PHOENIX (KVOA) – Charlie Kirk\u2019s casket returned home to Phoenix, Thursday, marking a somber homecoming for the 31-year-old conservative activist, who was shot and killed at Utah Valley University just a day ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kirk’s casket flew from Utah to Phoenix\u2019s Sky Harbor International Airport, his body joined on Airforce Two by family, friends and Vice President JD Vance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roughly fifteen minutes away at Turning Point USA\u2019s Phoenix headquarters, a memorial continued to grow as people came to pay their respects. Brianna Landahl, a supporter of Kirk, shared how impactful the event felt to her and her husband, Tristan.<\/p>\n
“We’re younger, we never really saw 9\/11 and that stuff, so it feels like a huge day for us to see something that big I never thought we would see it, especially with Charlie so soon,” Landahl said.<\/p>\n
The couple credits Kirk for encouraging them to start a family young. They joined hundreds honoring him, including John Lillywhite.<\/p>\n
“He not only helped me kind of solidify my faith in Christ, but he also helped me, my wife and plenty of others kind of understand what’s truly going on in the world,” Lillywhite said.<\/p>\n
Mourners brought flowers, reflected, and prayed at the memorial. Luke Byrd, another mourner, expressed the need for comfort during this difficult time.<\/p>\n
“Some people need a shoulder to cry on, some people an ear to vent to, some people just need a hug right now,” Byrd told News 4 Tucson.<\/p>\n
The Landahls said Kirk’s encouragement helped them overcome fears about finances and starting a family. The couple talked about the late conservative activist like they knew him, despite never meeting him.<\/p>\n
“In times when there felt like there was no hope in the world he found a way,” Landahl said.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday he’d be attending Kirk’s funeral, adding that he’s “hearing” it will be next weekend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kirk’s casket was taken to Hansen Mortuary Chapel after landing in Phoenix.\u00a0Kirk is survived by his wife and two young children.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (KVOA) – Charlie Kirk\u2019s casket returned home to Phoenix, Thursday, marking a somber homecoming for the 31-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":220634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,425,1571,50,1589,80,52,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-220633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-local","12":"tag-national","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-phoenix","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115190873813173817","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}