Christian father who died in the assassination attempt against Trump was the best of us

The 50-year-old husband and father, who died Saturday during the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, was a devout Christian and “the best of us,” according to his family and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Corey Comperatore “went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. But most especially, Corey loved his family,” Shapiro noted in a press conference on Sunday, July 14.

Addressing reporters in north Pittsburgh, the Democratic governor said he had spoken with the wife and two daughters of Comperatore, “a father dedicated to his girls,” who worked as a firefighter.

“I asked Corey’s wife if she was okay with me sharing what we talked about and she said yes,” Shapiro continued. “She also asked me to tell you that Corey died like a hero, that Corey threw himself at his family to protect them last night at that rally. Corey was the best of us and the memory of him is a blessing.”

Comperatore was also “an enthusiastic supporter of the former president and was very excited to be there with him last night in the community,” the governor added.

Flags will fly at half-staff in the state following the tragedy, Shapiro reported.

Comperatore was chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department. That town is about a 30-minute drive northeast of Pittsburgh.

Comperatore’s LinkedIn and Facebook profiles note that he was a project and tools engineer at JSP, a manufacturing company.

The Saturday before the shooting, Comperatore’s wife Helen posted on Facebook that the family was not originally going to be sitting in the stands behind the former president. It wasn’t until a campaign member approached the family and asked if they wanted to sit there that they were finally relocated to that spot.

Dawn Comperatore Schafer, who identified herself as Corey’s sister, said on Facebook Sunday that the firefighter “was a hero who protected his daughters. His wife and daughters have just experienced the unthinkable and unimaginable. My little brother just turned 50 and he had a lot of life left to experience.

“Hatred towards a man ended the life of the man we loved most,” he said. “Hate has no limits and love has no borders. “Pray for my sister-in-law, my nieces, my mother, my sister, myself and his nieces and nephews, as this seems like a horrible nightmare, but our painful reality,” she added.

Allyson, one of Corey Comperatore’s daughters, posted on Facebook that what happened is “a real life nightmare.”

“What was supposed to be an exciting day that we had all been looking forward to (ESPECIALLY my dad), turned into the most traumatic experience you can imagine,” Corey’s daughter wrote.

Allyson also commented that her dad was “the best father a young woman could ask for” and that “he was a man of God, he loved Jesus very much, he also cared for our church and its members as a family.”

“The media is not going to tell you that he died like a real-life superhero. They are not going to tell you how quickly he threw my mom and me to the ground,” he added.

“They’re not going to tell you that he protected my body from the bullet that was coming toward us. He loved his family. He really loved us enough to take a real bullet for us. And I want nothing more than to mourn him and thank him. No “I want nothing more than to wake up and for this not to be a reality for me and my family,” he highlighted.

A fundraising campaign in GoFundMe has so far raised more than $940,000 for the Comperatore family.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA