The widow of a Buffalo Township firefighter killed at President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Butler County over the summer plans to be in Washington for inauguration-related events.
“It’s an honor to be invited. I am always so honored when the president invites us to spend time with him, and this is so very special — they are honoring my husband, the man I have loved for 34 years,” Helen Comperatore said in a statement to TribLive.
Her husband, Corey Comperatore, 50, was fatally shot at Trump’s July 13 campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds.
Trump was shot but not seriously injured in the assassination attempt, while two other men, James Copenhaver of Moon Township and David Dutch of Penn Hills, were critically injured but survived. Authorities shot and killed the gunman.
To honor Corey Comperatore, his wife said, “They created a box for his helmet and I wrote a plaque for it. (Buffalo Township fire) Chief Kip Johnston will be carrying that.” She said another fellow firefighter, Tyler Hill, was expected to carry Corey Comperatore’s fire jacket.
Comperatore said she is scheduled to meet Trump while she’s in Washington.
“We are having a candlelight dinner with him,” she said. “He always includes our family in everything. I am very nervous and anxious. I still struggle with crowds. I’m working on that in therapy.
“But nothing would keep me from watching them honor Butler and my husband.”