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Tag: political assassination

  • We need calm, compelling voices from the middle

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    The late Charlie Kirk, podcaster and founder of Turning Point USA, speaks at the opening of the Turning Point Action conference on July 15, 2023 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    I got a surprise phone call last week from the other side of the world, where an American expatriate was worried about the future of his country in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination. We agreed that the dis-United States of America needs calming voices who can command attention — a tall order in a media landscape that is dominated by sources that are provocative, inflammatory and often false. All of us need to help change that.

    American public discourse is now driven by opinion, not by facts, largely because of social-media platforms that favor opinion and use secret algorithms that promote the most provocative views to compete in the new “attention economy.” The decline of the traditional news business reflects the reality that the market for fact has shrunk while the market for opinion has grown. Americans prefer to be entertained, and have their views confirmed, than be informed — especially by facts that might conflict with those views.

    So, what can we agree on? I would like to think that virtually all Americans agree that political violence is never justified, and that the vast majority of us would probably say likewise about speech that advocates political violence. There are laws against such things.

    What, then, about speech that celebrates political violence, even a crime that results in death? That sort of speech, however repugnant, has been protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. But now people are getting fired for callous things they said about Charlie Kirk’s death, and President Trump and his top lieutenants are using the assassination to more deeply demonize and outright threaten their political opponents.

    “Mourn him respectfully or suffer the consequences,” as the Reuters news service described the approach. Ironically, Kirk, who had plenty of controversial views, was lauded most as a champion of free speech; now his friends and allies are using his death to suppress speech — and maybe more.

    “There is no civility in the celebration of political assassination,” Vice President JD Vance said Monday, alleging “leftist” funding of “terrorist sympathizers” and urging his audience to call employers of those who’ve made comments they find objectionable.

    Trump said without evidence, “We have some pretty radical groups and they got away with murder.” Lexington businessman Nate Morris, who began his Senate campaign with a Kirk-hosted rally and wants Trump’s endorsement, was on the same page, telling Breitbart News that the “radical left has blood on their hands.”

    Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, said the government will use its power to take liberal groups’ money and power “and, if you’ve broken the law, to take away your freedom.” Miller recently said that the Democratic Party is not a political party but “a domestic extremist organization . . . exclusively dedicated to protecting terrorists, criminals, gang-bangers and murderers.” 

    Utah Gov. Gov. Spencer Cox, Sept. 10, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

    That’s ridiculous, but it sets the stage for the government to go after the opposing party, and that’s the sort of thing my expatriate friend and I worry about. Trump clearly revels in the exercise of power, and has indicated no interest in using the power of his office to cool the conversation, as Utah Gov. Spencer Cox tried to do. But some Republicans wish Trump would.

    On KET’s “Kentucky Tonight” Monday night, Kentucky Republican strategist Amy Wickliffe said political leaders, from the White House on down, need to call for “taking the rhetoric down.” She acknowledged that’s “really hard” to do with “people in your sphere,” but “Where we go from here, it’s on us. It’s on all of us.”

    The maxim, “All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men and women to do nothing,” is not as operative as it was in the old media environment, when extreme voices had little access to mass audiences. Now, the extremes are amplified in huge echo chambers, and many Americans in the middle have dropped out of the toxic talk. The fact that flags went to half-staff for the death of a political activist who was unknown to many if not most Americans shows how our political tribes live in different realities.

    Perhaps the best place for good women and men to do something about the current crisis is not on social media, but face to face, one on one and in small groups — where there is at least a modicum of trust and respect.

    Cox, the Utah governor, said we should “log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community.” At a local philanthropic event in my hometown of Albany last weekend, I told a friend that everyone has a civic responsibility to improve the community where they live. Now, technology has made us part of a national community that needs improving, and we all have a role to play.

    This column is republished from the Northern Kentucky Tribune, a nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism.

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  • Turning Point USA Chapters Mourn Charlie Kirk’s Death

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    Irony abounded in the life — and death — of Charlie Kirk.

    A small group of college students, including women, gathered on the University of Houston campus last week to mourn Kirk’s death. The conservative Christian activist was known for his political debates on university campuses, even though he believed college was a “scam,” and supported young women prioritizing marriage over higher education.

    Kirk mobilized youth to vote for a national leader, President Donald Trump, who was in his late 70s at the time of the 2024 election. And he was an ardent supporter of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, before he died September 10 by gun violence.

    Kirk, 31, was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University. He founded Turning Point USA, a conservative movement that condemns “woke” DEI hiring practices, civil rights for transgender individuals, and abortion. He was known for his college campus tours at which he debated students with whom he disagreed. A TikTok page for his podcast, “The Charlie Kirk Show,” has almost 9 million followers.

    UH student David Cantu said he found Kirk on social media and wanted to join the movement. “He made a big impact on our youth,” Cantu said. “I think he would want us to continue on what he started. Even though he can’t finish it, we can continue on.”

    In addition to last week’s vigil at the University of Houston campus, a community-wide prayer service was held Sunday evening at Discovery Green in downtown Houston, hosted by the Republican consulting group Red State Solutions.

    But a lot of people didn’t like Charlie Kirk, and his death created a stir, with some on the progressive, or liberal, side implying that the activist created a hostile environment that led to his demise. Despite this, many Democratic leaders, including Houston and Harris County officials, condemned gun violence and the actions of Kirk’s suspected shooter, 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson, who was apprehended Friday.

    Journalist and Howard University professor Stacey Patton said last week she was on Charlie Kirk’s “hit list,” a database of educators that Turning Point USA believes “discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.”

    “His so-called ‘Professor Watchlist,’ run under the umbrella of Turning Point USA, is nothing more than a digital hit list for academics who dare to speak truth to power,” Patton wrote on Facebook. “I landed there in 2024 after writing commentary that inflamed the MAGA faithful. And once my name went up, the harassment machine roared to life.”

    The professor said some educators received death threats; others lost their jobs or left universities because of the harassment. She said Kirk “demonized LGBTQ people, mocked gun violence survivors, spewed racism, and pushed policies that shorten lives.”

    “And now, in the wake of his shooting, there’s all this national outpouring of mourning, moments of silence, yellow prayer hands, and tributes painting him as a civil debater,” Patton said. “But the truth is that Kirk and his foot soldiers spent years terrorizing educators, trying to silence us with harassment and fear.”

    Kirk supporters called the shooting a political assassination and characterized the conservative leader as a martyr who died spreading the teachings of Jesus in civil, respectful debate. Several people shared stories of how their children admired Kirk and young boys wore coats and ties to middle school in Kirk’s honor on the day after his death.

    click to enlarge

    Students and Charlie Kirk supporters planted flags outside the Memorial Student Center on September 11.

    Photo by April Towery

    Trump said Kirk would receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom and ordered flags lowered through the weekend. The President took the same action in August following a school shooting in Minnesota, but didn’t order flags lowered when Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, was assassinated in June, prompting critics to say Trump was engaging in “selective patriotism.”

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott offered his condolences and called for prayer for Kirk’s family.

    “Charlie’s voice was a beacon for millions of young Americans searching for truth, courage, and conviction,” Abbott said in a statement. “This senseless act of violence has no place in America. Our prayers are with Charlie’s family and his loved ones, especially the two young children he leaves behind. Texas stands with them in mourning and in honoring Charlie’s enduring legacy.”

    A quote from Kirk in April 2023 saying that he supported the right to bear arms was widely shared on social media.

    “I think it’s worth it,” Kirk said in a social media post more than two years ago. “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”

    The University of Houston has a student chapter of Turning Point USA with about 20 active members. On the day of Kirk’s death, however, UH chapter president Jordyn Hackner said her phone was flooded with calls from people who wanted to join or offer assistance.

    “Yesterday was a really tough day,” Hackner, a sophomore, told a reporter before the vigil in Kirk’s honor. Students said they’d been instructed by Turning Point USA not to speak to the media about the circumstances surrounding Kirk’s death, but many spoke openly about his legacy and wept during the vigil.

    “I didn’t have the honor to meet Charlie or show him what our chapter looks like but we hope to pass on his legacy,” Hackner said as she broke down in tears.

    Texas Youth Summit founder Christian Collins led the group in prayer. The annual Texas Youth Summit is set for September 19 and 20 in The Woodlands and will feature Collins, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, all Republicans, as speakers.

    Collins said Kirk was silenced by a shooter who was afraid of the truth. Kirk’s ideas weren’t outrageous, Collins said. He believed in two genders: man and woman. He probably would have become president one day, Collins added.

    “They took his life because millions of young people were listening to him,” Collins said. “I would say there was nobody who did more with young people in the history of our nation, especially with the Republican Party, than Charlie Kirk. He’s the reason, I think, that President Trump won the 2024 election. It’s because young men loved Charlie Kirk and they looked up to him. That’s their hero.”

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    Christian Collins, founder of Texas Youth Summit, spoke to students at the University of Houston campus last week. Also pictured is UH student David Cantu.

    Photo by April Towery

    Past president of the UH Turning Point chapter Lauren Corrales broke down in tears as she described meeting Kirk and praying with him.

    Although college campus tours were his battleground, Kirk and his wife Erika made an appearance earlier this year at a Young Women’s Leadership Summit in Dallas, covered by the New York Times. Deemed “Trump World rock stars,” by the Times, the Kirks advised about 3,000 young women at the conference on finding a husband and raising Christian children.

    “I must have missed it in Matthew — which is, Go forth and become CEO of a shoe company,” Kirk reportedly told the audience. He asked attendees whether their “daily purpose for being” was finding a husband and instructed the room that “every hand should go up.”

    click to enlarge

    University of Houston students prepared a memorial for Charlie Kirk on September 11.

    Photo by April Towery

    Some in attendance were surprised by the appearance of Texas Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, a graduate of UH and a leadership consultant and former educator, at the conference where women were told to stay home and have babies. Shortly after the gathering, Angela Paxton filed for divorce from her husband, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

    At the September 11 memorial event on UH campus, Collins encouraged the college students to keep speaking out on what they believe in.

    “Conservatives are sometimes divided, but everyone in the conservative movement respected Charlie Kirk,” Collins said. “When there is a terrorist attack, people tend to curl up in a ball and cry. What Charlie Kirk would want is for us to keep fighting the good fight.”

    “We are in a war in this country. It is a spiritual and political war, and it is a cultural war,” he added. “We have to win. We need crusaders for truth. We need leaders who are not afraid. We cannot live in fear. We have to fight back.”

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  • Cox calls for end to political violence, says younger generation has opportunity to ‘embrace our differences’ for the better

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    Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called for an end to political violence while sharing news about an apprehended suspect in the murder of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.

    “I don’t want to get too preachy, but I think it’s important that we, with eyes wide open, understand what’s happening in our country today,” Cox said Friday morning at a press conference.

    “I’ve heard people say, ‘Well, why are we so invested in this?’” he said of Kirk’s assassination. “There’s political violence happening all across our country, and violence is tragic everywhere, and every life taken is a child of God who deserves our love and respect and dignity.”

    Cox announced Friday that the suspect accused of killing Kirk had been apprehended and booked into Utah County Jail. He was named as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a resident of Washington County.

    Kirk’s death and the fallout in the days since has reignited a conversation about the increase of political violence across the country. Many have pointed to the June murder of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hoffman, a Democrat, and her husband, as well as the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump while on the campaign trail last year.

    While the investigation is still in its early stages and the suspect’s motive remains largely unknown to the public, discourse online has highlighted partisan differences in the reaction to Kirk’s death.

    FBI Director Kash Patel, center, arrives at the scene of the shooting death of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem on Sept. 11, 2025. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

    Cox’s message to end political violence, change the course of history

    “This is certainly about the tragic death … political assassination of Charlie Kirk, but it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals,” Cox said. “This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times.”

    Cox noted that Kirk often championed freedom of expression, debating people who disagreed with him. By Kirk being killed, freedom of expression across the country will become more difficult and others will feel discouraged about sharing their ideas and speaking freely, he said.

    “We will never be able to solve all the other problems, including the violence problems that people are worried about, if we can’t have a clash of ideas safely and securely … especially those ideas with which you disagree,” Cox said. “That is why this matters so much.”

    Cox had a message for the young people of Utah and across the country, particularly because Kirk had amassed such a following among the younger generation and spent his career and organization focused on young voters.

    Orem City Kirk Vigil_tc_22.JPG

    Andrew Parry, left, and his fiancee, Anja Albrecht, right, hold candles at a vigil for Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA who was fatally shot during Turning Point’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, at City Center Park in Orem on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

    “To my young friends out there, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option,” he said, highlighting Kirk’s message of human connection. “But through those words, we have a reminder that we can choose a different path.”

    “Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now. Not by pretending differences don’t matter, but by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations,” Cox continued.

    Cox said there is one person responsible for what happened to Kirk and that person is in custody and soon will be charged and held accountable.

    “And yet, all of us have an opportunity right now to do something different,” he said.

    The governor highlighted the vigils and community togetherness that Utahns showed in the days since the shooting.

    “We can return hate with hate. And that’s the problem with political violence, is it metastasizes, because we can always point the finger at the other side,” he said. “And at some point, we have to find an off-ramp or it’s going to get much, much worse.”

    Cox called on Americans, no matter their political beliefs or partisan divide, to choose to change the course of history and the rise of political violence in the United States.

    “These are choices that we can make. History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country, but every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us,” Cox said.

    Charlie Kirk Shot_LS_0011.JPG

    Law enforcement vehicles are posted at the entrance of Utah Valley University in Orem following the shooting of conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

    Other leaders weigh in

    Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, one of the largest youth conservative activist organizations in the country, was a staunch supporter of Trump’s. He became a controversial figure when touring the college campuses to debate ideas with students, which could sometimes become heated and have often gone viral online. Kirk was at Utah Valley University on Wednesday to kick off his “American Comeback Tour,” where he hosted his “Prove Me Wrong” debate session.

    In a video message on Wednesday evening after confirming Kirk’s death, Trump called on the American public and the media to “confront the fact that violence and murder” over political disagreements is wrong. He said that the “radical left” compared Kirk to a Nazi and claimed that rhetoric was “directly responsible” for the “terrorism” the country sees today.

    Other political leaders, like former President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris, condemned the political violence and said it has no place in the United States.

    Orem City Kirk Vigil_tc_11.JPG

    People hold lights up to grieve at a vigil for Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA who was fatally shot during Turning Point’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, at City Center Park in Orem on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

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  • Conservative activist Charlie Kirk assassinated at Utah university; shooter still at large

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    Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination.Authorities say Kirk was killed with a single shot from a rooftop on Wednesday. Whoever fired the gun then slipped away amid the chaos of screams and students fleeing the Utah Valley University campus. Federal, state and local authorities were still searching for an unidentified shooter early Thursday and working what they called “multiple active crime scenes.”“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”Two people were detained Wednesday but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, Utah public safety officials said.Authorities did not immediately identify a motive, but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away.Kirk was taking questions about gun violenceKirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political youth organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, at the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.Then a single shot rang out.The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away.Madison Lattin was watching only a few dozen feet from Kirk’s left when she said she heard the bullet hit Kirk.“Blood is falling and dripping down and you’re just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety,” she said.She said she saw people drop to the ground in an eerie silence pierced immediately by cries. Lattin ran while others splashed through decorative pools to get away. Some fell and were trampled in the stampede. People lost their shoes, backpacks, folding chairs and water bottles in the frenzy.When Lattin later learned that Kirk had died, she said she wept, describing him as a role model who had showed her how to be determined and fight for the truth.Trump calls Kirk ‘martyr for truth’Some 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk’s own security detail, authorities said.Trump announced the death on social media and praised the 31-year-old Kirk who was co-founder and CEO of Turning Point as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later Wednesday, he released a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.Utah Valley University said the campus was immediately evacuated after the shooting, with officers escorting people to safety. It will be closed until Monday.Meanwhile, armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for any information residents might have on the shooting. Helicopters buzzed overhead.Wednesday’s event, billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour,” had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”Condemnation from across the political spectrumThe shooting drew swift condemnation across the political aisle as Democratic officials joined Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.“The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last March hosted Kirk on his podcast, posted on X.“The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major parties. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, who was at Wednesday’s event, told the Fox News Channel that he didn’t believe Kirk had enough security.“Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.

    OREM, Utah —

    Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination.

    Authorities say Kirk was killed with a single shot from a rooftop on Wednesday. Whoever fired the gun then slipped away amid the chaos of screams and students fleeing the Utah Valley University campus. Federal, state and local authorities were still searching for an unidentified shooter early Thursday and working what they called “multiple active crime scenes.”

    “This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”

    Two people were detained Wednesday but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, Utah public safety officials said.

    Authorities did not immediately identify a motive, but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.

    Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away.

    Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images

    Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025 in Orem, Utah. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot in the neck and killed.

    Kirk was taking questions about gun violence

    Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political youth organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, at the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.

    “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”

    The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

    “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.

    Then a single shot rang out.

    The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away.

    Madison Lattin was watching only a few dozen feet from Kirk’s left when she said she heard the bullet hit Kirk.

    “Blood is falling and dripping down and you’re just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety,” she said.

    She said she saw people drop to the ground in an eerie silence pierced immediately by cries. Lattin ran while others splashed through decorative pools to get away. Some fell and were trampled in the stampede. People lost their shoes, backpacks, folding chairs and water bottles in the frenzy.

    When Lattin later learned that Kirk had died, she said she wept, describing him as a role model who had showed her how to be determined and fight for the truth.

    Trump calls Kirk ‘martyr for truth’

    Some 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk’s own security detail, authorities said.

    Trump announced the death on social media and praised the 31-year-old Kirk who was co-founder and CEO of Turning Point as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later Wednesday, he released a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.

    Utah Valley University said the campus was immediately evacuated after the shooting, with officers escorting people to safety. It will be closed until Monday.

    Meanwhile, armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for any information residents might have on the shooting. Helicopters buzzed overhead.

    Wednesday’s event, billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour,” had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

    Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

    Condemnation from across the political spectrum

    The shooting drew swift condemnation across the political aisle as Democratic officials joined Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.

    “The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last March hosted Kirk on his podcast, posted on X.

    “The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.

    The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major parties. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.

    Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, who was at Wednesday’s event, told the Fox News Channel that he didn’t believe Kirk had enough security.

    “Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”

    Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.

    But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.

    Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.

    Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.

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