WIDOW’S SCORN: Wife of Slain Fire Chief Killed at Trump Rally Refused Call From Joe Biden
July 16 2024, Published 4:25 p.m. ET
The wife of the man killed by an assassin's bullet at a Donald Trump rally on Saturday refused a call from Joe Biden offering condolences.
Helen Comperatore, the widow of 50-year-old former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore, said: “I didn’t talk to Biden. I didn’t want to talk to him. My husband was a devout Republican and he would not have wanted me to talk to him,” RadarOnline.com can reveal.
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.”
Corey died protecting his wife and two daughters, Allyson and Kaylee, shielding them from a hail of gunfire with his own body when sniper Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop.
Helen praised his decisive actions in an interview with the New York Post: “He’s my hero. He just said, ‘Get down!’ That was the last thing he said ... Me and the kids were all there as a family. He was just excited. It was going to be a nice day with the family.”
The widow described her late husband as “a simple man” who “put his wife and kids first all the time."
She noted: "I did nothing here. I didn’t lift a finger. He did everything.”
A GoFundMe campaign for the Comperatore family set up by a neighbor and friend has already collected more than $1 million in donations, blowing past its initial goal of $7,000.
Helen said: “The donations that are coming in across the community and across the country, it’s more than I can even imagine. It’s more than I can fathom, but he deserves it all. He deserves everything.”
Two other men, David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, were critically injured in the shocking assassination attempt but are now in stable condition and expected to recover. A separate GoFundMe for all the victims’ families has raised nearly $5 million.
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As support for the family has poured in from across the nation, Corey has been hailed as a hero by politicians on both sides of the aisle.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who directed flags to be flown at half-mast in his honor on Sunday, said: “Corey was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. Most especially, Corey loved his family.”
Although Helen said on Monday that she hadn't heard anything or received any calls from Trump, NBC News reports that the former president has since reached out and spoken to a member of the family.