Retired firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50 years old, was the bystander who lost his life in the shooting of Donald Trump – after throwing himself in front of his family.
“Yesterday time stopped,” his daughter writes in a Facebook post about the incident.
“Corey died a hero”.
That’s what Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said about Corey Comperatore’s death during a press conference on Sunday.
He was the bystander who was hit during the second-long shooting at Donald Trump during the election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where two others are said to have been seriously injured.
Supposed to have thrown himself in front of his family
According to the man’s sister, retired firefighter Corey Comperatore just turned 50 and was a beloved father, who is now mourned by a large family.
“It feels like a terrible nightmare but we know it is our painful reality,” she writes on Facebook.
The man’s daughter, who together with her mother and sister should also have been present during the speech, has also expressed her feelings after the incident in a post on Facebook.
“He was the best father a girl could ever wish for,” she writes, describing how her father allegedly threw himself in front of his family when the shots rang out.
“He really loved us enough to take a real bullet for us,” the daughter continues in the post.
Witness tried to save the man
Another audience member, Rico Elmore, told the Washington Post that he tried to save the life of one of those hit, but that it was too late.
– It was a serious injury, he tells the newspaper.
In pictures and videos from the incident, bloodstains can be seen on the stand behind Donald Trump, and while Secret Service personnel rushed towards the presidential candidate, audience members ran to the injured.
The motive for the shooting is still unknown, but is being investigated by the FBI. And the suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead shortly after the incident.