New York leaders call for civility after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, threats

New York elected officials are calling for civility and fresh vigilance after some members of the New York City Council received threats after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk this week.

Multiple councilmembers said Friday they received threats overnight directed at a party office, officials said. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul disclosed the threats, which officials determined weren’t credible, as she called for collective action to tone down partisan rhetoric. The governor condemned the Wednesday assassination of Kirk, 31, a conservative activist, close ally of President Donald Trump and founder of Turning Point USA.

“This was not the America of Sept. 12, 2001, and it should not be of Sept. 12, 2025,” Hochul said, referencing the country’s mood after the 9/11 attacks. “Let me say this loud and clear: Political violence has no place in America. Zero. A democracy thrives on debate, not bloodshed.”

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat, said Kirk’s murder and the subsequent backlash will make public officials more reluctant to speak their minds in public spaces.

“The fear of assassination will certainly inhibit public figures like myself from delivering public speeches at public events that lack sufficient security,” Torres said. “The murder of Charlie Kirk could mean the death of the public square as we know it.”

City Councilmember Justin Brannan told Gothamist he had received a bomb threat.

“It’s always disturbing to receive something like this,” Brannan said. “Anyone in public life would be shaken by what happened to Charlie Kirk because we are all mortal. … But I won’t be intimidated. Threats of violence have no place in our politics. All of this only underscores how toxic and dangerous our discourse has become and how much work we have to do to put this country back together.”

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams sent a message to councilmembers Friday saying several public officials in the city received threatening emails.

“In response to reports of these emails, City Hall has been swept and nothing suspicious has been found,” Adams wrote, according to a copy of the message reviewed by Gothamist. The NYPD and Council security team determined the emails didn’t pose a credible threat, Adams wrote.

NYPD officials put out a vague alert Thursday night about threats against government officials, but didn’t immediately return a request for comment Friday.

Hochul said instances of political violence are rising. Before Kirk’s killing this week, two Democratic lawmakers and their spouses were shot in Minnesota in June. Two people attempted to assassinate Trump in two separate incidents during last year’s presidential campaign.

Glen Kucera, the president of enhanced protection services at the security firm Allied Universal, said there’s been an uptick in new requests for their services after Kirk was assassinated in Utah on Wednesday.

Allied’s customers include corporations in New York, who initially reached out after a gunman killed four people in a Midtown office tower in July.

“We had some customers even in New York City that were contemplating whether they want to add resources and then this event happened in Utah and they said, ‘Holy smokes, here’s another one,’” Kucera said.

“That pushed them over the line and said we do need to add resources because these active shooter events are becoming more prevalent,” he added.

Hochul said she would convene leaders of both parties next week “for a security briefing and candid conversation  about how we can work together to turn down the temperature and prevent more violence, at least here in New York.”

State Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, a Republican from Oswego County, said Friday that Kirk’s assassination “must be a wake-up call to all Americans. Political violence is a dire threat to us all, and endangers Americans everywhere, regardless of where they live or what they believe.”

But Trump said the problem doesn’t cross the political aisle. When asked about Friday about how to fix the country in the wake of Kirk’s murder, the president said that while people on the right demonstrate for public safety, those on the left are to blame.

“The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” Trump said on Fox & Friends. “The radicals on the left are the problem – and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.”