Trump Returns To Butler, Honors Firefighter Who ‘Gave His Life’ To Save Others

Former President Donald Trump arrived in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, marking his first return to the site where he was nearly assassinated.

Trump nearly lost his life after a gunman opened fire on him and a crowd at a July rally in Butler. The former president returned to the location for a campaign event where he honored the life of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter and father of two who was killed during the assassination attempt, declaring him a “hero” and holding a memorial for him during the rally.

“Corey was … a protector who put his life on the line and loved doing it,” Trump said at the rally. “And when the gunshots pierced their ears on that July evening … Corey leaped into the fire one more time, in his last seconds, he didn’t want [his family] hurt, he knew what was happening … and he gave his life to save their lives,” Trump said, recalling Comperatore’s attempt to shield his family from the gunman’s bullets.

“[The gunman] did not stop our movement, he did not break out our spirit, he did not shake our unyielding resolve to save America from evils of poverty and destruction,” Trump said.

Helen Comperatore, the widow of Corey, was present at the rally on Saturday at Trump’s invitation. Speaking to The New York Times, Helen recalled the moment the gunman began firing on Trump, the crowd and her husband’s attempt to protect their family.

“To go back up to that site where my husband was killed and open wounds that we’re trying to close — my kids haven’t even started to go back to work yet, and I was afraid it’d take them backwards,” Helen told the Times. “[But] we decided this was something we needed to do. We needed to go and honor Corey.”