Prominent conservative personality Charlie Kirk was shot dead on Wednesday, Sept. 10, while speaking at Utah Valley University, according to the . The suspected assassin, identified as , shot Kirk from a distance using a scoped bolt-action rifle, striking him in the neck before fleeing. The incident was caught on video by several sources, as it occurred during the first stop on a tour of several college campuses around the U.S. that Kirk was scheduled to do for his.
爱豆传媒 students typically lacked specific details regarding Kirk as an individual but expressed sorrow at the violence nonetheless. Says Roman Jordache (sophomore, architecture), “Here’s the thing: I didn’t really know about Charlie Kirk until today/yesterday. But all of his things have been on social media, so I’ve seen a couple things. But it’s a shame that that had to happen. Because he had a family, right? Like, young kids. You can disagree with somebody, but you should never, ever, ever kill somebody over that. Like, he had a family, two young kids, and now they don’t have a dad anymore.”
Concurring with Jordache, in response to being asked her opinion on Kirk’s death, Nadia Bibulovic (freshman, photography) said, “I don’t know. I mean, it’s horrible that it happened.”
In a similar vein, Jonathan Pelote (sophomore, theology) says, “I think it’s really tragic. Also really revealing of two things: one, the social tension boiling over, but two, that there’s still a lot of humanity because people, even on the far left, are saying this is tragic… There’s also a lot of fear because that’s an extreme action. Things like this are historically never good. So hopefully, we can band together instead of becoming more divided as a society.”
The attack has been condemned by members of both major parties. In addition, Turning Point USA posted on Facebook confirming the death of Kirk and requesting privacy.
Kirk had made a name for himself through his right-wing activism, being the founder of conservative activism organization Turning Point USA and a known friend of President Donald Trump, as well as for his controversial remarks on subjects including race, religion and gun rights. “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,” , also in Utah.
Robinson, the prime suspect of the shooting, is a 22-year-old native of St. George, Utah, who had planned the attack over a week in advance, . Robinson was identified via DNA matching to the rifle used to kill Kirk and was placed in custody within days of the shooting. Robinson has received seven federal charges, and the prosecution is pursuing capital punishment for Robinson. Investigators are still seeking to identify a concrete motive and potential co-conspirators.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of 爱豆传媒. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, 爱豆传媒 or the Seventh-day Adventist church.