A year after the shocking assassination of conservative titan and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, Republicans gathered at the GOP's midterm convention shared the profound ways in which the young leader and family man impacted their lives.
"Charlie Kirk is a wonderful man, and he is very much missed," Marsha Landry of Texas told Fox News Digital during an interview at the American Airlines Center, where the Republican Party is rallying to try to keep control of the House and Senate in November. "He was making a lot of progress in this country, especially among the youth. I know personally some of our children have really started paying attention."
Jacquez Jones, a young convention attendee, said Kirk's legacy lives on.
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"It's a daily reminder that we have to have courage to go out there and spread the message, not only of just conservatism, but our faith as well," he said. "And so on this anniversary, I look back at not only what Charlie Kirk was able to accomplish, but the things that even in his passing he's still able to do."
On this day last year, Kirk, 31, was speaking at Turning Point's "American Comeback Tour" event at the Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, just after noon, when he was shot in the neck. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly thereafter.
The suspect in the killing, then-22-year-old Tyler Robinson, is accused of firing one shot from a rooftop overlooking the quad where Kirk was speaking. A shocked crowd scattered as Kirk was rushed away from the scene.
Kirk, who was a father, left behind his wife Erika and two young children.
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"I think it's an extremely somber reminder of what we have in this country, that free speech is not free, that somebody died for that right, and Charlie Kirk [was] somebody who was brave enough to go out there on the college campuses and talk about conservatism and prove to the American people and the young generation that the conservative policies still work," Jones said.
Another Republican convention-goer, Mike Hurst of Mississippi, described what he remembers after first hearing the news that Kirk had been killed.
"It was one of the most gut-wrenching feelings I've ever seen, and of course, I went online, I saw the video, and to this day I'm still shocked that that could happen in our country," Hurst said, adding that we need more people like Kirk who encourage civil dialogue instead of political violence.
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Robinson allegedly fled the rooftop, ditched his rifle in a wooded area across the street from the UVU campus, and fled the scene. A statewide manhunt persisted until the following night at around 10 p.m. when Robinson surrendered to authorities in St. George, Utah, about four hours south of the UVU campus.
His parents reportedly convinced him to turn himself in.
Pre-trial proceedings in Robinson's case are ongoing after a protracted battle regarding media access to the courtroom, and motions attempting to remove the death penalty as a possible sentence should Robinson be convicted.
Alex Stone of Missouri said young people are looking for a leader to fill Kirk's shoes, though his memory remains.
"Since Charlie's assassination, people have been lost," he said. "People have been looking for a voice or a leader to lead them in the right direction, and so we need people who are going to stand up and rise up and say, 'this is what is good, this is what is true, this what is beautiful.' And 'this is wrong, and here's what we should do in the face of it.'"
