(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The grief-stricken family of the late fire chief Corey Comperatore spoke candidly about his life of service, the outpouring of support after his death, and President Donald Trump’s tribute to him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Helen Comperatore and daughters Allyson and Kaylee opened up to ABC-4 WTAE about the traumatic scene that took place after Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13.
“He definitely was a hero,” Helen said through tears. She, along with her daughters, accompanied Corey to the rally, where he was fatally struck by a bullet. “He saved his wife. He saved his child—and… he was just the best guy. He was just the best.”
Helen implored Americans to remember him for his heroic life and not just as the man who died at the Trump rally. “Just try to remember Corey as, you know, he was a great man, was a great father. He was a great husband.”
Corey was hit by a bullet as he pushed his daughter, Allyson, to the ground. “I don’t remember hearing any other shot. I don’t remember feeling any other shot, because in that moment, I was trying to take care of him.”
Kaylee, Corey’s second daughter, thought she was in a nightmare. “I started screaming but in my head, I was saying, ‘Wake up! Wake up! Like this was a dream. Wake up! Then you realized it’s not a dream.”
Trump featured Corey’s fire jacket live on stage at the RNC, kissing it as he paid tribute to Corey. The entire stadium was overcome with tears and emotion.
“That was a big honor,” Helen added. “All day at the rally, my husband kept saying, ‘He’s gonna call me up on the stage. You’re going to hear him. He’s gonna say, “Corey, come up here. Corey get up here. He was just joking but he kept saying that.”’”
Referring to the RNC tribute, Helen continued, “We were all like that was his moment. He’s up on stage. So, he got his moment on stage.”
The Comperatore family has received an outpouring of letters and gifts from American families to commemorate Corey.
A GoFundMe page for all the victims has garnered over $6.5 million from more than 70,000 donations. A separate fundraiser for the Comperatore family alone has raised over $1.3 million from more than 20,000 donations
“I know he would want me to get to the bottom of it,” Helen said, addressing the security lapses at the rally that allowed the would-be assassin to gain a clear view of the stage from a rooftop. “I want justice for my husband and I’m going to get it.”
Echoing his mother’s sentiments, Kaylee said, “I just want them to know that I really think my dad’s blood on their hands and I hope they wake up every day thinking about they took from our family because we have to wake up every day and see that image of our father in our head. No child should ever have to see that.”
