Who Is Charlie Kirk?

My VIP for this week is Charlie Kirk (age 31 years) – husband, father of two small children, patriot, and founder of Turning Point USA. He was instrumental in getting young adults out to vote for President Donald Trump.

Kirk was shot in or near the neck on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, while speaking at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He was rushed to the closest hospital where he passed away a brief time later. According to Tyler O’Neil an unknown shooter opened fire as Kirk was “conducting a question-and-answer session with students.” 

Kirk was shot while “debating with a student about mass shootings involving people who identify as transgender when the shooter opened fire.”

Political assassination is not new to the United States, but it is the first successful assassination of a prominent person since the 1960s when John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. were killed.

In a separate article O’Neil noted that the assassination of Kirk “marks one more in a list of violent attacks against prominent conservatives.” He also noted that the assassination “came less than five months after the Southern Poverty Law Center … put Turning Point USA on a ‘hate map’ with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan.” Even though the group condemned the shooting of Kirk and all violence, this is not “the first time conservatives have been targeted for violence after the SPLC criticized them.” 

Conservatives have faced many kinds of hostility, including 96 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and 356 attacks on Catholic churches since the leak of the Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022. Democrats, too, have faced attacks – most recently the horrific shooting of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman.

This article, however, focuses on physical attacks on Republican leaders or conservative groups.

A 2012 Terrorist Attack

In 2012, [shooter] opened fire at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the conservative Christian think tank the Family Research Council.

… He later told the FBI he targeted the Family Research Council because he found it on the SPLC “hate map.” He said he intended to shoot everyone in the building….

The Congressional Baseball Game Shooting

In June 2017, 66-year-old [shooter] opened fire at a Republican practice for the Congressional Baseball Game. He shot and wounded four people….

[Shooter] specifically targeted Republicans in the shooting. He had volunteered for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016 and “liked” the SPLC on Facebook. The SPLC had repeatedly attacked Scalise….

Rand Paul Attacked

Also in 2017, then-59-year-old [shooter], a neighbor, physically attacked Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., from behind while the senator was mowing his lawn….

Minnesota Republican Sucker-Punched Before Election

In October 2018, 53-year-old [assailant] punched Shane Mekeland, a Republican candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives….

 

 

A Would-Be Kavanaugh Assassin

In June 2022, 26-year-old [would be assassin] staked out near the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, with weapons in an assassination attempt….

Butler

On July 13, 2024, 20-year-old [would be assassin] shot then-former President Donald Trump in the ear in Butler, Pennsylvania….

A Second Assassination Attempt

In September 2024, 58-year-old [would be assassin] aimed a rifle at Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beah, Florida. Secret Service arrested [would be shooter], who is standing trial in Fort Pierce this week….