E-Paper
Trump rally shooting: Victim Corey Comperatore's family breaks silence, ‘Blood is on their hands’
The wife and daughters of Corey Comperatore, the firefighter who died at a Pennsylvania rally during an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, have spoken out.
The wife and daughters of Corey Comperatore, the firefighter who died at a Pennsylvania rally during an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, have spoken out days after tragedy struck their family. The 50-year-old retired volunteer fire chief died when gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at the rally. Trump and two others were injured.
"He definitely was a hero. He saved his wife. He saved his child, and he was just the best guy," Comperatore's wife of 29 years, Helen Comperatore, told WTAE.
Helen described Corey as a "wonderful man," and said she would want the world to remember her husband for who he was, not just "as the man that was shot at the rally." "Just remember Corey as he was — a great man who was a great father, great husband,” she said.
Corey’s daughter Kaylee blasted the security failures at the rally. "I just want [security] to know I really think my dad's blood is on their hands," she said, "and I hope they wake up every day thinking about what they took from our family, because we have to wake up every day and see that image of our father in our head, and no child should ever have to see that."
Another daughter of Corey, Allyson, recalled how he died while trying to shield her. "I was the one that my dad threw down. As he was throwing me down, that was when he was shot, and he ended up falling on to me," she said. "And I don't remember hearing any other shots … In that moment, I was trying to take care of him. I was really confused when he was on me.
"I had turned around, I went, 'Dad' — he fell down, and that's when I started screaming, and I was trying to keep him from bleeding," she added.
Kaylee recalled that she was screaming and initially thought she was actually in a dream. "And then you realize it's not a dream, and you feel like your whole world is just over," she said.
‘I want justice for my husband, and I'm going to get it’
Trump paid tribute to Corey at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which Helen said "was a big honor." "All day at the rally, my husband kept saying, 'He's gonna call me up on stage. You're gonna hear him. He's gonna say Corey, get on up here!' He was just joking, obviously," Helen said.
Helen recalled that when Trump remembered Corey on stage, the family thought, "There's his moment. He's up on stage.”
The Comperatore family has now hired counsel in an attempt to get justice for him. "I want justice for my husband, and I'm going to get it," Helen said.
