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Shortly after Turning Point USA shuttered its offices upon learning of Charlie Kirk’s death on Wednesday afternoon, the front doors of the political influence network’s headquarters became a memorial for its fallen founder.
A steady stream of mourners brought flowers and handheld American flags to the office building in Phoenix, Arizona, and placed them in front of a large, black-and-white photo of Kirk.
While a white van and a police patrol vehicle blocked off the main parking lot, employees instructed approaching men, women and children to take about 10 minutes to pay their respects.
Jacob Kaufman, found out about Kirk’s death while working a shift at a nearby In-N-Out Burger. The 24-year-old said he immediately clocked out to buy flowers – he’s been following Kirk since the 2020 election, and follows his college campus debate videos.
“I saw the video of it, it was horrifying,” Kaufman said. “I’m praying for his family, because at the end of the day, two young kids are gonna grow up without a father. He’s not gonna teach his son how to ride a bike. He’s not gonna walk his daughter down the aisle.”
Kaufman stayed at the Turning Point offices for several hours after dropping off flowers and joining a prayer circle with fellow mourners.
Sean Fowler, 41, said he also put work on hold after hearing Kirk was shot, and spent two agonizing hours of uncertainty before Donald Trump announced Kirk died from his injuries.
Fowler’s been following Kirk’s work for more than eight years. He drew parallels to the assassination of President John F Kennedy, which Fowler said demonstrates how “unpopular opinion will be oppressed”.
“(Kirk has) created a movement amongst the country, and maybe even more so, the world. I mean, the impact that he has had is in the probably tens or hundreds of millions,” Fowler said. “So it’s an extremely small gesture to take a brief moment and pay respects.”
Kirk, 31, was a provocateur, a close ally of Trump and a divisive figure who drove youth recruitment to the US president’s Make American Great Again (Maga) movement as a co-founder of Turning Point USA.
Kirk was killed while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University (UVU), near Salt Lake City, as part of the American Comeback Tour, which is hosted by the university’s Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter and was attended by as many as 3,000 people, according to Jeffrey Long, the police chief at the university.
His killing drew bipartisan condemnation of the rise in political violence in the US.
The FBI is offering up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the shooter.
As more visitors filtered in around 5pm, Turning Point employees began nailing stakes into the ground to hoist a large sign in front of the building. Next to Kirk’s image and the Turning Point logo, the sign reads: “May Charlie be received into the merciful arms of Jesus, our loving Savior.” Next to the sign, they placed a tin trough to collect flowers.
Jackie Graham, 48, added a bouquet of flowers to the memorial at the headquarters’ entrance. She found out about Kirk’s death on Instagram, and at first, she held out hope. When Trump was grazed by a bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, it wasn’t immediately clear that he was OK.
“But then the reports started to flow in. And it was like, blood gushing, it’s not gonna happen. Just pure sadness,” Graham said.
East of the Phoenix headquarters, around 100 people gathered in a grassy field at a Scottsdale park. As the sun set on Wednesday night, a Catholic priest led them in praying the rosary for the eternal rest of a departed soul.
John Yep, a friend of Kirk’s and president of the religious-political activist group Catholics for Catholics, addressed the crowd before the prayer. He grew up a few blocks away from Kirk in Chicago, Illinois, and recalled trying to bring him into the Catholic faith.
“Charlie had a mission. He felt a call deep within his heart,” Yep said. “This was not about politics, it was about the love of Jesus that drove him to do what he did by founding Turning Point USA.”
Attendees closed out the prayer by singing God Bless America. In the aftermath, Grant Gaylord stood with a fellow parishioner while running his fingers over several rosary necklaces around his neck. Gaylord said he’s not very involved in politics, but Kirk attended mass at his church, St Bernadette.
“To see him explore the Catholic faith with an honest heart was something that really touched my heart in a unique and profound way,” he said.
Gaylord doesn’t think about Kirk’s death politically; rather: “It’s just a loss of the sacredness of each human life,” he said.
Meanwhile, Brian Bouterie, wearing a red Maga hat, said Kirk would have made a great presidential candidate one day. Bouterie’s son went to school with Kirk’s wife, Erika Lane Frantzve, who was raised in Scottsdale’s Catholic community.
After hearing news of Kirk’s death, Bouterie said, “Weeping and tears were involved immediately.”
