By Editor,Will Potter
Copyright dailymail
Tributes have poured in from across the political world after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead at a rally at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
Kirk was best known for his debates with students at events such as the one he was holding at UVU, where he sparred with young liberals on issues such as abortion and gun control.
He held the events through his organization Turning Point USA, which Kirk co-founded with his mentor Bill Montgomery.
Montgomery died in July 2020 aged 80 due to complications from Covid-19, eight years after starting the conservative action group with Kirk.
He met Kirk when the young debater was just 18 after hearing Kirk speak at a college event, and has often been described as his mentor who guided him into the political world.
Montgomery provided funding for Turning Point USA to get off the ground, and reportedly advised Kirk to skip college and dedicate himself to making the organization one of the most influential in the nation.
Before Kirk became one of the best known conservatives in America and his celebrity grew as a key ally of Donald Trump, his family also had a surprising connection to the future president.
Kirk’s father Robert Kirk worked in the construction business and owned his own architecture firm, and his resume included work as a project architect manager on Trump Tower in Manhattan, reports PrimeTimer.
Kirk’s father was not an outspoken public figure like his son would become, but he rose to prominence in the construction world through an array of high-profile building projects.
As well as working on Trump Tower, his other properties included the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.
It is not known if the elder Kirk ever personally met with Trump during the president’s real estate days, which would have been decades before Charlie became one of his closest allies.
Charlie Kirk lived in Arizona with his wife Erika and two children, with public records showing they lived in a $5.2 million mansion in Arizona.
Little is known about much of Kirk’s family and they keep a low public profile, including Kirk’s mother Kimberly Ann, who was reportedly a mental health counselor.
Kirk has never shared images of his parents, but has shared pictures of his grandmother celebrating Cubs baseball matches in 2015.
The influencer has also shared an image in 2014 celebrating his sister Mary’s high school graduation, before she went on to become an art curator in Illinois.
In a profile about Kirk in the Chicago Tribune in 2018, it was said that Kirk had once described his parents as Republicans, ‘but not particularly ardent ones.’
Kirk said that his political awakening was not fueled by his parents, but instead came during his high school days after he got into an argument with a teacher about George W. Bush.
‘I remember a class … and (the teacher) was such a militant leftist and socialist, he would put me so on the spot for being a conservative, for being a Republican,’ Kirk recalled.
‘He would say, ‘Socialism is great. We need free health care, free housing.’ He was so aggressive about it.’
His mentor Montgomery said he met Kirk soon after the teenager began his political efforts in April 2012, when Kirk set up a group called SOS Liberty and made YouTube videos espousing conservative values.
Following Kirk’s shooting on Wednesday, it was Trump who delivered the news that the 31-year-old activist was dead.
‘The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,’ Trump posted at 4:40 p.m, around three hours after the shooting.
‘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!’ the president said.
Trump then ordered the flags lowered – with all three American flags at the White House dropped to half-staff.
The president had urged the country to pray for Kirk shortly after the Turning Point USA leader was shot in the neck by an unknown gunman while he was engaging in Q&A with students at the Turning Point USA event.
‘We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!’ Trump said on Truth Social.
