Here’s how I learned that someone tried to kill Donald Trump.
Our number-two daughter and granddaughter were visiting over the weekend. We were talking about something entirely different when our number-two daughter looked at her smartphone— one of those things that connects whoever’s holding it to humanity’s social media and information services.
She said something like ‘oh! someone shot Trump’, and we went on with our conversation.
That was late Saturday. By Sunday evening, our son-in-law had finished business in southern Minnesota, spent a few hours with us, and set off with number-two-daughter and our granddaughter to their home in North Dakota.
Don’t get me wrong: I care about what happens in my country, and think that taking potshots at presidential candidates — or presidents — is a very bad idea. But I’m not obsessively focused on politics or politicos.
Remembering a Hero
I figure that what Wikipedia started calling “Attempted assassination of Donald Trump” will be in the news for at least most of this week.
Some news that I’ve seen so far has focused on a probably-mixed-up kid who winged Mr. Trump: and was promptly killed. By then, he’d wounded at least a couple other folks, and killed Corey Comperatore.
Other news pieces opined on the political angle of Saturday’s incident.
I’m not going to do either. Not today, at any rate.
Instead, I’ll share — I wouldn’t call it good news.
But seeing a little attention paid to someone who hadn’t been attacking a politician? That’s a nice change of pace.
Seems that Corey Comperatore was a project and tooling engineer. He had either been or maybe still was a volunteer firefighter. And he’d been the former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company.1
So much for my culture’s conventional summary of who someone is. Or, in this case, was. From where I’m standing, Corey Comperatore was also a husband and father who died while protecting his family.
And that has been mentioned.
“Witness at Trump rally describes seeing the person who died being shot in head”
Dasha Burns, Rebecca Cohen; NBC News (July 13, 2024; updated July 14, 2024)“…State police and a SWAT team then began evacuating everyone in the bleachers. Joseph said that he helped officials carry the dead man off of the bleachers to a tent nearby and that officials put a towel over his head before they carried him off….
“…He said the man was facing Trump at the very far left part of the bleachers….
“…Joseph, an OB-GYN, said that he told police he could help render assistance but that police said they did not need him, so he helped with the man who was killed.
“He said that the man’s family was in the bleachers with him and that they were in shock and didn’t know what was going on. About five family members were there, two of whom were ‘hysterical,’ Joseph said. The family was taken to the tent with their deceased relative.…”
[emphasis mine]
This Joseph deserves mention, too. He was there, helping a family deal with sudden death. I figure that’s a corporal act of mercy: which is Catholic-speak for giving practical help. Not that lending a hand with the body of a family member will make everything better.
Now, back to Corey Comperatore:
“Volunteer fire chief died after diving to protect his family”
BBC News (July 14, 2024, 17:30)“[Pennsylvania Governor Josh] Shapiro says he has been speaking to the families of the two people who were shot and are still being treated.
“He then goes onto [!] pay tribute to volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, who he says was killed last night and ‘dived on his family’ to protect them.…”
“Man killed at Trump rally was former fire chief in Butler County who was protecting family”
Laura Esposito, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (July 14, 2024)“…Mr. Shapiro said early Sunday afternoon that he’d spoken with Mr. Comperatore’s wife and daughters.
“‘Corey was a girl-dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday,’ the governor said, noting that he’d sought permission from Helen Comperatore to share their conversation. ‘He was so excited last night to be there with [Trump] and the community.’
“He said Ms. Comperatore wanted everyone to know that her husband died a hero. ‘Corey dove on his family to protect them last night at this rally,’ he said.…”
[emphasis mine]
And, finally, good for Pennsylvania’s governor, who apparently got the okay from the widow before saying good things about her husband.
Family, Country, and Priorities
Again, I care about what happens in my country. I think the election looming this November matters, and so does the national convention happening this week.2 But I don’t think it’s all that matters.
As the “original cell of social life”, family matters. But it shouldn’t be at the top of my priorities. That’s where God belongs. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2113, 2207)
On the other hand, I think Corey Comperatore did the right thing, protecting his family.
I regret, very much, that he died while doing so. Human life, all human life, is precious. And that’s another topic:
- “‘Dignitas Infinita’, ‘Infinite Dignity’: a Very Quick Look”
(April 13, 2024) - “Capital Punishment: It Could be Worse”
(February 3, 2024) - “Hamas, Harvard, Ukraine and Alaska Air: Looking for a Bright Side”
(October 28, 2023) - “Election-Year Weirdness: An American Tradition”
(October 21, 2020) - “Death Came to Dayton”
(August 6, 2019)
1 Saturday’s incident feels close to home. Maybe that’s because Butler, Pennsylvania, is about the size of the nearest big town:
- Wikipedia
- Alexandria, Minnesota (very roughly the size of Butler, Pennsylvania, and about a half-hour down the road)
- Attempted assassination of Donald Trump
- Butler, Pennsylvania (population about 13,000)
- Sauk Centre, Minnesota (population about 4,500, and my home since the 1980s.)
2 Important, yes; all-important, no:
- Wikipedia
