By Kevin Manahan
nj.com
SARVER, Pa. — President Joe Biden tried to call the family of the man who was killed by a would-be presidential assassin’s bullets at a rally for former president Donald Trump, but the wife of the Pennsylvania man won’t take the call of compassion from the nation’s leader.
“I didn’t talk to Biden. I didn’t want to talk to him,” Helen Comperatore told the New York Post. “My husband was a devout Republican and he would not have wanted me to talk to him.”
She added: “I don’t have any ill-will towards Joe Biden. I’m not one of those people that gets involved in politics. I support Trump, that’s who I’m voting for but I don’t have ill-will towards Biden.
“He didn’t do anything to my husband. A 20-year-old despicable kid did.”
She said Trump has not called.
Corey D. Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pa., raised two daughters with his high school sweetheart while working as a project and tooling engineer. He also spent a decade as an Army reservist and many years as a volunteer firefighter, where he also served for a time as chief, according to his obituary.
A GoFundMe had raised more than $4.7 million as of Tuesday morning. The top donor is identified as billionaire and Trump supporter Elon Musk, who gave $50,000.
“His courage was not the loud and boisterous kind. It was the courage of quiet resilience,” the tribute said. “Corey’s legacy is not just in the major milestones he achieved but in the small acts of kindness that marked his everyday life.”
Comperatore died Saturday during an attempt to kill Trump by Thomas Matthew Crooks at the rally in Butler, which left the former president bloodied from an injury to his ear. Comperatore spent his final moments shielding his family from gunfire before he was killed, Gov. Josh Shapiro said.
“He’s my hero,” Helen Comperatore said on Monday. “He just said, ‘Get down!’ That was the last thing he said.”
Two other bystanders injured in the attack remained hospitalized Monday in critical but stable condition, according to an Allegheny General Hospital spokesperson. David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, is an ex-Marine who has spent decades working as a machinist with Siemens USA. James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, had retired after managing a Pennsylvania state liquor store.
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