GLENDALE, Ariz. — A memorial for Charlie Kirk is set to feature both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, as well as Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk, at State Farm Stadium.
A little after 11 a.m., bagpipe players took the stage as a portrait of Kirk was unveiled on stage.
Tens of thousands of Kirk’s fans, dressed in their Sunday best in red, white and blue colors, packed the stadium to pay tribute to the late conservative activist, who was assassinated on Sept. 10, at Utah Valley University, his first stop on his fall “American Comeback Tour.”
Kirk, 31, had taken two questions as part of his “Prove Me Wrong” table when he was killed by a single bullet in front of 3,000 students and community members. A suspect in his death, Tyler Robinson, has been charged with aggravated murder along with other charges. He appeared in court last week.
Besides founding Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action, Kirk also played an outsized role in the 2024 election. He is credited with activating young voters to turnout for Trump.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee in a post on X on Sunday morning wrote, “I’m in Arizona to celebrate the life of Charlie Kirk—a true friend who made the world a better place."
A travel size pack of tissues and signs with photos of Kirk were laid out on the floor seats. Gospel performances began promptly at 8 a.m, an hour after the doors opened.
Attendees waited for hours, first in the parking lot, which opened at 5 a.m., then in line to get through the TSA-level security lines and to their seats at the stadium that can accommodate more than 60,000 people.
Many people flew to Arizona to attend one of the biggest memorials in U.S. history.
Because of the strict no bag policy, attendees did not carry flowers or any other items to honor Kirk.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated Kirk’s celebration of life a rating typically reserved for events like the Super Bowl or the Boston Marathon, ABC News reported.
The Secret Service worked with local authorities in Phoenix and Glendale as well as state and federal partners days ahead of the memorial.
Many people flew in to attend this funeral. Rochelle Henshaw, who has served as an alternate delegate for the Washington state Republican Party, took a three-hour flight with her family to be there. Before speaking to the Deseret News, she was admiring a photo of Kirk displayed on an easel. TPUSA put up other pictures of Kirk and his family all around the stadium.
She got in line for the memorial event at midnight on Saturday. It wouldn’t have mattered if she didn’t get inside. “We just want to pay our respects,” she told me as performers played gospel music on stage three hours before the programming began.
Henshaw took the dress code seriously, wearing red, white and blue braids, a red denim jacket, a blue sequined top and pants with the American flag printed on them.
Another man, Maurice Symonette, known as “Michael the Black Man,” known for holding the “Blacks for Trump” sign at his rallies, also flew in from Miami, with a stopover in Kansas City, just to attend one of the largest memorials in U.S. history. When asked if he got in line right after landing in Arizona at 8 p.m. last night, Symonette said, “I started the line,” while laughing.
Even though he said he felt tired, he needed to be there.
Symonette wore a “Blacks for Trump” shirt and a sign on his pocket read, “Charlie Kirk is not racist.” As he spoke with the Deseret News, three people came up to him and complimented his shirt.
“I already knew he wasn’t racist because I’ve met him 100 times,” Symonette said.
Security is tight for many reasons. For starters, the scale of the event and the long list of VIPs attending requires. The heightened political also played a role.
Earlier this week, Phoenix police’s bomb squad responded to calls of a suspicious bag spotted by the TPUSA headquarters, which has transformed into a memorial for Kirk. In another instance last weekend, a 22-year-old man, wearing the same T-shirt as the suspect who shot Kirk, stomped over the memorial. He was detained by the police.
Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego canceled his town halls in Tucson and Yuma after receiving an increased number of threatening calls, texts and posts. He did not attribute it to the recent tragedy, as the Arizona Republic reported.
Ahead of the programming, Dan Beazely, a Michigan resident who traveled to Arizona following the assassination, circled the stadium, wheeling a 10-foot cross around with him. He offered prayers at the center of the stadium. Beazely has shown up to the vigils outside Turning Point USA headquarters and Arizona State University in over 100 degree heat for one reason: “So that this cross could stand above all the darkness and shine a light,” he said last week, as the Deseret News reported. Reporters, photographers, swarmed around him to get a photo of the man with the cross.