Charlie Kirk assassination live updates: Activist was debating mass shootings before fatality struck

Responding to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the New York Times declared today that political violence “is antithetical to America”. Sadly, facts suggest otherwise. The violence endemic to American life has become common to its politics.

Until today, among the advocates protecting the Western world’s most liberal gun laws was Mr Kirk, the 31-year-old leader of what might be called the Trump Youth.

A few months ago, he said: “It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment”.

The Second Amendment to the constitution, which projects gun ownership, represents one of the primary differences between American and Australian conservative politics.

No mainstream figures on the right of Australian politics seek to loosen gun laws that have all-but eliminated mass shootings since the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre.

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Aussie satirical commentators The Chaser have been slammed for their comments following the assassination of American conservative Charlie Kirk.

The humourists’ gag involved a headline to a story about the scenes at Kirk’s Turning Point USA organisation and was published just hours after he was shot dead at a Utah Valley University rally.

The organisation, which Kirk founded in 2012, advocates in favour of principles of freedom among college students.

“R U OK? Day not going well at Turning Point,” the headline reads.

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Witnesses say that Charlie Kirk was talking about gun violence and mass shootings when he was fatally shot at Utah Valley University.

The 31-year-old, who was on the first stop of his American Comeback Tour, was debating with the crowd about mass shootings in the USA.

Videos circulating on social media showed the crowd had been responding positively to Kirk while he was discussing the topic.

With a member from the crowd asking “do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?”

Kirk responded saying “too many,” which was met with applause from the attendees.

As the discussion continued to unfold is when tragedy struck, with a follow up question asking, “do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

The executive director of Turning Point USA then responded with a follow up question, asking, “counting or not counting gang violence?”

Before the discourse could continue, a gun shot was fired, and Kirk was seen falling back into his chair - and pandemonia struck the crowd.

“He was on the second question, and it was regarding mass shootings,” Deseret News reporter Emma Pitts told the Guardian.

“And then before he could even answer, we heard a gunshot, and we just saw Charlie Kirk’s neck turn to the side and it appeared that he had been shot in the neck.

“There was blood, immediately a lot of blood.”

British Prime Minister sir Keir Starmer has issued a statement on the death of Charlie Kirk, calling the tragedy “heartbreaking”.

“My thoughts this evening are with the loved ones of Charlie Kirk,” Starmer posted on X.

“It is heartbreaking that a young family has been robbed of a father and a husband.

“We must all be free to debate openly and freely without fear - there can be no justification for political violence.”

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US Vice President JD Vance has issued a lenthy tribute to Charlie Kirk, detailing how the two went from strangers to close friends.

“A while ago, probably in 2017, I appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox show to talk about God knows what. Afterwards a name I barely knew sent me a DM on twitter and told me I did a great job. It was Charlie Kirk, and that moment of kindness began a friendship that lasted until today,” he wrote.

“Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to learn and change his mind. Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives.

“Someone else pointed out that Charlie died doing what he loved: discussing ideas. He would go into these hostile crowds and answer their questions. If it was a friendly crowd, and a progressive asked a question to jeers from the audience, he’d encourage his fans to calm down and let everyone speak. He exemplified a foundational virtue of our Republic: the willingness to speak openly and debate ideas.”

Mr Vance said he prayed for Kirk after learning that he had been shot.

“God didn’t answer those prayers, and that’s OK. He had other plans. And now that Charlie is in heaven, I’ll ask him to talk to big man directly on behalf of his family, his friends, and the country he loved so dearly,” he wrote.

“You ran a good race, my friend. We’ve got it from here.”

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Charlie Kirk’s wife Erika Kirk has been heartlessly trolled on social media following the political assassination of her husband at the Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

Mrs Kirk, who is also known as Erika Frantzve, is a model and ministry leader, as well as a former basketball player for Regis University, who was crowned Miss Arizona in 2012.

She hasn’t publicly spoken out about the murder, but was targeted by online by trolls who celebrated the death of her husband.

“The world is a better place without your husband in it,” one person wrote.

“LOL,” another wrote, later adding: “I’m gown enough to know this woman’s husband rotted an entire generation of young men into thinking fascism holds a fruitful future for them.”

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First Lady Melania Trump has issued a statement after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, saying his children will now only know his story and miss out on sharing memories.

“Charlie’s children will be raised with stories instead of memories, photographs instead of laughter, and silence where their father’s voice should have echoed,” she wrote on X.

“Charlie Kirk’s life should serve as a symbolic reminder that compassionate awareness elevates family, love, and country.”

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued an urgent plea for photos or videos from Charlie Kirk’s event in Utah as they desperately seek information.

The request came after a second suspect was released by officials.

“Anyone with information, photos, and video from the incident can help the FBI identify more answers,” the FBI said in a statement.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has told Fox News he is “very angry” about the assassination of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk and said the death penalty is needed.

“Obviously, they’ve gotta catch this guy,” he told Fox News.

“We need a very quick death penalty prosecution.

“I don’t want to see this take forever and a day.

“We need justice for this,” he said.

Utah, where the assassination took place, is one of the 27 US states that enforce the death penalty.

Authorities in the US have now released a second suspect as the search for the assassin who killed Charlie Kirk intensifies.

A man was originally taken into custody at the Utah event, with authorities quickly releasing him. In a press conference, they confirmed the man did not fit the description of the shooter.

Later, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that a second person was in custody.

However, this person has also been released.

Police have been seen going door to door in the areas surrounding the Utah university as they desperately hunt for a killer.