPECIALLY my dad), turned into the most traumatizing experiences someone could imagine,” Allyson Comperatore wrote of her father.
In his final act, Ms. Comperatore says her father saved his family when the would-be assassin began firing. “The media will not tell you that he died a real-life super hero. They are not going to tell you how quickly he threw my mom and I to the ground. They are not going to tell you that he shielded my body from the bullet that came at us,” she wrote.
Horror stories quickly emerged from the rally on Saturday where Trump was shot. One attendee, an emergency room doctor, told CBS News that he attempted to revive Comperatore after he had been shot in the head, though he was too far gone at that point.
“The guy had spun around and was jammed between the benches,” the doctor, who did not share his name in the video, said. “He had a head shot here,” the doctor remembered, pointing to the side of his own head. “There was lots of blood … I did CPR, I did chest compressions.”
According to a local outlet, TribLIVE, Comperatore served as the chief of the fire department for his hometown of Buffalo Township, where he was remembered by friends and neighbors as a friendly, caring member of the community.
One neighbor, Matt Achilles, said Comperatore was always kind. “He lived about six houses down from us,” Ms. Achilles told Trib. “He was a good person. We might not have agreed on the same political views, but that didn’t stop him from being a good friend and neighbor.”
The governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, said at a press conference he had spoken to the Comperatore family, and that their loved one was the “best of us.”
“Corey was the very best of us,” the governor said. “The Comperatore family remains in our thoughts and prayers. They have some very challenging times ahead of them. They will have an empty seat at the dinner table for the rest of their lives. We need to make sure that Corey’s memory is forever a blessing.”
No one besides Comperatore was killed at the rally Saturday, though law enforcement said that two other rally goers had been injured. Shortly after the attempted assassination, Trump authorized a GoFundMe page to be set up to support the Comperatore family and the other families of the injured.
The fundraiser has already amassed more than $2 million in donations. Another set up specifically for Comperatore had raised nearly $300,000 by Sunday afternoon.
“President Donald Trump has authorized this account as a place for donations to the supporters and families wounded or killed in today’s brutal and horrific assassination attempt,” the organizer of the page, Meredith O’Rourke wrote. “All donations will be directed to these proud Americans as they grieve and recover.”
