In the wake of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Loyola students have expressed everything from indifference to sadness.
On Sept. 10, a video surfaced of Kirk getting shot while speaking at an event held on the campus of Utah Valley University.
Law enforcement officials have since captured Kirk’s assassin, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who surrendered in fear of being shot himself.
Kirk was not only a friend and comrade of U.S. President Donald Trump, but also an ally in growing a base of young Republican voters.
Utah governor Spencer Cox labeled it a political assassination. Concerning the attack, Cox said, “This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation.”
Shortly before being shot, Kirk was taking questions from the crowd specifically about mass shootings.
With Kirk’s assassination, there were a lot of discussions about unity, requests for citizens to join in mourning Kirk’s death, and calls for people to show empathy for the conservative podcaster and Turning Point USA founder.
Christopher Pouncy, a senior mass communication major, shared his views on the matter.
“It’s a very unfortunate circumstance. I understand that it’s politics and people may not have agreed with everything he has done or said, but at the end of the day, he still had a family,” Pouncy said. “A life was taken away, and we as people shouldn’t celebrate his demise.”
An exchange student from Ireland, offered his perspective as a global citizen on the outside looking in.
“I don’t know who he really is or what he was affiliated with, but somehow it still spread all over the world; everyone heard about it,” Michael said.
“Even my parents were talking to me, ‘Did you hear what happened?’, I supposed I did a little bit of research into what happened, it seemed like he had very strong opinions. I guess what it emphasizes for me is how crazy it is over here. The United States of America doesn’t seem that united.”
Business management and accounting major Mya Butler said, “Me personally, I didn’t agree with a lot of his views, I still don’t think [it’s] okay for somebody to just assassinate him.”
After speaking with those students around campus, most of them could agree on one idea, humanity. The overall message: Whether you agreed with who he was or what he represented while he was alive, Charlie Kirk was human and had a family. No one deserves a public assassination for millions to see. Political differences aside, he didn’t deserve to be assassinated.
