By Frank Chung

Copyright news

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” US President Donald Trump said in a statement shared by the White House.

“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!”

Vice President JD Vance shared Mr Trump’s post, writing, “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.”

In a subsequent post, Mr Trump called for all American flags throughout the US to be flown at half must until Sunday evening “in honour of Charlie Kirk, a truly Great American Patriot”.

“The Left is the party of murder,” tech billionaire Elon Musk wrote.

Mr Musk was responding to a post by Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire.

“The Left lectured us for the last decade about the dangers of violence from the Right,” Mr Maguire wrote. “From the assassination attempts of President Trump. To Brian Thompson, the United Healthcare CEO, being murdered. Now to Charlie Kirk. The danger was actually on the Left.”

Tech entrepreneur David Sacks said his friend was “the best of America”.

“A self-made man, a young husband and father, and a patriot, he was relentlessly positive about the future,” he wrote.

“He dedicated his life to making a difference with young people, drawing huge crowds everywhere he went. He was open to ideas and willing to debate anyone. That good-natured openness is what got him killed by an intolerant lunatic. Charlie was winning the debate, and for that, he had to be silenced, permanently. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Erika and his family.”

Key Trump adviser Stephen Miller wrote, “Our hearts are shattered. America has lost one of its greatest champions. A loving family has lost the most extraordinary husband and father. All of us must now dedicate ourselves to defeating the evil that stole Charlie from this world.”

Daily Wire host Matt Walsh wrote on X, “I’m totally devastated. Charlie was a friend and a very good man. I always worried that it would come to this eventually. I never thought it would be Charlie. He will be dearly missed. I’m praying for his family.”

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz called Kirk’s murder “an act of unspeakable evil”.

“Charlie was a close friend; we first met when he was just 18, and Turning Point was a nascent idea,” he said.

“Charlie was courageous, brilliant, compassionate, and powerfully honest. He was a strong Christian who boldly proclaimed the Gospel. Charlie loved our country deeply, and we will forever remember him and honour his legacy.”

Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro said he was “utterly stunned and heartbroken and sick to my soul today”.

“We must pick up the baton where Charlie left it, fighting for the things he believed in so passionately,” he said. “And we must fight for a better America — an America where good people can speak truth and debate passionately without fear of a bullet.”

Ohio Governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Kirk was “more committed to peaceful, open dialogue with those who disagreed with him than anyone I know”.

“God blessed him with immense gifts, and he used them boldly and without fear,” he said.

“He knew the risks he was taking, but he did it anyway because he loved his kids & felt a responsibility to the nation they would inhabit. I travelled the entire country with him last year, we spent 1×1 time together in Ohio two weeks ago, spoke to him again 2 days ago. He’s long warned of the rise of political violence & the growing culture of assassination, when few were willing to listen, with a clarity of vision unlike anyone I’ve known. Completely and utterly devastated.”

William Wolfe, executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership, wrote, “This gets even worse when you consider that Charlie Kirk — more than anyone else in America on the right or the left — built his platform making a good faith effort to model civil political discourse and debate in the public square.

“His entire project was built on reaching across the divide and using speech, not violence, to address and resolve the issues!”

UK broadcaster Piers Morgan called it an “an appalling assault on free speech and democracy”. “Charlie always welcomed debate, with anyone,” he wrote. “This is disgusting, and heart-breaking. RIP Charlie”

Far-right commentator Nick Fuentes wrote, “This feels like a nightmare. One of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen. I feel absolutely gutted and devastated. Pray for Charlie Kirk’s soul, his young family and for our country. The violence and hatred has to stop. Our country needs Christ now more than ever.”

In his final post on X, Kirk referenced the brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed in the neck on a North Carolina train last month.

“If we want things to change, it’s 100 per cent necessary to politicise the senseless murder of Iryna Zarutska because it was politics that allowed a savage monster with 14 priors to be free on the streets to kill her,” he said.

Kirk was fatally shot in the neck on Wednesday afternoon while speaking in front of hundreds of people at Utah Valley University in Orem.

Kirk was conducting a Q&A session from a pop-up tent on campus when the incident occurred, sending thousands of spectators into a panic.

The gunman reportedly fired the shot from the university’s Losee Center with a long gun around 200 feet (60 metres) away from where he was speaking, the NY Post reports, citing sources.

Kirk was hospitalised in a “critical” condition following the shooting but could not be saved.

He leaves behind wife Erika and two children.

Kirk founded Turning Point USA, a conservative campus organisation, in 2012.

Police earlier said a suspect was taken in custody.

However, a university spokesperson said the individual taken into custody has since been released, CBS reports.

More to come