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Corey Comperatore, who was killed after a gunman targeted former President Donald Trump at a rally on Saturday.
CNN
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Firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed during assassination attempt former President Donald Trump, Governor of Pennsylvania. Josh Shapiro said Sunday.
Comperatore was one of thousands of people who attended a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, as part of Trump’s 2024 re-election effort. He died trying to protect his family, says the governor.
The authorities have identified the attacker in Saturday’s attack nor 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by Secret Service agents at the scene after the shooting. The FBI is investigating the attack as an assassination attempt, according to the agency.
“I just talked to Corey’s wife and Corey’s two daughters,” Shapiro said Sunday.
“Corey was the girl’s dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. Especially, Corey loved his family.”
“Corey was an avid supporter of the former president and was so excited to be there with him in the community last night,” the governor said.
“I asked Corey’s wife if it would be okay for me to share what we talked about. She said yes.’ She also asked that I share with all of you that Corey died a hero,” Shapiro added.
“Corey lashed out at his family last night to protect them at this gathering.”
Shapiro said he ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in memory of the Comperatores.
In the incident, one person died and two were seriously injured. according to the Pennsylvania State Police. As he said, the former president was shot in the right ear on social networksleaving his face covered in blood.
Speaking Sunday afternoon, President Joe Biden offered his condolences to Komperatore’s family.
“We also express our deepest condolences to the family of the murdered woman,” the president said. “He was a father, he was protecting his family from the bullets fired when he lost his life. God loves him. We also pray for the full recovery of those who were injured.”
Witnesses described the wave of chaos and terror that ensued after the killer, who was on a rooftop just outside the scene, fired several shots from an AR-style weapon.
As shots rang out and the former president ducked under a podium packed with Secret Service agents, attendees screamed and crouched to the ground, video from the scene showed.
GOP Congressman Dan Meuser he told CNN he sat in the front row with Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick and Republican Rep. Mike Kelly. He saw the man fatally shot “no more than 20 feet behind,” he said.
Joseph Meyn, a surgeon from Grove City, Pennsylvania, he told CNN that he helped carry the man’s body out of the stadium.
“Everybody started, of course, screaming, calling for a doctor, and frankly, it was a gory scene,” Meuser said.
He was at the far right of the podium, recording Trump’s speech, when he heard the shots.
“Just as I was turning back, I heard seven shots in rapid succession, in less than two or three seconds. I’m familiar with the weapon, I knew right away it was a shooting,” Meyn told CNN. “I saw him get hit.”
Meyn said he looked back in the direction the shots had come from. “I saw a man in the stands who was shot directly in the head … there was a woman who was shot in the hand and forearm, a non-critical wound.”
He said he went to see if he could help, but another doctor was already tending to the woman who had been shot.
“I helped carry the man’s body out of the stands,” he said. “They took the body to the tent behind the stand.”
Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas said his nephew was also injured in the shooting.
In an interview with Fox News, Jackson said his nephew “was stabbed in the neck, the bullet went through his neck, cut his throat and he was bleeding.”
The congressman called it “a horrible, horrible experience.”
Another participant who witnessed the shooting described the atmosphere as “complete shock”.
“It was too close for comfort,” Donna Hutz told CNN. She and her son were just a few rows ahead of the attendees who were killed. She looked up and saw injured participants with a lot of blood in the stands, she said.
The shooting sent shockwaves around the world, with international leaders including Biden, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Vatican condemning the attack and wider political violence.
Authorities are still investigating the killer’s possible motives and how he was able to access the area with the weapon.
“It’s surprising, but all the details of this will come out in the investigation,” FBI Special Agent in Chief Kevin Rojek said at a news conference when asked how the shooter was able to fire several shots.
This story has been updated with additional information.
