Charlie Kirk, a well-known conservative commentator, was fatally shot while speaking to a large audience at an outdoor event in Utah. The governor described the incident as a political assassination executed from a rooftop.
“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said during a press conference.
“I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.”
“Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people,” he said. “Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been a place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated, and that’s what he does.”
“I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.”
“We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be. To ask ourselves, is this it? Is this what 250 years has wrought on us? I pray that that’s not the case,” he said.
“I pray that those that hated what Charlie Kirk stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family, and that all of us will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans.”
Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason described the shooting as a “targeted attack” and mentioned that the crime scene covers a “very large area.”
Mason said the “only information” they have about the possible shooter comes from campus CCTV footage, showing a person dressed entirely in dark clothing. He added that the shot was fired from a “longer distance,” possibly from a rooftop.