A small town gives a solemn farewell to man killed at Trump rally

CABOT, Pa. — One by one on Friday morning, people began to gather along the winding roads and cornfields to plant American flags, spread out their blankets and wait for the fire trucks.

They knew the nation was watching, after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump thrust their corner of western Pennsylvania into the spotlight. But the day was about honoring a local man: Corey Comperatore, the volunteer firefighter and father of two killed in the gunfire Saturday.

“You couldn’t comprehend that happened,” said Michael Drane, 66, who stood across the street from the funeral service to pay tribute to a man he had only known as a familiar face in the neighborhood. He blinked back tears as he recalled the violence Saturday. “Not here. Not home.”

In a country still shaken by the assassination attempt, Comperatore has become a focus of grief and admiration, especially after officials and his relatives described how he shielded his family as shots rang out at Trump’s rally.

“This support that is poured out from all over the world is unprecedented for those of us in this region, but it’s fitting for Corey,” the Rev. Jonathan Fehl, the lead pastor at the church where Comperatore was a longtime member, said at a vigil Wednesday, where the crowd lit prayer candles, turned on phone flashlights and cracked glow stick necklaces.

“It’s a shame that the rest of the world had to learn it this way,” Fehl said of Comperatore’s generosity and deep Christian faith. “You’ve heard about who he is. You’ve heard about the man, his character. You’ve heard about his compassion, his love for his family.”

Makeshift tributes and memorials have popped up across the small communities here. A large electronic billboard above a road in nearby Freeport displayed a photo of Comperatore. Next to his photo was a phrase that has been uttered by the governor and residents across Pennsylvania: “A Real Hero.”

Trump, during his speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, lauded Comperatore, saying that he had “lost his life selflessly.” Comperatore’s firefighter uniform was displayed onstage near Trump as he spoke. At one point, the former president kissed the helmet and asked the crowd to observe a moment of silence for “our friend, Corey.”

The name on the jacket, notably, was misspelled and missing an “A.” It was because his name was too long for the jacket, said Melissa Stivers, adding that Comperatore was her nephew’s godfather.

“His firefighter buddies would joke that he had lost his “A” game,” Stivers said, seated in her pickup truck before the funeral procession. “It was a running joke, and he never sent it back to get it fixed.”

It served as a symbol of how Comperatore’s life revolved around this pocket of Pennsylvania. He grew up in Sarver and still lived there with his high school sweetheart and two daughters.

He graduated from high school in nearby Freeport and was a longtime member of a Methodist congregation in Cabot Church. And it was where, a month earlier, he had celebrated his 50th birthday.

On Friday, a fire truck draped in black bunting brought Comperatore’s coffin, wrapped in an American flag, to Cabot Church for a private service. Nearby, a gentle breeze blew against a giant American flag hanging from the ladder of a fire truck parked next to the church.

A sign outside the church read, “Our hearts are broken for the Comperatores.”

On Winfield Road, where acres of wheat and soybean fields stretched across backyards, Lisa Gray and her two children were decorating their porch with red, white and blue wreaths to honor their neighbor who had lived down the street.

“He was always so friendly and would wave at us with his two big dogs,” Gray said. She gently reassured her daughter, who twiddled with a strand of wheat, that what happened at the Trump rally would not happen again in future visits to the same venue for barn shows.

Dozens of law enforcement officers were on hand Friday, as they had been during previous vigils and a public visitation Thursday at a banquet hall in Freeport.

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