A former volunteer fire chief from Pennsylvania has been identified as the victim killed by a sniper who shot and wounded former President Donald Trump. Corey Comperatore, 50, who served the fire chief of Buffalo Township, was shot dead shot by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, during a rally for Trump.
The incident left the former president and two others injured, according to local WPXI reports. Crooks fired multiple rounds from a rooftop nearby before a Secret Service sniper returned fire, resulting in his death. An AR-style rifle was found at the shooting scene, the FBI said. The weapon was reportedly bought by the gunman’s father, as reported by the Journal.
Hero father Died Saving His Daughter
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Dawn Comperatore Schafer said that her brother, Comperatore, died while shielding his daughter from gunfire that erupted during Trump’s speech. “The hatred for one man took the life of the one man we loved the most. He was a hero that shielded his daughters,” she wrote on Facebook.
“His wife and girls just lived through the unthinkable and unimaginable,” she added.
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Allyson described her father, Comperatore, as “the best dad a girl could ever ask for,” grieving his sudden death.
She recounted that when the gunshots started, Comperatore quickly pushed her and her mother to the ground in an attempt to shield them after Trump was shot.
“He truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us,” Allyson wrote on Facebook.
“And I want nothing more than to cry on him and tell him thank you.”
Helen, Comperatore’s wife, echoed her daughter’s portrayal of the former fire chief as a “real-life hero” who shielded them from harm.
“Yesterday, what [was meant to] be such an exciting day for my husband, especially, turned into a nightmare for our family,” Helen wrote on Facebook.
“What my precious girls had to witness is unforgivable,” she added. “He died the hero he always was.”
Family Mourns Unexpected Death
As of noon Sunday, a GoFundMe page set up to support Helen and Allyson has already raised over $27,000.
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Crooks fired multiple rounds from a rooftop nearby before a Secret Service sniper returned fire, resulting in his death. At the scene, an AR-style rifle was found. The weapon was reportedly bought by the gunman’s father, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
One of these shots grazed Trump’s ear. Sources said that Crooks crawled onto the roof of a manufacturing plant located over 130 yards away from the stage at the Butler Farm Show grounds.
Police said, Crooks didn’t have any criminal history.
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According to state voter records, Crooks was registered as a Republican. This year’s presidential election would have been his first opportunity to vote.
An analysis by the Associated Press of more than a dozen videos and photos from the rally, as well as satellite imagery, reveals that the gunman got alarmingly close to the stage where Trump was speaking.
A video posted on social media and verified by the AP shows a man in gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds, the rally site.
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The roof was less than 150 meters (yards) from Trump‘s location, a distance from which a skilled marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target.
For context, U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette at this distance to qualify with the M16 assault rifle in basic training. The AR-15, used by the shooter, is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military M16.
Authorities have not shared a potential motive behind the shooting.
