Tributes are pouring in for the prominent U.S. conservative activist, campaigner, and author Charlie Kirk (31) who had died after being shot an event at Utah Valley University today where he was speaking to students.
President Donald Trump, who had earlier asked for prayers for Mr Kirk who he said was a “tremendous person”, described him as a “great, and even legendary” man, adding that “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!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Mr Kirk was married to Erika Kirk, and the couple had two children together, a daughter, aged 3, and a son, aged 1.
President Trump also ordered all American flags to be flown at half-mast following the shooting of Mr Kirk. “In honor of Charlie Kirk, a truly Great American Patriot, I am ordering all American Flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Sunday evening at 6pm (1pm BST),” the president said.
Vice-President JD Vance described him as a man who had facilitated “open and honest dialogue between left and right”, saying that Mr Kirk “would answer any question and talk to everyone”.
Mr Kirk encouraged debate on campus, even if conversations were “challenging” saying that “when people stopped talking that’s when you get violence”, because “you start to think the other side is so evil that they lose their humanity”.
Former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said that: “The murder of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy, and a sign of the utter desperation and cowardice of those who could not defeat him in argument.”
“Charlie Kirk has been killed not for espousing extremist views – because he didn’t. He has been killed for saying things that used to be simple common sense,” he added.
“He has been killed because he had the courage to stand up publicly for reasonable opinions held by millions and millions of ordinary people both in the US and Britain. The world has a shining new martyr to free speech. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.”
Many of those mourning the widely respected and admired commentator and activist seemed stunned at what had happened after Mr Kirk was shot and died of his wounds. Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro said he was “utterly stunned and heartbroken and sick to my soul”.
“Like all of you, I am utterly stunned and heartbroken and sick to my soul today. It is unimaginable to write these words,” he said on X. “I met Charlie Kirk when he was 18 years old, a young man so eager and determined that I immediately turned to a friend and said, “That kid is going to be the head of the RNC one day”.”
“Charlie became even bigger and more important than that. It was a privilege to watch this principled man stand up for his beliefs and create the single most important conservative political organization in America. But more importantly, Charlie was a good man, a man who believed in right and wrong, who stood by his Biblical values,” he wrote.
“All of us will miss him, and I can’t imagine the pain of his beautiful young family, and we must all pray for them. And we must pick up the baton where Charlie left it, fighting for the things he believed in so passionately. And we must fight for a better America – an America where good people can speak truth and debate passionately without fear of a bullet. I weep for Charlie’s family, and I weep for my country today. Most of all, I weep for Charlie.”
Robert F Kennedy Jr said: “Once again, a bullet has silenced the most eloquent truth teller of an era. My dear friend Charlie Kirk was our country’s relentless and courageous crusader for free speech. We pray for Erika and the children. Charlie is already in paradise with the angels. We ask his prayers for our country.”
Across Europe, Mr Kirk’s friends and admirers also spoke of shock and disbelief. “I have no words. I don’t understand how to live in a world where someone would take a father away from his young children for having a different opinion,” commentator Konstantin Kisin said, also quoting from author George RR Martin: “When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say”.
The Telegraph said that “no millennial (barring JD Vance) had more of an impact on the Trump-era Republican Party than Charlie Kirk,” and described his murder as a “terrifying moment for American democracy”.
Mr Kirk was a prominent ally of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. At the age of just 18, he co-founded Turning Point USA in 2018, and advocated for conservative politics at high schools and universities. He was considered an important energising force amongst young conservatives.
He often spoke of the importance of his faith and the role of fatherhood to his millions of social media followers.
The shooter is still not in custody, local media report, at this time. A person was detained at the scene, but is not the suspect officials said.