The member of the crowd killed in the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania rally has been identified.
Corey Comperatore, the retired fire chief of Buffalo Township, was sitting behind the former president shot and killed by gunman 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
The 50-year-old died a hero as his family revealed he was shielding his young daughter and wife from the gunfire when he was killed.
Members of the audience frantically tried to save the father’s life in the bleachers in Butler after Crooks opened fire from a rooftop 130 yards away.
Family members paid tribute Comperatore who was well-known in the community.
His sister wrote on Facebook: ‘The PA Trump Rally claimed the life of my brother, Corey Comperatore.
‘The hatred for one man took the life of the one man we loved the most. He was a hero who shielded his daughters.
The member of the crowd killed in the assassination attempt on Donald Trump has been identified as Corey Comperatore, a retired fire chief from Pennsylvania
‘His wife and girls just lived through the unthinkable and unimaginable. 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.’
‘My baby brother just turned 50 and had so much life left to experience,’ his sister wrote online
His sister wrote on Facebook: ‘The PA Trump Rally claimed the life of my brother, Corey Comperatore
His daughter Allyson wrote on social media: ‘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.’
‘He loved his family. He truly loved us enough to take a bullet for us,’ she continued in the emotional tribute.
An emergency room doctor at Donald Trump’s rally revealed how he performed CPR on Comperatore, after he was hit by a bullet intended for the former president.
‘I heard the shots. I thought it was firecrackers begin with. Somebody over there was screaming ‘he’s been shot he’s been shot,” said the man who had blood splattered all over his white USA shirt. ‘So I made my way over. I said I’m an emergency department physician. Let me help you.’
‘The guy had spun around was jammed between the benches and a head shot here,’ he told CBS News.
He had retired from the fire department, but remained well-known in the community
‘So I got him together so I got people there really helpful. I did CPR chest compressions as well.’
Trump was shot in the right ear by a Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from a roof 130 yards from the MAGA event in Butler, Pennsylvania.
He briefly bent down, then stood up, pumped his fist and chanted ‘fight, fight, fight’ as Secret Service rushed him off stage and into a motorcade
Crooks is a registered Republican who also donated money to President Biden in 2023. He graduated from high school in 2022 .
The former fire chief for Buffalo Township, Corey Comperatore, was the person killed in the crowd at the Trump rally in Butler County
He opened fire at the former president with an AR-style rifle from a roof 130 yards from the rally stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday at 6.15 pm.
Images of Crooks wearing glasses, braces, and an American flag t-shirt in a yearbook headshots emerged on Sunday morning, hours after he tried to take out the presumptive Republican nominee and killed a member of the rally crowd.
Crooks’ uncle Mark Crooks told DailyMail.com he hadn’t seen the gunman or his parents in years, and described them as ‘very private.’
‘I haven’t seen that part of my family in years,’ he said. ‘Honestly it’s been so long I don’t think much about them.;
‘It’s a shame. The kid is like a stranger to me. They’re private and they don’t reach out to anybody any time.’
Bethel Park School District – where Crooks was a student until two years ago – verified his graduation and vowed full cooperation with investigators.
An emergency room doctor at Donald Trump’s rally revealed how he performed CPR on a member of the crowd
Records show he donated to a group who backed President Joe Biden on the day of the inauguration in 2020.
A resident near to where Crooks lived, who wanted to remain anonymous, confirmed the identity of the gunman to DailyMail.com.
Members of the community where Crooks is believed to have lived with his parents were swarmed by police and Secret Service on Sunday morning.
Those who spoke to DailyMail.com said the family were quiet and kept to themselves.
Trump put out a statement on Truth Social Saturday night confirming he was struck by a bullet, while thanking the Secret Service and law enforcement for their ‘rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania.’
The former president also confirmed that one rally-goer was killed and another was ‘badly injured.’
‘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.’
Yearbook images have surfaced of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who opened fire on former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania
‘It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,’ said the former president.
‘I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!’
