President Donald Trump led tributes to the conservative activist Charlie Kirk after he was fatally shot at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
“No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote on Truth Social while announcing his death.
“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 added.
Kirk, 31, was the co-founder of Turning Point USA – a nonprofit dedicated to engaging with conservative youths and promoting conservative policies on high school and college campuses. The right-wing activist rose to prominence in the Republican Party as a result of his work, becoming good friends with Donald Trump Jr.
Upon hearing news of the shooting, members of Trump’s cabinet, including Vice President JD Vance, sent tributes. “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,” Vance wrote on X.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox, said on X, that he had spoken with the president and would work with law enforcement “to bring justice to the individual responsible for this tragedy.”
“We love you Charlie Kirk. Praying for you,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on X.
Other Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, conservative media personality Candace Owens, and right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro, also called for prayers.
Donald Trump Jr., a good friend of Kirk, called him “one of the finest humans I know.”
“Everyone please lift him and his family up in prayer,” Trump Jr. said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson led a moment of silence for Kirk on the House chamber floor on Wednesday, calling the shooting “detestable.”
Prominent Democrats also sent prayers to Kirk.
“I am deeply disturbed by the shooting in Utah,” former Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on X. “Doug and I send our prayers to Charlie Kirk and his family. Let me be clear: Political violence has no place in America. I condemn this act, and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom called the attack on Kirk “disgusting, vile, and reprehensible.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the shooting “horrifying” and said “political violence has no place in America.”
“The scourge of gun violence and political violence must end,” New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said. “The shooting of Charlie Kirk is the latest incident of this chaos and it must stop. We cannot go down this road. There is no place for it in America and we wish for his recovery.”
Anti-gun violence activists, who typically butt heads with Republicans who advocate for the Second Amendment, also offered thoughts and prayers to Kirk while calling for gun control.
David Hogg, a survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, said it was “horrifying news” that Kirk had been shot.
“Gun violence and political violence have to f***ing stop. Charlie, his family, and all the students who had to witness the shooting are in my thoughts. We have disagreements, but we all agree something has to change,” Hogg wrote.
Gabrielle Giffords, a former representative who became a gun violence prevention advocate after surviving an assassination attempt, said political disagreements should never include violence.
“I’m horrified to hear that Charlie Kirk was shot at an event in Utah,” Giffords wrote. “Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence.”
