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PHOENIX – Politicians and Phoenix leaders across the aisle are mourning and condemning the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA.
Local perspective:
Kirk, who had family in Arizona, headquartered his youth organization in Phoenix. The group includes thousands of young people across high schools and colleges in the nation.
Regardless of party, Arizona leaders are speaking out about his murder.
Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky spoke not just as a political figure but as someone who knew Kirk and his wife.
“Devastating,” Borowsky said, choking up. “So I’m praying for them…for all of us.”
Dig deeper:
Kirk was shot and killed on Wednesday while speaking on a Utah college campus. The assassination of the 31-year-old conservative activist is sending shock waves through the nation.
Gina Swoboda, the chair of the Arizona Republican Party, said Kirk was “taken in the act of doing what he believed in more than anything else.”
A prominent Trump ally, Kirk would travel across the country to college campuses to engage with students on political issues.
“The idea that you could be gunned down on a college campus—a college campus is a place where you are supposed to be learning how to think for yourself and the free exchange of ideas, and the debate, that’s what the country is built on,” Swoboda said.
What they’re saying:
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs started her Thursday press conference by expressing condolences.
“I am deeply saddened by the assassination of Charlie Kirk and right now stand in sadness with his family and friends and many Americans who are mourning his loss,” she said.
Hobbs said Kirk inspired people not just in Arizona, but across the country in the movement he built.
“I stand with them in their sadness—this is a terrible loss,” she said.
While Hobbs, a Democrat, admitted she rarely agreed with Kirk politically, she condemned his murder and called for an end to all ideologically-driven attacks.
“I will reiterate again that political violence has no place in American democracy, and we have to stand together in rejecting that,” she said.
Hobbs acknowledged that she had been briefed on further security measures in light of the attack but could not give any further details.
The Source: This information was gathered by FOX 10’s Lauren Clark who spoke with Arizona politicians and leaders on Sept. 11.
Crime and Public SafetyPhoenixNewsPolitics