Trump rally shooting survivors turn attack into motivation year later: ‘go out there and live life'
James Copenhaver, David Dutch, and family members of the late Corey Comperatore still have many unanswered questions about July 13, 2024, the day that changed their lives forever.
"You missed Trump, but you got my big brother," Dawn Comperatore Schafer, Comperatore's sister, told Fox News Digital of gunman Thomas Crooks, who died when responding officers at the rally returned fire. "My brother was assassinated that day. Not Donald Trump, but Corey Comperatore was assassinated that day. You did not miss."
Comperatore, 50, was the former fire chief for the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, a husband, and a father to two daughters.
"He was so perfect that we called him Golden Boy," Comperatore's sister, Kelly Comperatore Meeder, said alongside Schafer, her sister, and their mother, Karen Schafer Bird.
WATCH: Corey Comperatore's mother, sisters still have questions year later
Comperatore enjoyed fishing alone or with his wife in the mornings, which his sisters described as his time with God, when "he devoted his morning to prayer." They also described him as the "ultimate girl dad," who took pride in dressing his daughters and attending their every event.
Since the assassination attempt on Trump that left the 50-year-old father dead, the Comperatore family has grappled with lingering and unanswered questions about what led to Comperatore's death that day.
It is negligence on a level that I've yet to see, and I'm an insurance agent.
"I know about negligence," Comperatore Schafer said. "There were so many morale hazards and moral hazards. I was looking at it and thinking to myself, 'my God.'"
Comperatore Meeder similarly asked why then-presidential candidate Trump was allowed to walk on stage that day.
"When they were saying that there's someone on the roof and he has a gun … why did they march President Trump out on that X? Why didn't they hold him?" she asked. "We know that there was inadequate security. That's a given … but why did they do that? Why did they think it was safe to walk him out on the X? They knew that the threats were there."
David Dutch, 58, and James Copenhaver, 75, have similar questions about the day that left them with life-altering injuries.
Dutch, a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Gulf War, was struck in the abdomen. Bullet fragments hit his liver and remain there to this day. Copenhaver, who served in the U.S. National Guard, was struck once in the arm and again in his colon. Both are still receiving treatment for physical and psychological trauma.
It felt like somebody hit me with a sledgehammer in my chest.
"When I felt my ribs all broke up, all I tried to do was get out of the line of fire because there was a lot of shrapnel just flying all over the bleachers," Dutch told Fox News Digital. "And I was yelling at the other people … telling them, 'Get down, get down.'"
Copenhaver inadvertently captured video footage of what appears to be Crooks walking over the roof of a nearby American Glass Research (AGR) building, which was technically not part of the official rally perimeter and was not manned by law enforcement at the time of the shooting.
The 74-year-old remembers turning his head to see a chart showing immigration-related statistics that had just appeared on a projection screen when he heard the first bullet zip by him. Trump has credited that same projection with saving his life because he, too, turned his head when the gunfire began, and he walked away from the rally with his life—and a nicked ear—as a result.
WATCH COPENHAVER'S POV:
"I turned around and I got a shot here in my left tricep, and then I turned around and there was another bullet that entered into my solar plexus area," Copenhaver said. "I like to jest a little bit and say that the bullet that grazed me here was the one that hit Trump in the ear because I thought I saw a little earwax on my arm."
"Obviously, it wasn't," he added. "I mean, it's just some of the dry humor that comes along from being in a traumatic situation."
Ironically, neither Copenhaver nor Dutch were assigned to the bleacher area where they were shot; Copenhaver was invited by personnel, and Dutch was initially told he was sitting in the wrong location when he and a friend asked for permission to sit in the bleachers.
"The only requirement, you got to be loud," Dutch recalled the official telling him. He and his friend responded: "We can do that."
Since the shooting, Copenhaver has not been able to lay on his stomach for a year, and he has trouble walking up and down stairs. His wife and son have dedicated much of their own time to helping him. Dutch can't do home maintenance work like he used to; even mowing the lawn takes days because he has to take frequent breaks.
The two men have been surrounded by conspiracy theories about the rally and why it happened; they even email each other some of the more wild takes they see on social media, but neither of them give much air to the theories. They are more focused on their recoveries, spending time with family, and living life after coming so close to death.
"I would like to spend more time with my grandchildren. And get to a point where if I want to throw a ball or something like that with them, I can," Copenhaver said.
He also wants to get back to riding his motorcycle, which he began riding in 1969, and he hasn't been back on his bike since being shot.
Dutch said he just wants to "get back to healthy."
I try to remind everybody, you never know when your time's gonna come.
"I try to remind everybody, you never know when your time's gonna come, so don't dwell in the past, and don't live your life just to go to work and come home and go to work and come home. It's too short. Go out there and live life. You never know when it's gonna end," he said.
The Independent Review Panel tasked with investigating the July 13 assassination attempt published its final report in October of last year, which found that the United States Secret Service (USSS) "has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved" and called for new leadership, training, and updated review processes.
The report also found that "[t]here were insufficient, and, in fact, no personnel from the Secret Service or other federal, state, or local law enforcement specifically tasked with securing the AGR building, the AGR roof, or its environs."
Certain lines of sight to Trump were unprotected, and the rally "was plagued by various communications issues which... inhibited the effective, timely dissemination of information about Crooks." The report further noted "ambiguity among personnel at the site regarding who had overall command of the site's security."
Prior to the shooting, a Beaver County sniper took a photo of the suspicious male near the AGR building and a photo of the shooter using a range finder pointing toward the stage, who was later identified as Crooks. The sniper reported that information to the Pennsylvania State Police. The FBI previously said this sighting occurred around 5:10 p.m. on July 13, one hour and one minute before Crooks began shooting.
Crooks began firing at 6:11 p.m.
Soon afterward, when it became clear that a threat was on the roof of the AGR building, an operator with Butler County ESU exited the red barn from behind the stage where Trump was speaking and monitored the AGR building area, Adams Township Police Department Sgt. Edward Lenz testified in September of last year.
The operator "quickly identified" where the shots were coming from, located the shooter, and fired one round at Crooks with his rifle, "which caused the shooter to recoil and briefly fall out of sight," the Adams Township officer testified.
"He did this less than six seconds after shots began… at a distance of approximately 110 yards," Lenz said.
A Secret Service counter sniper then fired the fatal shot that neutralized Crooks on the roof of the AGR building, where he was perched with a direct line of sight to Trump.
Witnesses largely suggested that the Secret Service's lack of direction given to local agencies ultimately led to the security failures that allowed 20-year-old Crooks to position himself on a nearby rooftop and fire at the former president. Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on July 23, 2024.
On the day of the rally, Crooks parked his vehicle and flew a drone between approximately 3:50 p.m. and 4 p.m. about 200 yards from where the former president would be speaking. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified during a July 17 congressional hearing that Crooks had been at the rally site for about 70 minutes the morning of the assassination attempt.
Investigators located eight casings on the roof where Crooks fired from.
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