The final tweets of Corey Comperatore, who died shielding his family during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, showed him eager to attend the rally which cost him his life.
Retired firefighter Comperatore, 50, was shot and killed by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, at a rally for Trump that wounded the former president and two others caught in the crossfire.
In his final post on Twitter, just hours before the shooting took place, Comperatore responded to a tweet by popular pro-Trump account ‘Catturd’ which asked: ‘So what’s everyone getting into this weekend?’
‘Trump rally! Butler, PA,’ Comperatore responded enthusiastically.
Following his death, 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.’
‘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,’ she added.
‘He truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us,’ his daughter Allyson wrote on Facebook. ‘And I want nothing more than to cry on him and tell him thank you.’
Comperatore was described as an ‘avid supporter’ of former president Trump by Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, who hailed him as a hero.
Indeed, almost all of the 132 tweets posted by Comperatore show him espousing MAGA talking points, including a fondness for Vladimir Putin, conspiracy theories about vaccines, and calls for violence against Palestinian civilians and climate activists.
In a post about Palestinians in Gaza having their homes destroyed by Israeli violence last October, Comperatore said: ‘They’ll get over it. The Japanese did.’
Another post saw him insinuating White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was a ‘DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) plant.’
Other posts saw him praise President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. A post from May 2023 saw him tweet: ‘Send the illegal immigrants to Ukraine and let them fight for freedom. Let’s see how bad they really want it.’
He also praised former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who is currently serving a prison sentence for crimes related to the Jan 6 Capitol Riots.
‘Corey died a hero,’ said Governor Shapiro in a press conference. ‘Corey was the very best of us.’
In addition to Comperatore, two additional people were critically injured in the incident, Pennsylvania State Police reported.
David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania, were wounded in the attack and are in stable condition, state police said in a news release.
Comperatore was killed by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who opened fire with an AR-style rifle from a roof 130 yards from the MAGA event in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The former president was hit in the ear and was seen grabbing at his head and ducking as screams from terrified onlookers filled the stadium.
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,’ he told CBS News.
‘Somebody over there was screaming “he’s been shot he’s been shot.” ‘So I made my way over. I said I’m an emergency department physician. Let me help you.’
He added: ‘The guy had spun around was jammed between the benches and a head shot here.
‘So I got him together so I got people there who were really helpful. I did CPR chest compressions as well.’
Trump has yet to comment on the death of Comperatore.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : Trump makes first appearance since assassination attempt with bandage on his ear
MORE : Viewers concerned after ITV News blunder at Trump shooting scene
MORE : Who is JD Vance? Trump’s new running mate who once called him ‘America’s Hitler’
Share this with