There, a little after noon in Arizona, TPUSA founder and conservative media icon Charlie Kirk had been in the midst of an event on a green lawn at Utah Valley University when a shot rang out. Struck in the neck, Kirk jerked back and fell. The crowd scrambled in panic.
Roughly an hour and a half later, President Donald Trump announced Kirk was dead. The 31-year-old leaves behind a wife and two young children. As of press time, his killer remains on the loose.
Around that time, Kirk admirers began to arrive at TPUSA’s headquarters in Phoenix to pay their respects. Kirk founded the conservative organization in 2012, focusing on spreading conservative ideals through high schools and colleges. It grew to become one of the most powerful forces in the Republican Party, growing conservative communities on college campuses and registering new voters. Both TPUSA and Kirk also became divisive, pushing far-right positions on abortion, women’s roles in American life, immigration and more.
As social media roiled — many decrying political violence of any stripe, others grotesquely celebrating his death or calling for reprisals against “the left” despite scant information about Kirk’s killer and their motive — the mood outside TPUSA was somber.
Kirk’s supporters parked their cars in the gravel parking lot across from the office building and walked over to pay their respects. Couples wearing MAGA hats and red-white-and-blue attire wiped tears away. Groups of people held hands and stood in a circle with their heads down to pray. Others squatted at the base of the memorial for a few moments before walking back to their cars in the over 100-degree heat.
The American and Arizona flags stood at half mast in front of the building’s entrance. Cars drove up slowly to take a look at the building and growing memorial. A few cars had “R.I.P. Charlie Kirk” written in white paint on their rear windows.
At the building’s door, a black and white photo of Kirk sat propped up. Next to it, a large white poster board read: “NO COMPROMISE WITH EVIL. GOD IS WITH CHARLIE 4 HIS FAMILY.” American flags stuck out of a growing pile of various flowers, including white roses, yellow mums, white daisies, sunflowers and red roses. Balloons floated above.
“I’m devastated,” Janae Voss told Phoenix New Times. “My heart is broken for his parents, his wife, his children. I can’t even imagine. We’re devastated and we didn’t even know him personally.”
Voss’s husband, Steven, sported a black MAGA hat as tears formed in his eyes. He first saw Kirk speak at a Turning Point event in Phoenix four years ago. He didn’t know what to expect, but upon hearing Kirk talk, “what struck me immediately about Charlie was his heart for people,” he said.
“This is a complete tragedy. It is the biggest loss,” he added.
Standing outside the door, Turning Point employee Nick Savage said people started gathering at the building around 1:30 p.m. Many remained as the sun began to set on Wednesday evening. It’s unclear if much was going on inside. Turning Point’s media team did not respond to a message from New Times about whether the offices will remain open.
As the afternoon wore on, Turning Point employees put three metal signposts into the ground to hang a large banner with Kirk’s image. “May Charlie be received into the merciful arms of Jesus, our loving Savior,” it read. Another memorial, with flowers, balloons and flags, began to form in front of the sign and along the sidewalk as more attendees gathered there to pay their respects.
Mark Fleek was working at a nearby apartment complex when he heard the news, which left him feeling “shocked and angry.” The 55-year-old drives by Turning Point’s headquarters all the time for the trucking company that employs him and decided to stop by on his way home from work.
“He’s gonna be missed,” Fleek said.
Charlie Kirk founded Turning Point USA in Phoenix in 2012, growing it into a major force in Republican politics.
Morgan Fischer
ASU reacts
At Arizona State University in Tempe, where Turning Point maintains a large presence and where Kirk has held several events over the years, the campus was quiet.The ASU chapter of TPUSA had a meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening, at which its members were set "to debate peers about controversial topics and learn common fallacies to look out for." But minutes after Kirk was shot, it was canceled.
"May he be received into the merciful arms of our loving Savior, who suffered and died for Charlie," the group posted on Instagram, where it has 32,000 followers. "We ask that everyone keep his family and loved ones in your prayers. We ask that you please respect their privacy and dignity at this time."
Wednesday afternoon, there were no signs of any vigils for Kirk or any other gatherings. Most students were reluctant to speak — some not wanting to discuss the killing at all, while others were seemingly worried they would say something offensive. Some hadn't heard the news or didn’t know who Kirk was.
Ellika, a freshman from the Valley, contrasted the coverage of Kirk’s death with the coverage of other, less-covered shootings. Indeed, not long after Kirk was shot, a shooting occurred at a Colorado high school.
"There's probably like three other shootings that happened just today,” Elika said. “There's shootings all the time. In Palestine, there are people dying all the time — and all of a sudden people care about this life of a man who specifically said shootings are fine because we need to protect the 2nd Amendment," she said. "I'm not saying I'm happy someone died. But I don't think he deserves this much sympathy if he never gave it to anyone else."
Rowan, a freshman, read to New Times a text he had just sent to a friend.
"I can't feel too terribly bad for him. When Kyle Rittenhouse killed people and (Kirk) condones it, he has to be prepared to face the same scrutiny," he said. "I feel bad for his family."
Other students were more distraught over the news. Kristin, a sophomore, recalled a November campus appearance Kirk made with Bryce Hall and Kari Lake, but said she knew little about what Turning Point USA did on campus.
"While I may not have agreed with Charlie Kirk as a person or even respected him, no one deserves to be shot at the end of the day,” she said.
Michael, a junior studying neurobiology, was sitting on a bench near the Memorial Union and talking to his father on the phone about the gruesome video of Kirk being shot in the neck.
"There's gun violence all the time. Last week, it was a church in Minnesota, and there's another shooting and there's going to be another one," he told New Times, surprised to hear there was another shooting earlier in the day in Colorado. "I don't even care for Kirk's politics, but you don't have to like someone to not kill them. It's depressing to see."
Though no shooter has been arrested and no motive has been identified, many have jumped to the obvious conclusion that Kirk was assassinated for his politics. In a statement to New Times, Phoenix police said they’re “not aware of any credible threats to our community” focused on TPUSA, but they “remain in close coordination” with the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center, “who continue to monitor the situation closely.”
