Horror of Kirk's death gives way to tears, shock at murder scene

OREM, Utah — The young man charged with the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk stared blankly into the camera from the Utah County Jail.

There was no doubt, prosecutors declared Tuesday, that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old on the courtroom screen, was the person who had shot and killed Kirk, one of the most charismatic figures in right-wing politics.

But 15 minutes away, where the horror arrived, at TikTok speed, on the afternoon of Sept. 10, a surreal sense of disbelief still hung over the redbrick campus of Utah Valley University.

Many conservatives view Kirk as a martyr. His death has fanned the nation’s political hatreds and prompted calls for retribution from President Donald Trump and members of his administration against left-leaning groups. As shaken students returned to class Wednesday, the talk on campus was less of revenge than of a day-the-earth-stood-still vacancy.

Overnight, this university in Orem, a high-desert city near Provo, about an hour south of the famous Alta and Snowbird ski areas, has been turned into a makeshift shrine. Utah Valley has become a place of pilgrimage for people struggling to comprehend how Robinson — a one-time straight-A student raised in a Republican family among the red rocks of southern Utah – could’ve committed the crimes he’s been accused of.

Chalked messages of hope and mourning cover walkways and walls.

“Follow Charlie’s lead, choose words not violence,” reads one.

“Senseless death,” reads another.

“We shall finish what you started,” a third declares.

Hand-written signs, bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals are piled outside of buildings. Crosses and U.S. flags dot the campus entrance and amphitheater. Utah Valley, home of the Wolverines, has become a place of hushed voices and quiet tears. A giant flag hangs in the grassy amphitheater where Kirk, a rock star of conservative campus politics and one of the most prominent voices of the MAGA movement, was killed at the age of 31.

Democratic leaders have been united in condemning the attack on Kirk — a political opponent who many on the left say helped polarize the nation. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was a strong supporter of gun rights, a staunch opponent of affirmative action and a vocal critic of gay and transgender rights and the separation of church and state.

But his shooting has also highlighted divisions across culture and politics. Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network announced that it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show after criticism about his on-air remarks, when he suggested MAGA was trying to exploit the death. In Washington, the Republican-led House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly declined to censure Democrat Ilhan Omar for her comments following the shooting.

‘Changed things’

For Sandra Seastrom, Kirk was a voice for millions of conservative Christians. She drove nearly 3 hours from her home in Vernal, 150 miles east of Utah Valley, to see the spot where he was killed. She wept when she saw the posters and flags.

“I would’ve never thought something like this would have happened on this campus, in Utah, of all places,” said Seastrom, 69, her voice choked with emotion.

With the crack of a high-powered, bolt-action rifle, Utah Valley, a public university with more than 40,000 students, has for some joined the list of places forever associated with the darkest moments in the nation’s political life.

“There,” a man visiting the campus on Tuesday said, pointing to the rooftop where authorities say Robinson pulled the trigger. “He fired from right over there.”

Again and again, the same refrain goes up: Here? How could this have happened here? This isn’t who we are.

Utah has long history of conservative politics and one of the lowest homicide rates in the country. It has the highest concentration of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the US.

Many Utah Valley students characterized Kirk, a galvanizing force for a new generation of young, Christian conservatives, as a role model who shaped both their faith and their politics. They see his death as a watershed – evidence that the nation’s toxic politics have infiltrated every corner of American life.

“It’s definitely changed things,” said Emily Christensen, 23, who was visiting the campus with her brother and a mutual friend who is a Utah Valley student. “I felt, like, for the longest time living here in cute little Utah, we were in this little bubble, where nothing bad ever happened. And then this happened.”

Her friend, Hayley Johnson, the Utah Valley student, summed up the mood: “It’s kind of like a punch in the gut.”

Sam Francis, 18, left class early on September 10 to see Kirk at the outdoor amphitheater, known as the courtyard. He said he was only a few yards away from Kirk when the single gunshot rang out at 12:23 p.m.

“I was looking away for a second, but when I looked right back, he was on the floor. And then we all got down for like 10 seconds, and then just started running,” Francis, a freshman, said.

Mood on campus

The mood on campus was somber on Wednesday morning. Security was tight. Under hard blue skies, police officers kept watch from balconies overlooking the courtyard.

The charges filed against Robinson portray him as a lone assassin with left-leaning, pro-LGBTQ views. Court papers reveal private details behind the panicked manhunt that ended with him in custody.

As the harrowing scene at Utah Valley exploded across social media, Robinson texted whom prosecutors say was his roommate and romantic partner in St. George, Utah, nearly four hours away, near the Arizona border.

“Drop what you’re doing, look under my keyboard,” Robinson wrote.

There, his roommate found a note saying, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

“You weren’t the one who did it right????” the roommate then wrote.

“I am,” Robinson replied. “I’m sorry.”

As the manhunt went viral, prosecutors say, Robinson’s mother realized that the images of the gunman that authorities were circulating looked like her son. Robinson’s father contacted a friend who is a retired deputy sheriff and began trying to negotiate Robinson’s surrender. On Tuesday, Robinson appeared via video conference from the Utah County Jail as the judge read out the charges. His dark hair disheveled, his face unshaved, he wore a thick green suicide-prevention vest. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

Greg Taylor, who has two grandchildren who graduated from Utah Valley, came to campus on Tuesday from nearby Provo. Born and raised in Utah, he recalled the day JFK was shot — he was in elementary school in 1963 – and viewed Kirk’s death as another moment of senseless tragedy.

“There’s a little bit of peace in coming out here and seeing that other people feel the way I do,” said Taylor, 72. “It was very traumatic to me to think that something like this could happen in my own backyard.”

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