BUTLER — Once he realized what was going on, Beaver County Republican Rico Elmore was one of those who jumped into action Saturday night at the Butler Farm show field to help others in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump.
Invited to the local event as a speaker, Elmore, vice chairman of the Beaver County Republican Committee, was one of many from western Pennsylvania who had a chance to speak before Trump took the stage on July 13. He was the last speaker on the stage before Trump was introduced.
As the former president was speaking to the crowd, addressing slides on a screen nearby, Elmore was watching the presentation from a "VIP section" that included other candidates and lawmakers.
"Trump is speaking, and then you hear those shots ring out," he said. "We thought that the first shot was fireworks or something similar. It's like, 'Why is someone bringing the fireworks into this kind of venue? That's crazy.' And then we heard the other shots and I know it's shots being fired."
Serving as a technical sergeant for the Air National Guard, the sound was an immediate call to action for Elmore and others in his section to go into "military mode." The group of lawmakers and politicians immediately jumped into action, rushing to help people around the crowd and encourage them to get to safety.
As he was rushing to help the audience, Elmore also heard cries indicating somebody was hit by the gunfire.
"I made contact with someone who was yelling for a medic and they're saying that 'he's been hit.' I grabbed a water bottle, I yanked my tie off and I ran towards the guy who was hit," Elmore said. "I hopped over the barricade and I tried to perform life-saving techniques."
At this time, many of the cameras at the day's event were focused on the chaos around former President Trump, who could be seen bleeding from his ear as he was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents. As the federal agents assisted Trump off the stage, it became increasingly clear an assassination attempt had taken place, with federal agencies and local police working to secure the area.
Jumping the barrier, Elmore joined a doctor in their attempts to save the life of 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, of Sarver, Butler County. Reporters from USA Today have shared that Comperatore, who served as the former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, was believed to be shielding his family at the time he was shot.
"Corey, he was like stuck, sort of hunched over where he was shot," Elmore said. "We pulled him up, turned him over and started to perform CPR. I was holding his head where he was shot, trying to hold the blood and everything in so that we could save his life. We came to find out later that we were unsuccessful with that. He's the one who did pass away from the gunshot wound."
As additional medical personnel arrived, Elmore joined the efforts to help clear the area and ensure people got to safety. Elmore joined the groups of people helping the Comperatore family and others in need get to safety, reuniting them with family out of the danger zone.
"It was a traumatic and painful experience," Elmore said. "They could not walk, literally they were just falling. Me and the doctor put the mother's arms around us and we carried her out. We took kids out on our shoulders. We carried them out, we got people into safety and I just kept running back into the danger area to get people. There were soldiers and other people helping, it was just insane."
Later that day, federal agencies and the Pennsylvania State Police confirmed the shooter was 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park. The motives for the assassination attempt remained under investigation as of Tuesday morning, but federal investigators determined Crooks fired several rounds from what has been described as an "AR-15 style rifle."
In addition to injuring the former president's ear, Crooks is responsible for the death of Comperatore and severe gunshot wounds to 57-year-old David Dutch, of New Kensington, and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, of Moon Township. This mass shooting occurs as political tensions are high across the country, with the divisive atmosphere being a focal point of discussions following the incident.
"As a community, as a state, and as a nation, you never know when your time is up," Elmore said. "We cannot sit here and be separated because of political means, because of anger and animosity. We have to stand together as a unit, we're the United States of America. Every other country in this world that I've been to, they want to be like us and enjoy the freedoms that we have. Let's not allow that to vanish because of political divisiveness."
While the national lens is likely to stay focused on the law enforcement responses and the motives of the attempted assassination in the coming weeks, Pennsylvania communities have already shown an outpouring of support for the Comperatore family online and raised over $4 million via GoFundMe for the three victims' families.
"The honor that their father showed is unremarkable, a true American hero who put his life on the line for his family," Elmore said. "He was a volunteer firefighter, who spent his time saving people, and those instincts kicked in at a time of terror and disorganization. Find comfort in that he was a true hero."
As local communities continue to try and make sense of the tragedy at the farm show, Elmore doesn't want to be labeled as a hero for jumping in to help people who were in need at the event. Like many of the people from Southwestern Pennsylvania, he says he was simply being a good neighbor and helper.
"I am not a hero," Elmore said. "I did what was right, what I was trained to do. Corey and the doctor? Those are the true heroes of that day."
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