Two years ago, Helen Comperatore watched the life leave her husband Corey's eyes the moment a bullet found him.
The FBI is sitting on 75,000 pages about what happened in Butler – and releasing only a few hundred per month.
On the anniversary, Helen said she is certain the shooting was a conspiracy – and she wants the people behind it to pay.
What Helen Comperatore Saw at the Butler Shooting the Moment Her Husband Was Killed
The moment shots broke across during the July 2024 Trump rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds, Corey moved Helen out of the line of fire, then turned and put his body over his oldest daughter, Allyson.
Helen grabbed his shirt from below.
"I was looking right into his eyes, and that's when he got shot," she told The Epoch Times on the two-year anniversary. "I saw the life go right out of him."
She reveals this detail publicly for the first time.
One round passed close enough to her face to leave heat on her cheek.
Both daughters survived. Corey did not.
In the weeks that followed, Helen wrestled with why God let her witness that moment.
"He probably had no idea what happened," she said. "And I'm so grateful for that."
Trump called her a few days after the shooting, wanting to hear directly what kind of man Corey was.
She told him about a born-again Christian and community servant who had spent years as a volunteer fire chief, served his country in uniform, and loved his family above everything.
When Trump's friend Dan Newlin offered the family $1 million, Helen turned it down. "No money in the world will ever replace Corey," she said.
Trump showed her something in private that the cameras never see. "Behind the scenes, he's such a sweet man," she said. "He's so kind."
The family attended all four days of inauguration events in January 2025. Trump recognized them at a joint session of Congress in March 2025, calling Corey "a firefighter, a veteran, a Christian, a husband, a devoted father, and above all a protector."
That recognition matters to Helen – and none of it answers the questions that keep her up at night.
The FBI Is Sitting on 75000 Pages About the Trump Assassination Attempt and Releasing Almost None of Them
Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch has spent two years dragging answers out of the FBI one lawsuit at a time.
The FBI confirmed it holds approximately 75,000 pages of records related to the Butler shooting. At its current rate of a few hundred pages per month, Fitton calculates the full file won't see daylight for more than 20 years.
"The FBI needs to err on the side of transparency, and they're not doing that," Fitton told The Epoch Times. "Unnecessary secrecy feeds conspiracy theories."
What Judicial Watch has forced out so far is alarming. Records released in April 2026 showed Thomas Crooks had been in an altercation with rally attendees and was overheard making hateful comments about Trump minutes before the shooting – conduct that should have drawn Secret Service attention and didn't.
In June 2026, additional records revealed that a SWAT officer recovered a gray remote device with an antenna from Crooks' pocket after he was killed, along with a cell phone. A Butler County sheriff's deputy had also exchanged emails with Crooks before the shooting.
Every disclosure arrived redacted beyond reason. The names of witnesses who saw vehicles flee the scene after the shooting were blacked out entirely.
Helen has no doubt Crooks pulled the trigger – and no doubt he had help.
"I want to know who in Butler was involved in this conspiracy," she said. "I just feel that there are people here that may have conspired." She has heard things she cannot yet reveal, but says her conviction is settled: "I feel like I already know a couple guilty people. I just want these people to pay."
Fitton points to a specific institutional problem: the shooting happened on Biden's watch, Biden's government failed to protect Trump, and the career employees running the investigation at the time have every reason to keep the full picture buried.
That dynamic does not simply disappear because a new administration took over. It calcifies.
The two survivors who were shot alongside Corey – David Dutch and James Copenhaver – filed federal lawsuits against the government in 2026 over its negligent security. Those cases will force more into the open.
Helen met with the Secret Service last summer in a session governed by a nondisclosure agreement. The agency answered most of her questions the same way: "We just don't know." Secret Service Director Sean Curran reached out again in late June to schedule a second meeting.
Two years in, the widow of a man who died shielding his daughters is still waiting for the government to tell her why it failed to stop the man who killed him.
On July 25, she will be back in Butler for Corey's Cruise – a charity motorcycle ride and car show at the Big Butler Fairgrounds supporting churches, first responders, and Doberman rescues.
The FBI will still have roughly tens of thousands of pages left to release.
Helen Comperatore knows who she thinks helped plan the murder of her husband. At 300 pages a month, the bureaucrats in Washington are counting on her running out of time before they run out of excuses.
Sources:
- Janice Hisle, "2 Years After Trump Rally Shooting, Slain Hero's Widow Still Seeks Answers," The Epoch Times, July 13, 2026.
- Tom Fitton, "Case Closed? Judicial Watch Investigates Butler Assassination Attempt," Judicial Watch, July 2026.
- Judicial Watch, "FBI Records Reveal Altercation at Trump Rally Site before Shooting," Judicial Watch, May 2026.
- Judicial Watch, "FBI Records Reveal Witness Account that SWAT Officer Recovered 'Remote Device' from Butler Shooter's Pocket," Judicial Watch, June 2026.
- Pennsylvania State Police, "Pennsylvania State Police Identify Victims Shot During Attempted Assassination of Former President Trump," Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, July 14, 2024.