The man who was slain at a rally held by former President Donald Trump was identified by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Sunday as Corey Comperatore.
In a news conference, the governor said that Mr. Comperatore was shot as he “dove on his family to protect them last night at this rally,” Mr. Shapiro said during the press conference, citing what the victim’s wife told his office. The governor said that Mr. Comperatore “was the very best of us” and added that he hopes “his memory is a blessing.”
The former president and law enforcement officials said that a bullet pierced his ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night. His campaign confirmed that he is fine.
The FBI special agent for Pittsburgh, Kevin P. Rojek, said Saturday that two other people were shot in what he describe as an assassination attempt targeting the 45th president. The shooting suspect was identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who was killed by U.S. Secret Service agents.
“Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community, and most especially Corey loves his family. Corey was an avid supporter of the former president and was so excited to be there last night with him in the community,” the governor said.
Earlier in the day, a person who identified herself as the sister of Mr. Comperatore wrote on social media that the victim “was a hero that shielded his daughters,” adding that his family “just lived through the unthinkable and unimaginable.”
Also in Sunday’s news conference, Mr. Shapiro said that “political disagreements can never, ever be addressed through violence ... we need to use a peaceful political process to settle those differences responsibly to speak and act with moral clarity.”
He urged others “to take down the temperature and rise above the hateful rhetoric,” adding that while Democrats and Republicans may disagree with one another, “above all else we are Americans.”
“We have to address those divisions through engagement and the civil process,” the governor added.
A similar refrain was offered by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who told NBC News on Sunday that “we’re all Americans and we have to treat one another with dignity and respect.”
“We can have heated political discourse and debates, but it shouldn’t be personal, and we shouldn’t be targeting people,” the house speaker added.
The attack was the first shooting of a U.S. president or major presidential party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan. It will roil the presidential campaign less than four months before the presidential election, and it may alter the security situation around the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday in Milwaukee.
Organizers, including Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, said the convention would proceed as planned.
The former president, who confirmed Sunday that he will attend the convention, called for unity after the assassination attempt while thanking people for their “thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
“We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness,” he wrote on Truth Social, adding that his ”love goes out to the other victims and their families” and for the recovery of those who were injured.
Responding to the victim’s death, he called on Americans to “hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed,” according to his post.
As for President Joe Biden, who is running against former President Trump, he confirmed he was briefed on the attack and spoke to the former president hours after the shooting. The president is scheduled to hold a news conference later Sunday.
“There’s no place in America for this type of violence,” the president told reporters in Delaware. “It’s sick. It’s sick.”
