The memorial service is held for conservative political activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium on Sept. 21, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. The Wisconsin Legislature held a contentious floor debate before passing a joint resolution honoring Kirk Tuesday.(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Wisconsin Senate and Assembly passed a joint resolution honoring the life of Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist and ally to President Donald Trump who was assassinated last month. Debate was intense as Democrats said the resolution should have focused on condemning political violence, rather than honoring Kirk’s legacy. 

Senate approves without political violence condemnation

The first iteration of the resolution, offered by Sen. Andre Jacque (R-New Franken), focused on Kirk’s life, saying Kirk “dedicated his life with unwavering conviction to advancing the timeless principles of faith, liberty, and truth” through his organization Turning Point USA and that his “powerful voice, seen in his writings, broadcasts and countless speeches, challenged complacency, awakened courage, and emboldened millions to take up the cause of freedom with renewed strength and clarity.” 

“Beyond his public mission, Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a devoted husband and loving father, fiercely committed to his wife and their two young children, whom he treasured as the heart of his life,” the resolution stated. “The brutal and senseless act that claimed his life has shaken our hearts, leaving an immense void not only in his family but across our nation, which looked to him as a steadfast champion for liberty… the Wisconsin Legislature honors Charlie Kirk’s extraordinary life and legacy with deepest gratitude, recognizing his fearless devotion to God, his unshakable love of family, and his tireless service to country.” 

Democratic Senators objected to the lack of a condemnation of political violence as well as the positive light the resolution cast on Kirk’s legacy. They introduced an amendment  that would have focused the resolution on condemning the assassination and political violence wholesale. 

“Your resolution doesn’t mention political violence at all. It is just about what a great guy Charlie Kirk was,” Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) said. “That’s not what’s going to bring 33 senators here today together… What could have brought 33 senators here together is the universal condemnation of the assassination.” 

“The Wisconsin Legislature strongly condemns the assassination of Charlie Kirk and extends their deepest condolences to his family and loved ones,” the Democratic proposed resolution stated. “Democracy in the United States depends on the peaceful and civil debate of ideas—not intimidation, violence, or assassination.”

Republican senators rejected the proposal, saying it wasn’t relevant to the resolution at hand. 

The rejection kickstarted heated debate about Kirk’s legacy. 

“I find myself reflecting on the stark contrast between my celebration and the heartbreaking truth that today would have been Charlie Kirk’s 32nd birthday. Charlie Kirk should have had many more birthdays,” Jacque said. “Through Turning Point USA, he challenged a generation, not to surrender to cynicism or drift into apathy, but to stand firm in their beliefs… He was a voice of clarity in a time of confusion, and that voice so full of passion and purpose was silenced in unspeakable act of violence.” 

Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) started her remarks by quoting Kirk nine times. 

“Quote one,” Johnson said. ‘The American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white.’ Quote two: ‘If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service, who’s a moronic black woman, I wonder, is she there because of her excellence or is she there because of affirmative action?’’ Quote three: ‘I have a very, very radical view on this, we made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.’” 

“Tell me, which one of you is willing to stand up and publicly admit that you or your constituents support this foolishness?” Johnson asked. She then called Kirk’s comments racist. 

Johnson said that Kirk’s legacy was emboldening people with his “hatred” and turning “them loose to be open to accepting their own racism and affirming their bigotry.” 

“My heart goes out to his wife and to his babies. My heart aches for them, but the empathy that I have for his family, Charlie never spared or even thought about extending that type of empathy to people who look like me,” Johnson said. “Choosing to whitewash his legacy and death does not erase who he was or what he stood for.” 

Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) agreed. 

“I will support any resolution condemning his assassination, political violence, because it is the right thing to do, but I will not honor any legacy that undermines the advancement and equality of all Americans,” Drake said.

Republican lawmakers, including Jacque and Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), said that Democratic lawmakers were taking the quotes out of context.

Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said he thought the resolution should have focused on condemning political violence and expressed concerns about the way that Kirk’s death was being used by some to go after perceived political opponents. He started reading from an article about the Elkhorn associate principal who was targeted after conservative influencers falsely claimed she had made posts on social media about Kirk’s death. 

Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) ruled Larson out of order and shut off his microphone. 

The Senate ultimately voted 18-15 along party lines to advance the resolution.

Assembly amends resolution 

The Assembly voted 54-42 to concur in the resolution after it was amended to condemn political violence and included some of the language that Democrats had in their proposal. 

The resolution did not go as far as Assembly Democrats suggested. A proposal from them also aimed to condemn the assassinations of both Kirk and former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Melissa Hortman. 

Assembly Assistant Minority Leader Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee) noted that Black History Month resolutions written by the Black Legislative Caucus have often faced difficult paths in the Republican-led Legislature. He specifically mentioned the year when the inclusion of civil rights activist and former quarterback Colin Kaepernick on a resolution kept it from coming to the floor.

Haywood said Kaepernick was “demonized for taking a silent knee to protest police brutality.” 

“I have watched several times as Black History Month resolutions and other resolutions recognizing people of color from Wisconsin and their history have been put under a magnifying glass and faced the most intense scrutiny,” Haywood said. “These resolutions over the last seven years have either been left off the calendar or threatened to not be included on the calendar because of the smallest quote, post or like your members find uncomfortable… What is the bar? Is there a different bar for people of color from Wisconsin and their lives and legacies to be recognized and honored by this body?” 

Haywood read off some of the quotes that Kirk made over the course of his life, echoing Johnson.

“These are quotes from Charlie Kirk, who was not a Wisconsinite, nor [did he] have any meaningful ties to our great state or any contributions to our state, and yeah, you are using his name and his death to score political points from Fox News and your far-right donors,” Haywood said. “Your resolution doesn’t even mention condemning political violence. This is all performative theater.”

Haywood said that Republicans were dividing people.

Rep. William Penterman (R-Hustisford) clarified that his amendment did include language about the increasing threats of violence that public figures are facing. He then noted that Kirk would have turned 32 on Tuesday.  

“Most of us in this body are over 32. I myself am not yet,” Penterman said. “As a human being, he had two young kids. He was married. Just having experienced the birth of my second child between last session and this and witnessing that miracle, my heart goes out to his wife, to his kids, and his family. He was a person. He was a husband. He cared about his community. He cared about Turning Point USA… His impact has been felt here in this state and will continue to be.”

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Then U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin testifying against the U.S. Army during the Army-McCarthy hearings in Washington, D.C., June 9, 1954. McCarthy stands before a map which charts Communist activity in the United States. (Photo by Getty Images)

Driven by “a lineup of disgraceful racial bigots and American fascists,” a divisive political crusade by conservatives in the United States was “like a gigantic, tumultuous hurricane” that “dominated the thoughts and actions of the American people, disrupting their emotions, distorting their judgment ….” Those are the words of Michigan Republican Charles E. Potter, a member of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, who, in his 1965 book “Days of Shame,” repudiated the excesses of the McCarthy era.

I read Potter’s 60-year-old mea culpa in David Maraniss’s powerful personal history, “A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father,” (Simon & Schuster 2019), which traces the Maraniss family’s harrowing journey to Madison, Wisconsin. The anti-McCarthy Capital Times newspaper saved Maraniss’s dad, Elliott, giving him a job after he was blacklisted and then followed from town to town by federal agents investigating his political activities over “five years, five cities, four kids, eight homes, two papers that fired him, three papers that folded,” as Maraniss writes.

I binge-read the book amid a storm of news as the administration of President Donald Trump ramped up attacks on leftwing activists, Democrats, progressive nonprofits and the media, blaming them for the killing of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, and vowing to attack what White House adviser Stephen Miller called a “vast domestic terror movement,” using the full force of the federal government to “identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks.” 

I reached out to Maraniss Thursday in Madison, where the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author grew up and still spends summers. ABC had just indefinitely suspended late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for criticizing the MAGA movement’s weaponization of the Kirk shooting. And Trump and his FCC chairman were threatening to yank broadcasting licenses from media outlets that criticize the president.

I wanted to ask Maraniss about the parallels he sees between the time he describes so vividly in his book and the current moment. 

“There are several obvious haunting similarities,” he told me on the phone, “the demonization of others, the calling of all opponents Marxist or communists or enemies of the state, the gross manipulation of truth, the use of fear to stifle dissent and pressure to silence the media or get the press to go along.”

“Back then,” he added, “most of the press did go along with McCarthy for a long time.”

The Capital Times stood out as an early critic of Wisconsin’s bombastic Red-hunting senator, Joseph McCarthy. Syndicated columnist Drew Pearson was another prominent anti-McCarthy voice, along with Murrey Marder of the Washington Post and Edward R. Murrow — all mentioned in Maraniss’s book. “But you could cite many more that were going along with McCarthyism.”

The main difference Maraniss sees between the McCarthy era and today is that “McCarthy was only a senator, and now we’re dealing with the president, with full control of the levers of power which McCarthy did not have, ranging from the Justice Department to the military.”

McCarthy took aim at major U.S. institutions — from government agencies to  universities to Hollywood to mainline Protestant churches — but he overstepped when began attacking the U.S. Army, infuriating then-President Dwight Eisenhower. 

Another glaring difference between then and now, Maraniss added, “is that McCarthy did not have the full support of his own party, the Republican Party.” Today, “almost any Republican who opposed Trump is now no longer in office or in the party.”

It took a long time, however, for mainstream media and mainstream Republicans to turn against McCarthyism and for the public to swing from the distorted thinking former HUAC member Potter finally repudiated to the consensus that leftwing political ideology did not, in fact, pose an existential threat to U.S. national security.

Among the many echoes of Red Scare fever resonating through national politics today is the central issue of race. One of the most gripping scenes in Maraniss’s book is future Detroit Mayor Coleman Young’s testimony before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in the Federal Building in Detroit. Young, a World War II veteran, confronts the southern racists on the committee as they question his loyalty, repeatedly correcting their slurring pronunciation of the world “Negro.” Despite the committee’s high-handedness and multiple attempts to silence him, Young has the last word. 

“I fought in the last war and I would unhesitatingly take up arms against anybody that attacks this country,” he says. “In the same manner, I am now in the process of fighting against what I consider to be attacks and discrimination against my people. I am fighting against un-American activities such as lynchings and denial of the vote. I am dedicated to that fight and I don’t think I must apologize or explain it to anybody, my position on that.”

Reading about Young and the other brave souls who stood up to McCarthyism, including the elder Maraniss’s lawyer, George Crockett, who was jailed for contempt and returned to continue fighting, is inspiring and thrilling. 

In contrast, Maraniss traces the sordid history of U.S. Rep. John Stephens Wood, a Democrat from Georgia and chairman of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan (though he claimed he only went to one meeting). He lays out the evidence that Wood attended the lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish industrialist who was accused of killing of a young, female factory worker in Georgia. Wood was the “wheelman” for Judge Newt Morris, his mentor, helping to collect the body from the lynchers and drive it to the morgue. 

White racists, as Potter later acknowledged, played a prominent role in the McCarthy era purges of “un-American” activists. These were the people who sat in judgment of civil rights leaders, Black unionists and activists for racial equality. Maraniss’s father, an antifascist who joined the Communist Party when he was in college at the University of Michigan, led an all-Black battalion in World War II, and dedicated his life to his idealistic view of America, was the target of people who had little respect for equal rights or the Constitution.

Who are the real patriots, Maraniss asks — a question that resonates today.

“Race is at the center of American life, then and now,” Maraniss said on the phone. “And what we’re facing this time is really an attempt to erase the civil rights movement.”

“The chairman of the House un American Activities Committee that went after my father was a Georgia racist who was elected in white-only primaries and opposed every civil rights measure, and he was the one defining what’s an American,” he said. “And you have a similar thing going on now where Charlie Kirk is celebrated on NFL stadium screens and people are being fired left and right, for criticizing someone who disparaged Martin Luther King.”

It’s important not to be cowed by the deliberate use of language as a weapon to promote misunderstanding, he said, “as they have with DEI. I mean, what is on its face wrong with diversity, equity and inclusion, you know? Think about it. I mean, the same thing with being antifascist. I mean, people should embrace those ideas and not run away from them.”

Of his parents, Maraniss writes: “They never betrayed America and loved it no less than the officials who rendered judgment on them in Room 740 of the Federal Building in Detroit. They were dissenters who believed the nation had not lived up to its founding ideals in terms of race and equality, largely because of the reactionary attitudes of self-righteous attackers on the American right.”

The book ends happily. The Maraniss family arrived in Wisconsin in time to watch the Milwaukee Braves play their way to a pennant and eventually beat the Yankees in the World Series. “McCarthy was dead. The Supreme Court had essentially overturned the Smith Act, ruling it was unconstitutional to bring charges against American citizens solely because of their political advocacy. … The world was opening anew.”

But there is, of course, no real end to the struggle. In an epilogue, Maraniss writes about Cap Times reporter John Patrick Hunter, who, long after the Red Scare was safely over,  typed up sections of the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, combined it with a petition listing six of the 10 amendments to the Bill of Rights, along with the Fifteenth Amendment granting Black men the right to vote, then roamed a local park in Madison trying to collect signatures. “He gave the people the nation’s foundational truth and it did not go well,” Maraniss writes. “Of the 112 people he asked to sign the petition. Only one did. Twenty accused him of being a communist.”

“It is an endless struggle,” Maraniss said on the phone. “That’s what life is. And you know, it tends to go in cycles of reaction and counter reaction. This is a very, very difficult one of those cycles. But I’ve been an optimist my whole life. It’s being challenged like never before in my life. My father endured it and came out an optimist anyway, somehow. So to honor my father, I maintain my optimism.”

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Law enforcement officials asked the public for help identifying a college-age man who they said is a person of interest in the death of Charlie Kirk. (Photos courtesy of FBI)

A suspect in Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting is in custody, federal and state officials announced Friday morning. 

Law enforcement arrested Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Washington County resident. He was booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of aggravated murder and felony discharge of a firearm, both first-degree felonies, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.

“We got him,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a news conference Friday morning.

Aggravated murder is a capital crime in Utah, reserved for particularly heinous murders involving torture, sex crimes and assassinations, and if sentenced, Robinson could be executed. Cox said twice this week that prosecutors will be pursuing the death penalty. Robinson is currently being held without bail.

Kirk, a widely known and often polarizing conservative activist known for debating students on college campuses, was shot and killed during a Turning Point USA public speaking event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, unleashing a search that involved more than 20 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The FBI also offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the shooter.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by investigators, one of Robinson’s family members reached out to a family friend on Thursday evening — that family friend contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office “with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”

Investigators at the FBI and Utah Valley University reviewed surveillance footage from the university and identified Robinson arriving on campus in a gray Dodge Challenger at about 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Robinson was also seen in surveillance footage wearing a “Converse/Chuck Taylor” shoe, according to the affidavit. When investigators encountered him in person early Friday morning, they note in court documents that Robinson “was observed in consistent clothing with the surveillance images.”

A family member who talked with investigators said Robinson had become more political in recent years and that prior to Wednesday, he had mentioned Kirk’s visit to Utah Valley University. He has no prior criminal history, according to court documents.

Court documents also detail a recent family dinner prior to the Sept. 10 shooting, where Robinson “mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints he had. The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate. The family member also confirmed Robinson had a grey Dodge Challenger.”

Robinson was not currently a student at Utah Valley University. He is a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College, the Utah Board of Higher Education confirmed.

Law enforcement also spoke with Robinson’s roommate, who shared Discord messages from Robinson “stating a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush, messages related to visually watching the area where a rifle was left, and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel.”

The gun, Cox said, was a Mauser .30-06 bolt-action rifle, a gun capable of shooting long distances, often used for hunting deer or elk.

Messages reviewed by law enforcement also referred to engraving bullets. Cox said inscriptions found on the shell casings included messages like “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao” and “if you read this, you are gay LMAO.”

The governor said he didn’t have information about whether Robinson suffered from a mental illness.

Charging documents may be filed early next week, Cox said.

“This is a very sad day for, again, for our country, a terrible day for the state of Utah, but I’m grateful that at this moment, we have an opportunity to bring closure to this very dark chapter in our nation’s history,” Cox said.

The FBI is still pursuing the over 7,000 leads that it had received as of Friday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel said during the news conference.

Patel, who traveled to Utah during the investigation, thanked the governor and the local law enforcement agencies for resolving the case.

Forensic evidence has been analyzed in different FBI labs across the country, and state and local authorities will continue to process evidence, Patel said.

“In less than 36 hours, 33 to be precise, thanks to the full weight of the federal government and leading out with the partners here in the state of Utah and Gov. Cox, the suspect was apprehended in a historic time period,” Patel said.

Earlier on Friday morning, President Donald Trump said a suspect was in custody.

“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him,” he said on Fox News.

‘An attack on the American experiment’

Cox, who has championed a campaign to combat polarization, argued this incident was about the “political assassination of Charlie Kirk,” he said.

“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. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times,” Cox said.

The fatal attack on Kirk may make it harder for people to feel like they can speak freely, the governor said. And, without a safe way to discuss opposing views, the country won’t be able to solve issues, “including the violence problems that people are worried about.”

“To my young friends out there, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option,” Cox said. “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.”

Whether this is a turning point for the best or worst, is yet to be seen, Cox said. But, after gory videos of Kirk’s shooting became widespread, he also called social media “a cancer on our society” and encouraged people to “log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community.”

Derrick Van Orden at an online press conference last year discussing crimes committed in his hometown by a Venezuelan immigrant. Van Orden's social media posts following the assassination of Charlie Kirk blame Democrat and journalists and predict 'civil war.'| (Screenshot via Zoom)

Fruitless thoughts and prayers. Familiar calls for de-escalating toxic partisanship. Promises to do something about the teen mental health crisis, violent video games, the epidemic of alienation and hopelessness. By now we are all accustomed to the ritual reactions to routine incidents of horrific gun violence that plague our country like no other wealthy nation on Earth, where firearms are the leading cause of death for children.

But if the usual, feckless responses to gun violence are maddening in a country that can’t get its act together to pass even marginal, commonsense gun safety measures, the reaction of Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden to the hideous assassination of rightwing provocateur Charlie Kirk this week was downright reprehensible.

As soon as the news broke that Kirk was shot while on stage at Utah Valley University, Van Orden began a stream of increasingly unhinged social media posts blaming Democrats and the media for the murder and declaring “the gloves are off.”

“The leftwing political violence must stop now,” Van Orden tweeted. In another post he wrote, “The left and their policies are leading America into a civil war. And they want it. Just like the democrat party wanted our 1st civil war.”

Contrast that with the statements from other Wisconsin politicians. 

Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said, “there is no two ways about this: political violence has no place in America. I am keeping Charlie and his family in my thoughts in this truly horrifying moment.”

Van Orden’s fellow Wisconsin Republican, U.S. Rep. Tony Wied said, “There is absolutely zero place for political violence in our country.” 

“Violence against anyone because of their political beliefs is wrong. Violence against others is wrong,”  Gov. Tony Evers said. “Violence is never the answer for resolving our differences or disagreements. Wisconsin joins in praying for Charlie Kirk and the Utah Valley community and first responders.”

None of those statements mollified Van Orden, who told reporters in the U.S. Capitol that “every one of you” is responsible for Kirk’s death.

Reposting a news clip of Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, who called for the nation to de-escalate political violence and come together, Van Orden wrote, “Too late. You have sown the wind.”

“I am not sure they understand what they have done,” Van Orden ranted. “They missed in Butler, but it is on now.” 

Never mind that in Butler, Pennsylvania, the would-be assassin who targeted President Donald Trump was a registered Republican. Or that, as Van Orden spewed accusations against Democrats and journalists, the identity of the shooter who targeted Charlie Kirk was still unknown. When a reporter pointed that out to Van Orden, he replied, “You know what? Knock it off.”

Actually, it’s Van Orden who needs to knock it off.

Seizing on political violence to try to stoke more political violence is as dangerous as it is disgusting.

Far from recognizing the human tragedy for all of us as our country descends into this nightmare, Van Orden capitalizes on murder, whether the victims are liberals or conservatives, imposing the same crude narrative about a war with violent leftists every time.

After the horrible double murder of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, Van Orden falsely characterized the suspected shooter, a right-wing religious fanatic whose list of intended targets included Democrats and abortion providers, as an anti-Trump protester who “decided to murder and attempt to murder some politicians that were not far Left enough for them.” 

He seems to revel in the prospect of more violence. Unfortunately, his tone is matched by Trump, who issued his own threatening statement, politicizing the attack and claiming that it is part of a pattern of leftwing attacks on conservatives. “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now,” Trump said. “My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence.”

Of course, it is Trump who has a long history of inviting political violence against Democrats and members of the press. Van Orden is copying him by escalating that rhetoric in Wisconsin. 

Online, Van Orden’s belligerent posts got mixed reviews. Some people demanded that he explain what he means when he says “the gloves are off,” condemning him for encouraging hooliganism. “So you plan on using this to start Civil War II?” one person posted. “You don’t think things through before you say them.

You people fantasize about killing your fellow Americans like it’s a full-time job.”

Others celebrated his statements. “No other way to fix it at this point,” one of Van Orden’s followers replied to his post. “We need a 2-3 day national purge. We do business with whatever is left of the left.” Appended to the comment was a GIF celebrating Kyle Rittenhouse for shooting Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha.

It’s unlikely that Van Orden, who has been unwilling to face his own constituents at an in-person town hall will actually lead the violent attacks against his fellow Americans he fantasizes about online. But feeding that violent fantasy is clearly inspiring for some people. And that’s exactly why it’s got to stop. 

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President Donald Trump speaks during a Sept. 11th observance event in the courtyard of the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2025, the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) 

WASHINGTON —  President Donald Trump honored slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he remembered the victims of Sept. 11 during a ceremony Thursday in Virginia, and announced he would posthumously award the popular figure the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Kirk, the late co-founder and head of the political advocacy organization Turning Point USA, was fatally shot Wednesday while speaking on a college campus in Utah.

Trump described the attack as a “heinous assassination” and told a crowd gathered at the Pentagon that Kirk, 31, was “a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty and an inspiration to millions and millions of people.”

“We miss him greatly. Yet I have no doubt that Charlie’s voice and the courage he put into the hearts of countless people, especially young people, will live on,” Trump said.

Trump said the ceremony to posthumously award Kirk the highest civilian honor has not yet been scheduled but that he expects “a very big crowd.”

In recalling the deadliest attack on the United States, Trump said the “entire world came crashing down” for loved ones of the 2,977 victims.

“In the quarter of a century since those acts of mass murder, 9/11 family members have felt the weight of missed birthdays and empty bedrooms, journals left unfinished and dreams left unfulfilled,” Trump said. “To every member that still feels a void every day of your lives, the First Lady and I unite with you in sorrow and today, as one nation, we renew our sacred vow that we will never forget September 11, 2001.”

The president delivered remarks following Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who praised Kirk as a “good and faithful servant.” 

Hegseth said when faced with the tragic memory of 9/11 he finds hope in the “future of our great nation,” and invoked Kirk.

“The young soldiers who take the oath give me hope. The young cops who wear the badge give me hope. The young firefighters who answer the call give me hope. The young agents who patrol our border give me hope. The life, example, and even death of Christ-follower and American patriot Charlie Kirk give me hope, sheer courage, no matter the arena,” Hegseth said.

Vance in Utah

Vice President JD Vance, who had been scheduled to attend the 24th observance of 9/11 at Ground Zero in New York City, changed his travel plans to visit with Kirk’s family in Utah and fly with his casket to Arizona on Air Force Two, according to multiple media reports.

Trump did not cancel a scheduled visit to a New York Yankees game Thursday night as part of a 9/11 commemoration.

Vance issued a lengthy statement on social media Wednesday night sharing the story of his friendship with Kirk, including an acknowledgement they were both skeptical of Trump in 2016 before joining the president’s political agenda.

“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene. He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government,” Vance wrote.

Kirk’s advocacy organization worked with Trump’s 2024 campaign to mobilize young voters in the November election.

On Wednesday, Kirk was on the first of a 15-stop “American Comeback Tour” that was scheduled next week for events at Colorado State University.

The zealous political figure was known for his outreach and events on college campuses. According to Turning Point USA, the organization has started over 1,000 chapters in high schools and 800 on college campuses across the U.S.

Political violence 

Kirk’s killing is the latest in a string of politically motivated violence in recent years. 

A man fatally shot former Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband in June. The alleged gunman, Vance Boelter, also shot and injured Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. Boelter had in his possession several weapons and a list of several Minnesota and federal lawmakers, including some of their home addresses, according to authorities.

During last year’s presidential campaign, a 20-year-old gunman attempted to assassinate Trump during an event in Pennsylvania. Just over two months later, another man attempted to shoot Trump at his golf course in Florida.

In 2022, a man wielding a hammer and zip ties broke into then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and fractured the skull of Paul Pelosi, the Democratic leader’s husband.

On Jan. 6, 2021, thousands of people stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. At least seven people died during or shortly after the attack and approximately 140 police officers were injured by the rioters.

Founder and executive director of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk 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)

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has died after he was shot at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday. 

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a news conference Wednesday afternoon that a person of interest was in custody, but that he could not elaborate. Soon after, at 6 p.m., FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X that the “subject in custody had been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.” 

Officials suspect that the shooter shot Kirk from a rooftop as he spoke at an outdoor event on the college campus, but they had little additional information other than that the person appeared to be wearing dark clothing. They said the investigation is ongoing. 

“We are actively looking for anyone and everyone who has any possible information related to the shooter,” Cox said. 

Cox called the shooting a “political assassination” and called for anyone who had celebrated Kirk’s death to “look in the mirror.”

“The investigation is ongoing, but I want to make it crystal clear right now to whoever did this, we will find you, we will try you, and we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law,” Cox said. “And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here.”

The suspected shooter was dressed in all dark clothing, but other than that, officials couldn’t provide much detail Wednesday. Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said the “only information we have on the suspect, the possible shooter, is taken from closed circuit TV here on campus.”

Mason said that footage is currently being analyzed. Asked whether the suspect on the security camera footage and the person of interest they have in custody match, Mason said, “that’s what we’re trying to decipher right now.” 

Officials also said there is no information that suggests there was a second person involved in the shooting. One shot was fired, Kirk was the only victim and police confirmed it was a targeted attack.

Videos circulating on social media show students scattering after a popping sound is heard, Kirk appears to be impacted by something, and begins bleeding from his neck. Witnesses say he was answering a question about mass shootings in the moment he was shot. 

In a statement, Utah Valley University confirmed Kirk had been shot at about 12:20 p.m. while speaking to the crowd. 

Mason later told reporters that Kirk had been shot in the neck. He was then taken by a private vehicle to Timpanogos Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead. 

The Utah Department of Public Safety and the FBI will be “co-leading this criminal investigation to find this killer,” Mason said. 

Campus was closed down following the shooting, with the university later announcing the closure will remain in place until Sept. 15. For hours after the shot rang out, dozens of police vehicles and some armored vehicles swarmed the university campus and blocked off roadways. SWAT teams and military personnel carrying long guns — some with K-9s — could be seen searching buildings. 

Several students told Utah News Dispatch they were told to wait outside, unable to retrieve their belongings from classrooms or access their dorms, until after law enforcement completed their searches. 

Adelaide Condie, an 18-year-old Utah Valley University student, was standing on a trash can trying to see Kirk as he answered a question about gun violence when he was hit.

“All of a sudden he got shot … It looked like it was to the chest from where I was, but people are saying it was to the neck … then he went down,” said Condie as she was leaving campus. “Everyone started running, then we all got on lockdown.” 

The university initially reported a suspect was in custody, but officers determined he didn’t match the shooter’s description. Law enforcement officials identified him as George Zinn, a local political gadfly known for his disruptive behavior. While not suspected in the shooting, Mason said Zinn was booked into Utah County Jail for investigation of obstruction of justice.

‘A police chief’s nightmare’

There wasn’t a heavy police presence or extensive security measures in place for Wednesday’s event. Deseret News reporter Emma Pitts, who was on scene when the shooting happened, told the outlet that students weren’t scanned and bags weren’t checked when they entered the outdoor venue.

When asked about the event’s security, Utah Valley University Police Chief Jeff Long first told reporters that what happened was “a police chief’s nightmare.” 

“We’re a small police department. We have a very large campus. We have over 40,000 students. We love our students. We love our visitors. And we’re devastated by what happened today,” he said. 

The chief said Wednesday’s event took place at an “open venue” outdoors, with more than 3,000 people estimated in attendance. He said six officers staffed the event, along with some officers in “plain clothes” in the crowd. He added that UVU police also partnered with Kirk’s security team. 

“We train for these things. You think you have things covered, and these things, unfortunately, they happen,” Long said. “You try to get your bases covered, and unfortunately today we didn’t.”

Utah Valley University says on its website that it complies with state law regarding weapons on campus, which restricts people from possessing a dangerous weapon, firearm, or sawed-off gun on campus except under certain circumstances. However, the university allows concealed weapons to be carried by legal permit holders. 

Shooting follows No Kings protest shooting, national political violence

The shooting on the college campus in Orem, about 45 minutes south of Salt Lake City, follows violence this summer in Utah and beyond. In July, shots rang out as more than 10,000 people marched in Salt Lake City as part of the “No Kings” protest of the Trump administration and its policies.

A self-described “volunteer peacekeeper” fired with a handgun after seeing a man with an AR-15-style rifle, winging him in the side and striking a protester in the head as he walked by. Arthur “Afa” Ah Loo, a fashion designer and fixture of the Polynesian community in Utah, died from the wound.

On the same day in Minnesota, House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman was assassinated in her home, along with her husband, Mark Hortman. Police say the accused gunman, Vance Boelter, disguised himself as a police officer. Boelter is also charged with shooting Democratic Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, both of whom survived, in their Champlin home. 

Kirk’s visit to Utah drew criticism; his killing invoked condemnation, sadness 

Kirk is a founder of Turning Point USA, an organization that advocates for conservative politics in educational institutions, and a close ally of President Donald Trump. He is a widely known internet personality who takes his signature “prove me wrong” debates to college campuses.

His Utah visit wasn’t without controversy. In a Change.org petition, students at Utah State University, where Kirk was scheduled to make a second appearance in the state on Sept. 30, said Kirk’s polarizing rhetoric is at odds with the inclusive atmosphere they want to preserve on campus. The petition had more than 6,800 signatures.

Matt Bailey, a UVU student who was in class when the shooting happened, told Utah News Dispatch as he was leaving campus that “it’s pretty sad that it had to come to this, that someone was willing to do this.” 

“Regardless of what you believe about Charlie Kirk, he does come and just wants to talk to everybody,” he said. 

Another UVU student, John Bryant — a film student who raced to campus from his home in Orem after he heard of the shooting — said while Kirk could be a “pretty polarizing” character, “it’s a whole different story to take out an act of violence against (him).”

“Personally, I don’t agree with his views, but violence is not the way to make change,” Bryant said. “That’s not going to change him, because now he’s gone. … Violence is not the answer.” 

Trump orders flags lowered

The president was among the first to announce Kirk’s death.

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”

Trump ordered U.S. flags throughout the country to be lowered in the wake of Kirk’s killing, describing him as “a truly Great American Patriot” on Truth Social. 

Cox echoed that order, requiring U.S. and Utah flags to be flown at half staff at all state facilities in acknowledgement of Kirk until Sunday.

In a statement posted to social media, Cox said he had spoken on the phone with Trump about Kirk’s death and is now working with the FBI and state law enforcement to “bring to justice the individual responsible for this tragedy.”

“Abby and I are heartbroken. We are praying for Charlie’s wife, daughter, and son,” Cox said.

In an earlier statement, Cox warned those involved in the shooting would be held accountable and that “violence has no place in our public life,” he wrote.

Before it was announced that Kirk had died in the shooting, dozens of congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill offered prayers for Kirk, with whom many GOP members have personal relationships.

U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, paused the panel’s consideration of a bill and held a moment of silence after Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene informed the committee of the shooting.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement the news of Kirk’s death is “utterly devastating.”

“Charlie was a close friend and confidant. He will be sorely missed by so many. Every political leader must loudly and clearly decry this violence,” Johnson said. “Our prayers go out to his wife and young children. May he rest in peace.”

Utah News Dispatch editor McKenzie Romero and States Newsroom reporter Jacob Fischler contributed to this story.