Secret Service has "blood on their hands" after Trump rally shooting, Corey Comperatore's sister says
The family of Corey Comperatore, the man shot and killed at the Donald Trump rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, nearly a year ago, is condemning the Secret Service's response as insufficient after it announced it suspended six people without pay or benefits.
Corey Comperatore's sister Kelly Comperatore Meeder says her family is "furious" at what they see as a lack of answers or accountability for the failures that enabled the attempted assassination to occur on July 13, 2024.
"How does something like this happen and nobody is fired? Ten days to 42 days of suspension and they returned to their jobs. They returned to their jobs on restricted duty or limited duty. What does that mean?" Comperatore Meeder said.
Six Secret Service personnel, four of whom are from the Pittsburgh office, were suspended without pay as the agency faced intense scrutiny following the shooting at then-candidate Donald Trump's campaign rally.
"They have my brother's blood on their hands and they are able to return to work and go back to living their lives. It's not fair. It isn't fair. Our family is furious," said Comperatore Meeder.
Former fire chief, husband and father Corey Comperatore was shot in the head and killed while shielding his family from the shots fired by Thomas Crooks at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds. He was 50. Rally-goers Jim Copenhaver and David Dutch were shot but survived.
Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn told CBS News six agents were suspended for varying lengths of 10 to 42 days, without pay or benefits.
"Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler. Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again," Quinn said.
But to Comperatore's family, it's not enough.
"If suspending six people and us finding this out now is their idea of accountability, it is not. It is not. We need names," Comperatore Meeder said.
She wants information about who decided to put the AGR Building, from where Thomas Crooks fired eight shots, outside the secured perimeter. She wants to know what happened with the walkie talkies that the Butler Emergency Services Unit said they made available for the Secret Service but which were reportedly never used by its agents. And she has questions about what was communicated from that command post when law enforcement lost sight of Crooks.
"Why have we heard nothing up until this point? Nothing. I feel like we are not being told the whole truth," she said.
"I'm fired up. I'm fired up. I want people to pay," she added.
Comperatore Meeder says no one from the federal government has reached out to her or any of her family a year later.
"My mother buried a son and nobody has contacted us?" she said.
"We did get two calls from the Trump administration, from President Trump himself right after the shooting, but since everything has transpired, we have been kept completely out of the loop," she said.
She believes President Trump could help get those answers.
"He almost died that day too. You would think there would be some kind of urgency, right? You would think there would be urgency, that he would be putting the heat on some people in the administration to get to the bottom of this. Give this family some answers," she said.
"My mom is afraid — she is 78 years old — she is afraid she is going to die before she knows who is responsible for killing her little boy," she added.
The Secret Service's field office in Pittsburgh has borne the brunt of the suspensions. Four of the six are from Pittsburgh, including the head of the field office and the second in command. Like any federal employee, they can appeal their suspensions.
Meanwhile, attorney Joe Feldman, who represents Comperatore Meeder as well as survivors David Dutch and Jim Copenhaver said while he is relieved that the Secret Service issued suspensions, he's saddened that it took so long for the agency to act.
Feldman's statement said: "Although we are relieved that the Secret Service has issued suspensions in relation to the gross breakdown in security at the July 13, 2024 Butler Rally, we are deeply saddened with the delay in the Secret Service's decision. We are hoping that the Secret Service can provide us with additional details as to the individuals on suspension and their role in the breakdown in security. We are concerned that the punishment does not fit the negligence. The families impacted by this event want real answers and deserve real answers. These are human beings and American citizens. We should take care of our people."
In a press release sent to CBS News Pittsburgh, the Secret Service said on Thursday that as it nears the one year mark of the attempted assassination, it has taken a serious look at its operations over the past year, and of the 46 recommendations made by congressional oversight committees, 21 have been implemented, 16 are in progress and nine are addressed to non-Secret Service stakeholders.
