Helen Comperatore said she believes the gunman who killed her husband during the 2024 Butler rally received help from someone inside the government, while federal investigators have reported finding no evidence of accomplices.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The widow of Corey Comperatore, the volunteer firefighter killed while protecting his family during the 2024 assassination attempt against President Donald Trump, is publicly challenging the conclusion that the gunman acted alone and calling for additional answers about the attack.
In an interview with NewsNation, Helen Comperatore said she believes Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old identified by authorities as the shooter, had assistance.
“I believe he was working with somebody,” she said. “I believe it was an inside job – inside the government somewhere.”
Comperatore did not claim that a second gunman participated in the attack. Her statements instead reflected her belief that Crooks received help or support from another person connected to the government.
A social media post featuring her comments circulated as renewed attention focused on the July 13, 2024, shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Corey Comperatore, 50, was attending Trump’s campaign rally with his family when Crooks opened fire from a rooftop approximately 400 feet from the stage.
Comperatore was fatally wounded while shielding his wife and daughter. Trump was struck in the ear, and two other spectators were injured.
The attack has remained the subject of congressional oversight and public criticism because of documented security failures surrounding the rally site.
Helen Comperatore directed a personal appeal to Trump during the interview, asking the president not to forget her family or the unanswered questions surrounding her husband’s death.
“Don’t forget us and remember what we went through that day,” she said. “We’re still here, and we need answers.”
Federal investigations have continued to describe Crooks as a lone actor. The FBI examined the shooting as an attempted assassination and a possible act of domestic terrorism, but searches of Crooks’ home and electronic devices, along with witness interviews, produced no clear motive or evidence that he had accomplices.
Despite the absence of identified co-conspirators, separate investigations have documented extensive failures involving the U.S. Secret Service and coordination with local law enforcement.
Congressional reviews and inspector general findings available as of mid-2026 have described shortcomings that investigators concluded could have been prevented.
A recent Office of Inspector General report on the security breakdown found that the Secret Service missed more than 100 radio transmissions from local law enforcement concerning a suspicious person believed to have been Crooks.
Local officers had reportedly observed the individual with a rangefinder and rifle before the shooting.
The report found that agents failed to properly relay critical warnings, establish effective joint communications with local authorities and secure the rooftop from which Crooks later fired.
Those failures have fueled continuing questions about how an armed individual was able to reach an elevated position with a direct line of sight to Trump while law enforcement personnel were already attempting to locate him.
Helen Comperatore’s allegation that the attack involved government insiders has not been substantiated by the federal findings described in the available material.
Her comments nevertheless reflect the frustration of a family that lost a husband and father during an event marked by major security lapses and unanswered questions about the gunman’s motive.
Two years after the attack, federal authorities have not publicly identified anyone who assisted Crooks or established why he targeted Trump’s rally.
The official lone-gunman conclusion therefore remains in place, even as findings about missed warnings, failed communications and an unsecured rooftop continue to drive scrutiny of the agencies responsible for protecting the event.
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