Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Wednesday reportedly extended his prayers for Charlie Kirk, the outspoken conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, after Kirk was shot during a campus event in Utah.
By evening, President Donald J. Trump confirmed Kirk had died, calling him “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk.”
DeSantis, speaking at the opening of an environmental press conference in Miami, reflected on his long friendship with Kirk, who built one of the most influential conservative youth organizations in the country. “We’re praying for him and his family,” the governor said. “But I think we also have to reflect on the fact that the way to resolve political disputes is not through violence, and we see increasing levels of political violence in this country.”
The shooting occurred at Utah Valley University in Orem, where Kirk had been speaking under a white tent bearing the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” Videos posted to social media captured the shocking moment: Kirk, holding a microphone, suddenly reached for his neck after a gunshot rang out.
Blood poured from the left side of his neck as stunned students screamed and fled the scene. The Associated Press later confirmed the footage was filmed in the Sorensen Center courtyard on the UVU campus.
Just before 5 p.m., Trump delivered the grim news. “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” he 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!”
For DeSantis, who said he and his wife Casey had personally known Kirk for more than a decade, the attack represented more than the loss of a friend. “It was not just an attack on Charlie personally,” he said, “but an attack on the idea that we resolve these things through reason, debate and elections.”
Kirk, 30, had risen to prominence as a tireless champion of conservative values on college campuses, often braving hostile crowds to argue against progressive orthodoxy.
He built Turning Point USA into a national platform, rallying young people behind free markets, limited government, and traditional American values.
His provocative speaking style drew critics, but also inspired a generation of conservatives to stand up to what they saw as left-wing dominance in academia.
The violent attack on Kirk underscores what many on the right describe as a dangerous escalation of political hostility in the United States. DeSantis warned that America must reject violence as a tool of political persuasion. “The way to resolve political disputes is not through violence,” he said pointedly, stressing that the fabric of democracy relies on open debate and the ballot box.
The alleged perpetrator of Kirk’s murder, Tyler Robinson, was reportedly apprehended in Utah on Friday and reportedly has repeatedly expressed support for various far-left ideologies.
As the nation absorbs the shocking loss of a prominent conservative voice, Trump’s words captured the mood among many: admiration for Kirk’s outsized influence, grief over his passing, and anger at a political climate that too often turns deadly.
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