Charlie Kirk’s widow says his campus tour will continue despite his death
Johana Bhuiyan
Erika Kirk, the widow of right wing activist and provocateur Charlie Kirk, said in a statement Friday evening that her late husband’s message and mission will be “stronger, bolder, louder and greater than ever” and that her “cries will echo around the world like a battle cry”.
“I loved knowing one of his mottoes was ‘never surrender’,” she said of her late husband. “We’ll never surrender.”
Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of the hard-right youth organization Turning Point USA, died after being fatally shot while speaking at an event hosted at Utah Valley University (UVU) on Wednesday afternoon. The event was the first in the organization’s fall tour of college campuses. Erika Kirk said that the campus tour will continue despite her husband’s death.
“In a world filled with chaos, doubt and uncertainty, my husband’s voice will remain and it will ring out louder and more clearly than ever and his wisdom will endure,” she said.
Erika Kirk, speaking from her husband’s Turning Point USA office on Friday evening, said Charlie had been killed because “he preached a message of patriotism, faith and of God’s merciful love”.
Key events
Closing summary
This liveblog is now closing. You can read our full coverage of the Charlie Kirk shooting here. A summary from today:
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More people are losing their jobs as a crackdown on speech deemed disrespectful towards Charlie Kirk continues. As Reuters reported this morning, at least 15 people have been either fired or suspended, due to commentary about Kirk, the rightwing activist and close Trump ally who was killed this week. Kirk supporters, including activists and US government officials, have engaged in online campaigns to track down people allegedly making light of Kirk’s death.
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A congressional staffer in Mexico resigned following a social media campaign targeting him. The staffer had made comments that criticized Kirk this week during a Mexican television news program. The news network, Milenio, also published a public apology after the deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, threatened to revoke the visas of foreign nationals criticizing or making light of Kirk’s death.
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On Friday in cities across the US, people gathered to pay tribute to Kirk.
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And Erika Kirk, the widow of the rightwing provocateur, said on Friday evening that her late husband’s message and mission will be “stronger, bolder, louder and greater than ever” and that her “cries will echo around the world like a battle cry”.
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Meanwhile, the Washington Post revealed today that the Trump administration has drafted a plan to send in national guard troops to major cities in Louisiana. This follows a trend by the administration of increasingly using the military for law enforcement and civilian matters. The Trump administration has been stepping up those militarization efforts in major cities across the US, with limited success.
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More information has come out about the man killed on Friday in Illinois by federal immigration officials. Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a resident of Franklin Park, Illinois, was shot and killed as officers attempted to arrest him. The Department of Homeland Security said Villegas-Gonzalez drove his car at the officers, injuring one of them. The consulate general of Mexico in Chicago confirmed Villegas was a cook from Mexico and said they were in touch with his family.
Trump administration reportedly has a plan to send national guard to Louisiana
The Trump administration has drafted a proposal to deploy 1,000 national guard troops to focus on law enforcement operations in Louisiana’s “urban centers”, the Washington Post reports.
The plan, from Pete Hegseth and addressed to the attorney general and the Department of Homeland Security, outlines a continuation of the Trump administration’s significant expansion of the military’s role in civilian matters.
The plan would allow the military to supplement law enforcement in major Louisiana cities after it is requested by the state’s governor.
It is unclear whether the governor has requested such assistance and whether the plan has been approved by state or federal officials. But Louisiana’s Republican governor has expressed interest in the idea.
Trump announced a similar plan on Friday to deploy national guard troops to Memphis.
The administration has been criticized for skirting California’s Democratic governor to deploy the national guard to Los Angeles. Trump also attempted to deploy troops to Chicago, and approximately 2,300 national guard troops have been deployed in Washington DC.
The Post reports that after facing resistance from Democratic leaders in California and Illinois, “the president now is looking at states led by Republican governors” to accept troops in Democratic-led cities.
At least 15 people have been fired or suspended from their jobs after discussing Charlie Kirks’s death online, according to a tally by Reuters.
“The total includes journalists, academic workers and teachers,” Reuters reports.
In the past few days, reactions on social media to Kirk’s death have led to multiple people to losing their jobs, as the Guardian reported this morning.
The far-right activist was killed this week at an event in Utah. The dismissals from their jobs come as the Trump administration promises to take action against foreign nationals who made light of Kirk’s killing.
Along with government efforts to clamp down, some conservative figures and groups are organizing social media campaigns to target Kirk’s critics.
Laura Loomer, a Trump loyalist, posted to X: “Prepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined if you are sick enough to celebrate his death. I’m going to make you wish you never opened your mouth.”
People gather in New York to pay tribute to Charlie Kirk
More than 100 people gathered at New York’s Madison Square Park on Friday evening to pay tribute to rightwing commentator Charlie Kirk.
The event, organized by the New York Young Republican Club, featured singing and speeches. Curtis Silwa, Republican candidate for New York City’s mayorship and founder of the Guardian Angels, was present at the event.
Kirk was shot this week during an event at a university in Utah.
Separately, in Brooklyn, another vigil for Kirk was held by local politicians and religious leaders on Friday, the New York Daily News reported.
The man shot and killed by immigration officers in Illinois was a cook from Mexico, the consulate general of Mexico in Chicago confirmed.
Reuters reports that the Mexican consulate was in touch with the family of the man. The Mexican government also requested more information from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency, whose officers were involved in the shooting.
On Friday, an Ice official shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez in Franklin Park, Illinois, as officers attempted to arrest him. The Department of Homeland Security said Villegas-Gonzalez drove his car at the officers, injuring one of them.
Ice officers kill man trying to flee vehicle stop near Chicago
Marina Dunbar
A man was fatally shot during a vehicle stop on the outskirts of Chicago on Friday by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers after attempting to flee the scene, according to officials, and another officer was injured during the altercation.
Ice released the following statement after the shooting: “This morning in Chicago, Ice officers were conducting targeted local enforcement activity during a vehicle stop, the suspect resisted and attempted to drive his vehicle into the arrest team, striking an officer and subsequently dragging him as he fled the scene, fearing for his life, the officer discharged his firearm and struck the subject. Both the officer and subject immediately received medical treatment and were transferred to a local hospital.”
It continued: “The suspect was pronounced dead at the hospital, the officer sustained severe injuries and is in stable condition, viral social media videos and activists encouraging illegal aliens to resist law enforcement not only spread misinformation, but also undermine public safety, the safety of our officers and those being apprehended.”
The incident involved a traffic stop to check on what Ice said was an undocumented immigrant. It happened about six miles from where, separately, a day-long protest had been unfolding outside an Ice processing center in Broadview, Illinois, where demonstrators clashed with federal government agents on Friday morning. There were reports a demonstrator was shot in the leg with a pepper ball by enforcement officers.
Bullets found after Charlie Kirk’s killing included messages. What did they mean?
Investigators who found a bolt-action rifle near the site where Charlie Kirk was shot on a Utah campus said that they also found casings scrawled with messages.
Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old college student was reported to have confessed to his family that he had shot and killed Kirk earlier this week. Robinson was arrested after his father recognised him in photos and video footage police released of the shooter escaping the scene.
One of the casings read, “hey fascist! CATCH! (up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols),”, according to an affadavit filed on Friday in a Utah court.
The arrows were most likely a reference to the popular video game Helldivers 2 and its sequence of controller moves to unleash a powerful bomb, according to an analysis published by the New York Times.
Much of the other casings had similar messages steeped in video game references and allusions to different internet subcultures.
One of the messages, “Notices bulges OwO what’s this?,” is often used to mock participants in online role-play communities, namely furries. Another message said, “If you read This, you are GAY Lmao,” its tone suggestive of the kind of humour found on internet messaging boards.
Another casing read, “O Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Ciao, ciao!,” likely a reference to the popular Italian folk song “Bella Ciao.” Popularised as an antifascist anthem in Italy after the second world war, it resurfaced globally in recent years because of its inclusion in the hit Netflix series “Money Heist” and in video games, including the first-person shooter game Far Cry 6.
The casing messages, like Robinson’s political ideology, are difficult to parse. The NYT has reported that Robinson registered to vote in Utah, but is not affiliated with a political party and had never voted in an election, according to the Washington County Clerk.
His parents, Matthew Carl Robinson and Amber Denise Robinson are registered Republicans, according to state records.
Chris Stein
The US government is drawing nearer to a potential shutdown after Donald Trump told Republicans on Friday “don’t even bother dealing with” the Democrats, whose congressional leaders are refusing to support spending bills that do not include their healthcare priorities.
Congress is up against an end-of-the-month deadline to approve legislation funding the federal government, otherwise many departments will stop work and employees will be told to stay home. While the Senate and House of Representatives have made some progress on passing the 12 appropriations bills that make up the budget, it seems certain that Congress will need to pass a short-term measure to keep the government open beyond 30 September.
On Thursday, the top House and Senate Democrats said they would not support any legislation that does not meet their demands on healthcare.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, said:
We will not support a partisan spending agreement that continues to rip away healthcare from the American people, period, full stop.
In an interview with Fox News on Friday morning, Trump insisted that Republicans should go it alone on spending – a tall ask because Democrats can use the Senate’s filibuster to block legislation in the upper chamber.
“They want to give away money to this and then that, destroy the country. If you gave them every dream, they would not vote for it,” Trump said of the Democrats. He said he had told Republicans: “Don’t even bother dealing with them.”
The squabble is developing as Democrats face pressure from their base to use whatever leverage they have in Congress to stand up to Trump, with an eye towards retaking control of at least one chamber in next year’s midterm elections. While Jeffries and other top Democrats have been vague about what exactly they are demanding in exchange for keeping the government open, they appear to want to undo changes to Medicaid and other federal health insurance programs imposed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Republicans passed in July.
David Smith
What a swell party it was. Guests feasted on half-shell oysters and champagne at Washington’s luxury Salamander Hotel. Donald Trump Jr danced to YMCA while JD Vance quipped: “They don’t tell you when you run for vice-president that you get brought on stage with the Village People.”
Guests at the $15,000-a-head Turning Point Inaugural Eve Ball last January included future FBI director Kash Patel, Jeanine Pirro and the Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor. But towering above them all, literally and figuratively, was Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and key enabler of the rise of Donald Trump.
Kirk, a 31-year-old rightwing activist, podcaster and provocateur, was killed on Wednesday by a single gunshot as he gave a talk at a university in Utah. For the Trumps, it was like a death in the family. Don Jr wrote on the X social media platform: “I love you brother.”
The shock, grief and anger of Trump and his allies reflected not only their personal closeness to Kirk but his political utility to the “Make America great again” (Maga) movement and prominent role in vetting who would staff Trump’s government. It also raised fears that, in a moment of peril for the nation when cool heads are needed, the president’s response to the killing was just as likely to be shaped by highly charged emotions and calls for vengeance.
Charlie Kirk in his own words: “prowling Blacks”, “some gun deaths” worth it for second amendment right
Chris Stein
Charlie Kirk, the far-right commentator and ally of Donald Trump, was killed on Wednesday doing what he was known for throughout his career – making incendiary and often racist and sexist comments to large audiences.
Here’s Kirk, in his own words. Many of his comments were documented by Media Matters for America, a progressive non-profit that tracks conservative media.
On race:
If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.
– The Charlie Kirk Show, 23 January 2024
Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.
– The Charlie Kirk Show, 19 May 2023
If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?
– The Charlie Kirk Show, 3 January 2024
On gender, feminism and reproductive rights:
Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You’re not in charge.
– Discussing news of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement on The Charlie Kirk Show, 26 August 2025
The answer is yes, the baby would be delivered.
– Responding to a question about whether he would support his 10-year-old daughter aborting a pregnancy conceived because of rape on the debate show Surrounded, published on 8 September 2024
On gun violence:
I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.
– Event organised by TPUSA Faith, the religious arm of Kirk’s conservative group Turning Point USA, on 5 April 2023
