O funeral it’s over. The crowd left. Now begins the hard work of mourning for the family of a former fire chief who was shot and killed during the assassination attempt on the former president donald trump.
Corey Comperatore’s sister, Dawn Comperatore Schafer, is furious about scammers trying to fraudulently collect money in her name.
Mostly, though, she’s devastated. She’s still trying to understand how it all happened. She said the family went through the funeral with the love and support of thousands of people. “They kept us standing,” she said.
But, she added, it doesn’t stop after that. “The result is just that. You feel the loss,” she explained.
“We hope that in the coming weeks we can really understand all of this. We’re trying to get out of the noise. And this is very difficult to do, as you can imagine. But that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to get out of the noise.”
The noise has been constant for the Compatore family since the moment a bullet aimed at Trump killed his 50-year-old little brother, who was a spectator at the event. July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Authorities said he spent his last moments protecting his wife and daughter from the shooting that left two other people seriously injured. Trump said a bullet hit his right ear. Ultimately, a Secret Service counter-sniper killed the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, aged 20.
“He was there,” she said of her brother, “because he loved this country. He wanted his country and people’s lives to improve.”
Since his death, investigators and broadcasters have pondered the political effect of the assassination attempt that took his brother’s life. Everything seems wrong for Schafer.
“It’s not political,” she said. “And we don’t want to make it political.”
The failures and miscommunications in law enforcement that gave Bandits its inauguration was the subject of ongoing hearings. She doesn’t want to talk about it.
“I can tell you we are watching closely,” she said. “Of course we are. But no, I don’t want to talk about the law. People can watch the hearings.”
But for now, his immediate concern is focused on online scammers trying to make money off his brother’s death.
“Our real concern now is the fraud that is happening,” she said.
These fraudsters are creating accounts, pretending to be related to her brother and seeking personal donations. She said the family has taken to social media to explain that they are not asking for money in their own name. If supporters want to donate, they should donate to local firefighters, Schafer said, explaining that’s what her brother would have wanted.
Corey Comperatore, design and tooling engineer, spent many years as a volunteer firefighter after serving as chief.
“Please don’t fall for it,” she said. “All these good-hearted people who cry with us and for us. We don’t know their financial situation. But we know that many of them have given away what little they have. So it’s very disheartening that someone would try to take advantage of a situation like this.”
For the most part, she said, people have been “absolutely beautiful” and that brings them comfort.
“At the end of the day, we are all children of God,” she said. “We all have families. We are all loved by our families. As much as we are grieving and devastated, we see a lot of light from good people.”
In the days following Comperatore’s death, he was remembered as a loving husband and father, the first to run into burning buildings or mow a sick neighbor’s lawn. Schafer said he loved his “quiet life,” his two Dobermans, but most of all his family.
“I don’t have to praise him, nor would he want me to. Everyone who knows him knows who he is,” she said, before correcting herself. “I’m sorry. Who was he. I mean, what do you want me to say? Everything people say is true. It’s true.”
