PHOENIX, Ariz. — Late Wednesday, supporters of Charlie Kirk gathered in different parts of the valley to honor his legacy hours after he was assassinated at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
The headquarters of Turning Point USA, a conservative advocacy organization, became one such place where people came to mourn, pray and leave behind flowers underneath the two banners bearing Kirk’s face and a prayer.
Two police cars blocked vehicles from entering the Phoenix street as people, alone and with their families, made the short walk from a nearby parking lot to pay their respects.
Kirk’s social media account posted a eulogy that spoke about his enduring legacy.
“When asked, Charlie said that above all he wished to be remembered for his faith,” the post said. “Far more than any political victory, Charlie wanted to see a spiritual revival among America’s youth. He wanted a nation of happy, thriving families who loved God and each other.”
The murder of Kirk during a midday campus event poses questions about the state of political division in this country.
It also leaves a deep scar on the conservative movement that he helped breathe new life into here in Arizona.
Kirk’s business partner and close friend, Tyler Bowyer, posted a message on X at close to 2 a.m. Mountain Time.
“I’ve been awake all night reading through text after text with Charlie about our plans & strategies how we must organize to defeat the radical Left in 2026, 2028 & beyond.”
“Reading & reading out loud,” he wrote. “Saving everything. Nothing will be forgotten or challenged later. This is a War.”
In an appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast, Bowyer urged people to turn their pain into activism. “That’s what Charlie would have wanted,” Bowyer said.
The Turning Point COO added he got a front-row seat to “The Charlie Kirk Show” in a broader sense.
Every day brought a new opportunity to take bigger leaps, Bowyer added.
Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, a BYU graduate and a Latter-day Saint, expressed his heartbreak in a series of posts and encouraged continued prayer for Kirk’s wife, Erika, and their two children.
In a radio appearance Thursday, Biggs indicated taking inspiration from President Donald Trump, who has been the target of multiple assassination attempts.
“We’re all going to have to actually take a page out of President Trump’s book,” Biggs said. After the hit on his life, the president “rose up and said, ‘We’re gonna fight, fight, fight,’” Biggs said.
“When he says that, he’s not talking about the physical fight, he’s talking about the spiritual fight and the political battle, that’s going on — and that’s where Charlie was, too.”
Biggs and Bowyer know that a time of grief will precede these calls to action.
Arizona is in a period of mourning.
From the TPUSA headquarters through the rest of the valley — Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe, Queen Creek and Scottsdale, Kirk’s residence — people of faith gathered to pray and process the tragic events.
“It’s a blow. It’s a cut. It’s all to the heart,” said John Yep, the president of Catholics for Catholics.
On Wednesday, Yep, a friend of Kirk, spoke at the late political activist’s vigil and led a prayer service in Desert Horizon Park, in North Scottsdale, a 30-minute drive from the TPUSA headquarters.
Despite the short notice, about 500 people were in attendance, including local and national press, Yep told the Deseret News Thursday morning.
“It was really his local Catholic community,” he said. “Charlie attended the local church, and we all knew him, all friends, family, kids, everything.”
“I imagine the funeral will be at our parish,” Yep added.
Vice President JD Vance escorted Kirk’s body on Air Force Two from Utah to Arizona late Thursday.
Yep said Catholics for Catholics considered hosting the event indoors but they ultimately decided against it. “Charlie was in the public space, debating, presenting his ideas,” said Yep. “In the face of fear and intimidation, we can’t back down.”
Yep called Kirk an “American hero” and attributed his involvement in politics and cultural debates to Kirk’s deep sense of faith.
In conversation with the Deseret News prior to the assassination, Kirk said that his intention wasn’t to provoke the other side for the internet’s attention, but to help young people consider the “traditional” point of view.
And that meant giving matters of faith and family a healthy consideration.
“We’re people of prayer,” said Yep. “But we’re also people of righteous indignation who want justice. ... We are tired of not getting answers behind some of these shootings and murders.”
He held this last month’s record up as an example. The high school shooting in Colorado on the same day as the assassination. Earlier this week, the man who stabbed a Ukrainian refugee on a train in North Carolina.
“When you have two sides that are so fundamentally opposed to each other, it’s going to be very tough to be united. ... Because we have completely different viewpoints about what America is,” Yep said.
The Catholics for Catholics is officially partnering with the White House on a prayer campaign for America. “We must be a nation that returns to prayer ... that’s our only hope,” said Yep.
The FBI released two photos of a person of interest in connection with the assassination. The federal agency is also offering a $100,0000 bounty for any information that could help catch the shooter.
The killer remains at large, but Gov. Spencer Cox vowed that federal and state law enforcement officials would capture the shooter.
The news is especially weighing on politically involved Arizona residents, including Marilyn Gregorin, the president of Chandler Republican Women. She described it as disturbing when speaking to the Deseret News on Thursday morning.
“He was a part of all of our political lives because we all knew him, we all reached out to him, we all volunteered with their group. We were like family,” she said.
She had expected to see him at upcoming conferences but “those things will never happen,” Gregorin said with a pause.
When Gregorin spoke to the Deseret News last year at a rally for Trump’s reelection, she carried a deep sense of optimism and positivity.
On Thursday morning, after she read reports about Kirk’s life, in a somber tone, she shared her thoughts about the pressing uncertainties.
“Charlie was a household name,” she said. “Who’s going to head that group is the big question. I’m sure there’s many young people coming up the ranks.”
“AMFest is around the corner,” she said, referring to the annual America Fest, hosted annually by TPUSA in Phoenix.
“Knowing the organization and knowing the strength of the group, I would assume that it will still go on.”
Echoing Bowyer’s words, Gregorin said, “the war has started.”
She said sees it as a time to make the movement bigger and stronger. “God has taken him for a reason and a purpose that we don’t understand here on Earth.”
Contributed reporting: Brigham Tomco