Law enforcement agents stand near the stage of a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Butler County emergency services personnel who responded after the attempted assassination of President-elect Donald Trump will march in his Inauguration Day parade later this month.
Nearly 7,500 people from 23 states including representatives of each branch of the armed forces will participate in the parade following Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance’s swearing in on Jan. 20, the Trump Vance Inauguration Committee announced.
The Butler County first responders will be at the front of the parade following a contingent of U.S. Army soldiers, according to the committee.
Trump suffered a minor injury when a gunman identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired several shots toward the stage where Trump was speaking at a rally at the Butler Farm Show Ground on July 13.
Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, who was at the rally with his family, was killed in the shooting and two others were injured. Crooks was killed by a police sniper.
Butler County first responders said in a statement released Monday by the inaugural committee that they did what they were trained to do everyday when they came to the aid of those injured in the shooting.
“We are forever changed by the devastating loss of our fellow first responder Corey Comperatore. We hope all Americans will pause today to remember the bravery and sacrifice of their own first responders and police, the expertise of their 911 dispatchers, and the skill of their local hospital emergency and medical staff and emergency management agencies.
“We are honored to be here to represent them all, and immensely proud to salute our fellow life-savers nationwide by marching together in the Inaugural Parade today,” Butler County first responders said in the statement.
Also set to appear in the parade from Pennsylvania is the Sherwood Groves Farm Belgian 6-horse hitch team from Tunkhannock, Wyoming County. The team received an award in 2024 from the Belgian Draft Horse Corp. of America, which supports breeders of draft horses for traditional farm and logging power, competition and pulling carriages in the tourism industry.