LARAMIE, Wyo. — The University of Wyoming held a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk ahead of Saturday’s football game against Utah at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie.
Multiple sporting events across the country have had moments of silence in remembrance of Kirk, a conservative activist and the leader of Turning Point USA who was shot and killed at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday.
Among them have been the New York Yankees ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers and the Green Bay Packers ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Washington Commanders.
Kirk, 31, was on UVU’s campus to begin his “American Comeback Tour,” a scheduled series of open debates on college campuses. Kirk was pronounced dead at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem shortly after being shot.
Utah governor Spencer Cox called the murder of Kirk a “dark day for our state” and a “tragic day for our nation.”
“I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination,” Cox said. “We are celebrating 250 years of the founding of this great nation. That founding document, the Declaration of Independence, that this great experiment on which we embarked together 250 years ago, that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights.
“The first one of those is life and today, a life was taken. Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to two young children. He was also very much politically involved and that’s why he was here on campus. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade swayed people.”
