CABOT, Pa. — One by one on Friday morning, people began to gather along the winding roads and cornfields to plant American flags, spread out their blankets and wait for the fire trucks.
They knew the nation was watching, after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump thrust their corner of western Pennsylvania into the spotlight. But the day was about honoring a local man: Corey Comperatore, the volunteer firefighter and father of two killed in the gunfire Saturday.
In a country still shaken by the assassination attempt, Comperatore has become a focus of grief and admiration, especially after officials and his relatives described how he shielded his family as shots rang out at Trump’s rally.
Makeshift tributes and memorials have popped up across the small communities here. A large electronic billboard above a road in nearby Freeport displayed a photo of Comperatore. Next to his photo was a phrase that has been uttered by the governor and residents across Pennsylvania: “A Real Hero.”
Comperatore’s life revolved around this pocket of Pennsylvania. He grew up in Sarver and still lived there with his high school sweetheart and two daughters. He graduated from high school in nearby Freeport and was a longtime member of a Methodist congregation in Cabot Church. And it was where, a month earlier, he had celebrated his 50th birthday.
On Friday, a fire truck draped in black bunting brought Comperatore’s coffin, wrapped in an American flag, to Cabot Church for a private service. A sign outside the church read, “Our hearts are broken for the Comperatores.”
Dozens of law enforcement officers were on hand Friday, as they had been during previous vigils and a public visitation Thursday at a banquet hall in Freeport. On Friday, similar to the banquet hall, snipers could be seen stationed on the roof of the building.
But police officers and firefighters from across the region also joined to honor Comperatore’s service to his community, even as they, too, grappled with the toll of political violence.
Just before 12:45 p.m., bagpipes signaled the end of the service. There was a gun salute before the coffin was brought back onto a fire truck, which joined hundreds of other emergency vehicles for the procession. Some had traveled from as far away as Florida and Texas.
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