WASHINGTON (AP) — The deadly taking pictures of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an occasion in Utah had explicit resonance for public figures who’ve skilled political violence themselves.
Kirk, who served as chief govt and cofounder of the youth group Turning Level USA, made frequent appearances on school campuses and in different settings, partaking in political dialogue with college students in public settings.
A number of leaders who’ve survived public assaults or had relations victimized joined in bipartisan condemnation of the assault on Kirk.
Nancy Pelosi
The previous Home speaker’s husband was critically injured at their California house in 2022 by a person wielding a hammer, who authorities stated was a believer in conspiracy theories.
Pelosi, a Democrat, posted that “the horrific taking pictures right this moment at Utah Valley College is reprehensible. Political violence has completely no place in our nation.”
Donald Trump
The president sustained a minor ear harm when he was shot at a marketing campaign occasion final yr. He was additionally the goal of a failed assassination try whereas enjoying golf in Florida. He had a detailed relationship with Kirk and introduced his passing Wednesday on his Fact Social website.
Trump described Kirk on Fact Social as a “nice man from prime to backside. GOD BLESS HIM!”
He additionally posted, “Nobody understood or had the Coronary heart of the Youth in the US of America higher than Charlie.”
Gabrielle Giffords
The former U.S. consultant, a Democrat, suffered a critical mind harm from a 2011 taking pictures whereas assembly with constituents at a shopping mall in her Arizona congressional district. She survived and has taken up the reason for combating gun violence.
Giffords posted on social media that she was “horrified” to listen to of Kirk’s taking pictures.
“Democratic societies will at all times have political disagreements,” she wrote, “however we must not ever permit America to change into a rustic that confronts these disagreements with violence.”
Steve Scalise
The Home majority chief, a Louisiana Republican, was shot at follow for a charity baseball sport involving members of Congress within the Virginia suburbs in 2017. The person who attacked Scalise had grievances in opposition to Trump and Republicans and was later fatally shot by police.
Scalise requested individuals on the social media platform X to “please be part of me in praying for Charlie Kirk after this mindless act.”
Josh Shapiro
The Pennsylvania governor, a Democrat and potential nationwide candidate, was evacuated along with his household from the governor’s mansion earlier this yr after a person broke into the constructing and set a fireplace that prompted important harm.
“We should communicate with ethical readability,” Shapiro wrote on X. “The assault on Charlie Kirk is horrifying and this rising sort of unconscionable violence can’t be allowed in our society.”
Gretchen Whitmer
The Michigan governor, a Democrat, was the topic of a failed kidnapping plot by right-wing extremists who hoped to ignite a civil struggle. Two males have been imprisoned for his or her 2020 try and kidnap the governor throughout her first time period.
“We should always all come collectively to face up in opposition to any and all types of political violence,” Whitmer wrote on social media.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Well being and Human Providers secretary appeared to invoke his household’s losses as he reacted to Kirk’s killing. Kennedy’s father, for whom he was named, was assassinated in 1968 as he sought the Democratic presidential nomination. Kennedy Sr. was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam Conflict and an advocate for civil rights laws as legal professional basic throughout his brother’s presidency and after John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
“As soon as once more, a bullet has silenced essentially the most eloquent fact teller of an period,” Kennedy wrote on social media. He referred to as Kirk a “relentless and brave crusader without spending a dime speech.”
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