University of Kwazulu-Natal

Charlie Kirk Shooting Adds To Time Of Political Upheaval And Violence

Bonisiwe Shabane
-
charlie kirk shooting adds to time of political upheaval and violence

Charlie Kirk is shown at the Republican National Convention in downtown Milwaukee, Wis., on July 17, 2024. Joel Angel Juarez/The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk Wednesday at a college in Utah is the latest in a series of politically motivated violent acts just in recent months. And they have spanned the political spectrum: Those are only some of the incidents in just the past 14 months. This is undoubtedly a time of tremendous political volatility.

The shooter's motivation is not yet known, but Kirk, who co-founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), an organization focused on younger voters and spreading conservative ideas, was a prominent figure in Trump world. The killing of Charlie Kirk and the political violence haunting America, the deadly ‘kissing bug’ disease spreading across the U.S., and more Charlie Kirk was doing what he so often did—working a college crowd, prodding and provoking students in debate. The 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA was at Utah Valley University near Salt Lake City on Sept. 10, surrounded by thousands of students gathered in an outdoor courtyard. It was the first stop of Kirk’s fall campus tour, and he was seated beneath a tent emblazoned with the words “The American Comeback.” Kirk became a star in these settings.

Since founding his right-wing advocacy organization at 18, he proved peerless at channeling youthful discontent into political energy, shaping a movement with national reach. As Kirk fielded questions from the audience, a shot rang out, striking him in the neck. Panicked students scattered. Kirk was rushed to the hospital. Grisly footage of the shooting rocketed across social media. Inside the West Wing, staff sat in shocked silence, scrolling to see the latest updates of news on their phones and messages on their computer screens.

At 4:40 p.m., Trump announced Kirk’s death on Truth Social. “No one,” the President wrote, “understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.” He leaves behind a wife and two young children. Click here to buy your copy of this issue In recent years, the prospect of a political assassination such as this, carried out before a stunned crowd in broad daylight, has hung over a nation riven by factional fury. Elected officials whispered about it in green rooms and on campaign buses. When the moment arrived, it unfolded with chilling precision: a campus stage, a microphone, a single burst of gunfire.

Where it will lead now is an ominous question with no obvious answers. Public officials have repeatedly denounced political violence. Public officials from both sides of the aisle and law enforcement have been raising the alarm about political violence being on the rise in America, with public officials being increasingly targeted by violent attacks. One of the most recent examples was Wednesday's fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA, during an event at Utah Valley University, A suspect has been arrested in Kirk's shooting, officials announced Friday. Here is a timeline of political violence in recent years.

The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a college campus shocked the nation and is forcing it to confront what appears to be an increase in political violence across the country. Kirk was shot by a rifle-wielding gunman during an event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. The killing ignited a social media firestorm amid a statewide search for the killer. Police arrested Utah resident Tyler Robinson, 22, on Sept. 11 as a suspect in the shooting.

Utah County prosecutors will formally arraign Robinson in court on Sept. 16. With Robinson in custody, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, asked young Americans to reject violence in the wake of Kirk’s death. "You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage, it feels like rage is the only option," Cox said. The first six months of 2025 saw an 85.5% increase in terrorist attacks within the United States compared to the same time period last year, according to analysis from the University of Maryland’s Study...

Arie Perliger, The Conversation Arie Perliger, The Conversation Alfonso Serrano, The Conversation Alfonso Serrano, The Conversation The fatal shooting of prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, 2025, has brought renewed attention to the climate of political violence in America. Kirk’s death reflects a sizable increase in threats against officeholders and politicians at the local and federal level. Alfonso Serrano, a politics editor at The Conversation, spoke with University of Massachusetts Lowell scholar Arie Perliger after Kirk’s shooting.

Perliger studies political violence and assassinations and spoke bluntly about political polarization in the United States. ALFONSO SERRANO: What were your initial thoughts after Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting? • Charlie Kirk, a conservative US political activist and campaigner for President Donald Trump, has been fatally shot at an event at Utah Valley University. • The shooter – who is still at large – is believed to have fired once from a nearby roof in a “targeted attack,” according to the Utah Department of Public Safety, which is... • A manhunt is underway. Two people who were considered suspects were later released, the department said.

• There has been an outpouring of condemnation from both sides of the aisle. Trump described Kirk’s death as a “dark moment for America” and blamed rhetoric from the “radical left” for causing political violence. • As Trump remade the Republican Party over the past decade, Kirk embodied the GOP’s newfound populist conservatism in the social media age. Trump has credited Kirk with galvanizing and mobilizing the youth vote for him. Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Wednesday during an event at a Utah college. Some members of Congress are reacting.

Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event. Some Democratic lawmakers are reacting. Well-wishers pay their respects at a makeshift memorial at the national headquarters of Turning Point USA shown after the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the organization, during a Utah... 10, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Members of the U.S. Secret Service counter sniper team walk onto the roof of the White House after the American flag at the White House in Washington, was lowered to half-staff after Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder... 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Charlie Kirk speaks before he is shot during Turning Point’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025.

(Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP) The deadly shooting of right-wing activist and Chicago-area native Charlie Kirk marks a pivotal moment amid a rising threat of political violence in America, experts say. NBC Chicago’s JC Navarrete has the latest. The deadly shooting of right-wing activist and Chicago-area native Charlie Kirk marks a pivotal moment amid a rising threat of political violence in America, experts say. Kirk died at 31-years-old after he was shot while presenting at Utah Valley University Wednesday, officials said. Stream NBC 5 for free, 24/7, wherever you are.

A suburban Chicago native and supporter of President Donald Trump, Kirk is the founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, a right-wing political organization that focuses on motivating young people to be politically... Three thousand people attended the Turning Point USA event at which Charlie Kirk spoke on Wednesday, on an outdoor green at Utah Valley University. The sheer size of that crowd—in the morning, at a school in a suburb of Provo, and even if some were there to protest—is just another piece of evidence that Kirk, in his years-long... There was a Q. & A. portion, and someone asked how many transgender Americans had been mass shooters in the past decade, to which Kirk replied, “Too many.” The person next asked, “Do you know how many mass shooters there...

In the audience, heads turn: someone had shot him, apparently from an elevated position about a hundred and fifty yards away. Soon, Kirk’s spokesman announced that he had been killed. He was thirty-one, and left behind a wife and two young children. President Trump, a close ally, ordered all flags flown at half-staff until Sunday evening. Kirk’s death was brutal, and tragic. It also had the effect that terrorists aim for, of spreading political panic.

In the immediate aftermath of a killing with obvious political resonance, there is a period of nervous foreboding, as the public waits for news of the perpetrator’s identity and for any hints of what... But, as often as not, information brings no clarity. We have a fairly good sense of the politics that motivated Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of the UnitedHealthcare C.E.O., and James Fields, who sped his car into a crowd of counter-protesters at the... But attempts to define the political motives of Thomas Crooks (who tried to kill Trump last summer, in Butler, Pennsylvania), or of Cody Balmer (who has been charged with firebombing Governor Josh Shapiro’s official... Robin Westman, who stands accused of shooting and killing two children at a Catholic church in Minneapolis last month (and whose transgender identity was the focus of many right-wing media reports), had written “Kill... The motives were strange and idiosyncratic enough that they couldn’t easily be blamed on any one partisan side.

The effect of these violent acts on politics has been easier to track. Shortly after the news of Kirk’s shooting, the former Obama Administration official and liberal pundit Tommy Vietor echoed a common sentiment when he wrote on social media, “Political violence is evil and indefensible. It’s a cancer that will feed off itself and spread.” If that is right—if violence is contagious—then that is because each act generates its own responsive pattern of fear. The news itself in recent years has been a catalogue of the ubiquity of political aggression and anticipatory dread. In 2022, a man arrived at Brett Kavanaugh’s home with a Glock and padded boots; later that year, a man broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home and tried to murder her husband with a hammer. Threats against members of Congress have also escalated significantly in the past decade.

People Also Search

Charlie Kirk Is Shown At The Republican National Convention In

Charlie Kirk is shown at the Republican National Convention in downtown Milwaukee, Wis., on July 17, 2024. Joel Angel Juarez/The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk Wednesday at a college in Utah is the latest in a series of politically motivated violent acts just in recent months. And they have spanned the political spectrum: Those are o...

The Shooter's Motivation Is Not Yet Known, But Kirk, Who

The shooter's motivation is not yet known, but Kirk, who co-founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), an organization focused on younger voters and spreading conservative ideas, was a prominent figure in Trump world. The killing of Charlie Kirk and the political violence haunting America, the deadly ‘kissing bug’ disease spreading across the U.S., and more Charlie Kirk was doing what he so often did—work...

Since Founding His Right-wing Advocacy Organization At 18, He Proved

Since founding his right-wing advocacy organization at 18, he proved peerless at channeling youthful discontent into political energy, shaping a movement with national reach. As Kirk fielded questions from the audience, a shot rang out, striking him in the neck. Panicked students scattered. Kirk was rushed to the hospital. Grisly footage of the shooting rocketed across social media. Inside the Wes...

At 4:40 P.m., Trump Announced Kirk’s Death On Truth Social.

At 4:40 p.m., Trump announced Kirk’s death on Truth Social. “No one,” the President wrote, “understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.” He leaves behind a wife and two young children. Click here to buy your copy of this issue In recent years, the prospect of a political assassination such as this, carried out before a stunned crowd in broad daylig...

Where It Will Lead Now Is An Ominous Question With

Where it will lead now is an ominous question with no obvious answers. Public officials have repeatedly denounced political violence. Public officials from both sides of the aisle and law enforcement have been raising the alarm about political violence being on the rise in America, with public officials being increasingly targeted by violent attacks. One of the most recent examples was Wednesday's...