President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that conservative activist Charlie Kirk died after receiving a shot at a university event of the Campus in Utah.
“The great, and even legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the heart of young people in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by all, especially me, and now he is not with us. Trump wrote on his social media platform.
Before the announcement, Trump told ABC News Washington Jonathan Karl: “It’s horrible. It’s one of the most horrible things I’ve seen.”
“He was a good man. He was an incredible guy. No one like him,” Trump told Karl.
Several senior administration officials quickly issued messages of support for Kirk as the news of the shooting was extended, before Trump’s announcement he had died.
Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth activist Turning Point USA, was a close ally for Trump and many members of his administration.
“Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father,” wrote Vice President JD Vance in X. Vance later published a photograph of him, Kirk and Donald Trump Jr.
In this archive photo of July 31, 2024, Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, is directed to the crowd in a demonstration with the vice presidential candidate Senator and Republican JD Vance during a campaign rally at the event center of the Christian University of Arizona in Glendale, Arizona.
Laura Segall/AFP through Getty Images, Archive
The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, published that the office is “closely monitoring the reports of the tragic shooting that involves Charlie Kirk at the University of Utah Valley. Our thoughts are with Charlie, their loved ones and all those affected. The agents will quickly be on the scene and the FBI is in full support of the response and continuous research.”
“Prayers by Charlie Kirk. A Christian, American and human being incredible. That Jesus Christ’s healing hand be with him,” wrote the head of the Pentagon Pete Hegseth in X.
Republican members of Congress also said before the news of their death that they were praying for Kirk. The house celebrated a moment of silence for Kirk on Wednesday afternoon.
“We ask everyone to pray for him and his family. I will … declare the obvious here. This is detestable,” said the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. “Political violence has become too common in American society, and this is not who they are.”
Johnson added: “We need all political figures, we need all those who have a platform, to say this out loud and clear, we can solve disagreements and disputes in a civil way, and political violence must be withdrawn, and it has to stop.”
“This is a sick and despicable attack,” republican senator Lindsey Graham published. “I’m praying for Charlie Kirk and her family. Please, join me.”
The activist and right -wing of the United States.
Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune through Reuters
Many Democrats also spoke quickly against the shooting on Wednesday.
“I am deeply disturbed by the shooting at Utah,” wrote former vice president Kamala Harris in X. “Doug and I send our prayers to Charlie Kirk and his family. Let me be clear: political violence does not take place in the United States. I condemn this act, and we must all work together to ensure that this does not lead to more violence.”
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, condemned the shooting as “disgusting.”
“The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile and representable. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in all forms,” Newsom wrote in X.
The Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, wrote in X: “Political violence is never acceptable. My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie Kirk and his family.”
Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic congressman who was shot in the head during a public event in 2011, also shared a message condemning acts of political violence.
“I am horrified to know that Charlie Kirk was shot in an event in Utah. Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we should never allow the United States to become a country that faces those disagreements with violence. Mark and I are praying for Charlie’s recovery,” Giffords wrote.
Democratic representative Nancy Pelosi, whose husband was violently assaulted in her house in California by an invader who was looking for Pelosi, called the “horrible” and “rebuke” shooting.
“Political violence has absolutely anywhere in our nation,” Pelosi wrote about X. “All Americans must pray for the recovery of Charlie Kirk and keep the entire UVU community in our hearts while supporting the trauma of this armed violence.”
This is a development story. Consult the updates again.
