Firefighter killed at Trump rally shielded his family from bullets

A friend and fellow firefighter said, ‘He was definitely a hero.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Corey Comperatore, the volunteer firefighter who was killed during an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, shielded his family from the spray of bullets with his body, as reported by The New York Times. 

His sister,  Dawn Comperatore Schafer, described finding out that her brother had lost his life in the rally.

We watched him die on the news,” she said through tears. “That’s how we found out.”

Comperatore was a volunteer firefighter who loved to fish and had a wife and two daughters, Allyson, 27, and Kaylee, 24.

According to friend Jeff Lowers, he was  “definitely a family man.”

Lowers and Comperatore were volunteer firefighters, and Lowers said his quick reaction time, which he honed as a fireman, came into play when helping others during the assassination attempt.

“Being a volunteer fireman, no matter what you’re doing, when the whistle goes off and the monitor goes off, you do what you need to do,” Mr. Lowers said. “We never considered ourselves a hero. But yesterday, he definitely was.”

When first responders came to the scene, Comperatore was found unconscious and lying in a pool of blood, and it was discovered that he had no pulse.

The two bystanders who were seriously wounded were identified as David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pa., and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pa. Both men are being treated at the Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Donald Trump was released from the hospital overnight after being admitted following the assassination attempt.

Trump later took to social media to respond to the attack, writing on Truth Social early Sunday morning that he had been shot in the right ear.

“I want to thank The United States Secret Service and all of Law Enforcement for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania,” Trump wrote.

“Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country.”