Victim in Trump rally shooting died while shielding his family from gunfire (2024)

Minutes later, the sound of gunfire ripped through the sweltering air. Comperatore didn’t hesitate. He threw himself on top of his family to shield them, his wife, Helen, told Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).

She and her daughters emerged unscathed, only to discover that Comperatore had been fatally shot. “Corey died a hero,” she told the governor, who recounted their conversation Sunday.

Saturday’s shooting has sent shock waves across the country and the FBI is investigating the attack as an assassination attempt.

But for Comperatore’s family, the tragedy is a personal earthquake — the loss of someone who loved his children, who never missed a chance to go fishing, who spent years as a volunteer firefighter running toward danger.

“The hatred for one man took the life of the one man we loved the most,” wrote his older sister Dawn Comperatore Schafer in a post on Facebook. “This feels like a terrible nightmare but we know it is our painful reality.”

In addition to identifying Comperatore, of Sarver, Pa., authorities Sunday also named two men from other parts of Pennsylvania — David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74 — who were gravely wounded in the attack. They were transported to a Pittsburgh hospital, where a hospital official said they were in critical condition.

Shapiro described Comperatore as a firefighter, a churchgoer and a proud “girl dad.” He was “so excited” to attend the rally, Shapiro said. Friends were following Comperatore’s posts on Facebook from the event.

“Corey was the very best of us,” Shapiro added during a news conference at the Butler Township administration building. He ordered all flags at state government buildings to fly at half-staff in recognition of the tragedy and to honor Comperatore’s memory. He also extended prayers on behalf of all Pennsylvanians to the two injured men and their families.

For Comperatore’s family, there was grief and shock.

Steve Warheit, 50, was bleary-eyed from a lack of rest at his home in hilly Allegheny County. He hadn’t slept much since getting the call that Comperatore, his brother, was killed.

For Warheit, Comperatore was always brother, never “stepbrother” — they’d been too inseparable for that.

Warheit’s dad had married Comperatore’s mom when both boys were 14. They hunted and fished together through their formative years into adulthood. Comperatore’s sense of humor shimmers through the photos on Warheit’s phone.

There he is, grinning broadly while showing off the smallest catch of the day — an obviously puny largemouth bass. “That’s Corey,” Warheit said, smiling at the memory.

And though Warheit held different political views, he’d respected the passion of his brother. Comperatore loved his family. He loved God. He was protective but not self-important — not with that sense of humor.

Comperatore was the former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company and an engineer by profession.

At the fire station on Sunday, an American flag dangled at half-staff in honor of Comperatore. The chief, 59-year-old Kip Johnston, said he was struggling to process that his friend of three decades was gone.

How many afternoons had they shared in this office, listening to the fire scanner before charging out the door together? “He was the first one running into a burning building,” Johnston said.

No one at the station was surprised when they learned he’d died trying to save his family. “A real leader,” Johnston said.

Comperatore could have bragged about the lives he saved, Johnston said, but he preferred to talk about his family, including his pair of Dobermans, Cane and Ivan.

Dorthy Reitler, 56, said she had known Comperatore and his wife, Helen, since the pair were teenagers and high school sweethearts at Freeport Area High School in Sarver. Both families had daughters involved in competitive cheerleading, Reitler said, and they bonded on the sidelines at FCA Gems, a competitive cheerleading facility in town.

“He was the perfect cheer dad,” Reitler said. The facility once held a mock cheer contest for parents to compete, she recalled, and Comperatore participated enthusiastically. “Let’s say he wasn’t good at cartwheels,” Reitler said. “But he tried.”

Reitler said that many of Comperatore’s friends had been following along with his Facebook posts from the Trump rally Saturday, which made his death even more difficult to process.

“We were all in shock,” she said. “We had been seeing his posts on Facebook, being at the rally and having a good time with his children and his wife, just a normal day, and then — boom.”

“This whole community is grieving hugely for them,” she said.

Paul Hayden, 62, lives across the street from Comperatore’s home in Sarver, about half an hour from the rally. Comperatore owned a boat, Hayden said, and on weekends, he could be found fishing for bass and walleye on the Allegheny River. The neighbors often rode dirt bikes together along the trails in Cook Forest State Park.

Hayden, who is a Biden supporter, said that Comperatore flew a Trump flag in his yard during the last presidential election. But that never affected their rapport, he said.

“I know he was a Trump guy and he knew I was a Biden guy, but we never let that come between us,” Hayden said. “He was a very good person, and it was a shame things happened the way they happened.”

Gowen reported from Lawrence, Kan., Shammas from Washington and Slater from Milwaukee. Amy B Wang in Washington contributed to this report.