NY flags fly at half-staff to honor firefighter Corey Comperatore killed at Trump rally

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on all New York State buildings in honor of the firefighter fatally wounded by a gunman at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania last weekend.

“Corey Comperatore was a father, a public servant, and a proud American whose life was taken in a senseless act of violence that shakes at the core of our democracy,” the governor said in a statement. “As we honor his memory, let us commit once more to the better angels of our nature, and to the collective freedoms we enjoy as a nation.”

Comperatore died last Saturday after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on Trump as he spoke onstage in Butler, Pa., in an apparent attempt to assassinate the former president.

The Republican candidate suffered an ear abrasion, while two other men were critically wounded. Comperatore died while shielding his family from the would-be assassin’s bullets, according to one of his two daughters.

A private funeral service was held for Comperatore on Friday inside the Cabot Methodist Church in western Pennsylvania. Hundreds gathered outside the church, where bagpipes and bugles played, according to The Associated Press.

Mourners fell silent as his flag-draped casket was loaded onto a fire truck adorned with a black bunting. More than 100 other vehicles from area fire departments reportedly escorted the fire truck to Freeport, where Comperatore was buried.

Trump honored Comperatore while accepting the Republican nomination for president at his party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wis., on Thursday night.

Earlier that day, thousands of mourners gathered in a Pennsylvania banquet hall to pay their respects to the former Army reservist and one-time chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department.

President Joe Biden denounced political violence in a televised primetime address Sunday. Comperatore’s family said they declined to speak with the Democratic leader when he reached out to offer his condolences.

Helen Comperatore, the victim’s widow, said on social media Tuesday that she’d spoken to Trump, who she described as “very kind.”

Biden is expected to challenge Trump for the presidency for the second time in November’s election, though prominent Democrats are calling for their party to choose a new nominee ahead of the Democratic National Convention scheduled for next month.

Biden has insisted he’ll stay in the race, saying earlier this week he’ll only consider dropping out if doctors tell him he’s unfit to serve, which he affirmed has not been the case.

The president continues to contend he will once again beat Trump. A FiveThirtyEight poll published Friday shows Trump holding a 3.2-point lead over Biden.