US President Donald Trump on Wednesday remembered Charlie Kirk, his close friend who was gunned down in a shooting at Utah Valley University, as a "martyr for truth."
In a strongly worded statement, Trump criticized the "radical left" for creating a culture of intolerance that, he implied, contributed to the death of the conservative activist. He also vowed to initiate a national campaign against instigators of political violence.
"For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals," Trump said in a video posted on his Truth Social platform.
"From the attack on my life in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, which killed a husband and father, to the attacks on ICE agents, to the vicious murder of a healthcare executive in the streets of New York, to the shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and three others. Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives."
Trump blamed the left for stoking extremism with its "rhetoric," demanding that "it has to stop immediately." Trump promised accountability: "My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organisations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country."
"My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organisations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country," Trump said.
Charlie Kirk, co-founder of conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was a leading player in mobilizing young voters for Trump and became one of the country's most ardent Trump defenders.
On Wednesday, Kirk was gunned down while speaking to students at Utah Valley University. The shooter is still on the loose and no one has been arrested, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Video from the scene captures Kirk talking before one gunshot is ever heard. He collapses in his chair as chaos breaks out among witnesses. Authorities later said the bullet seemed to have been discharged from a campus rooftop by someone wearing black, indicating the murder was planned.
The attack is against the backdrop of a recent spike in violence against political figures from both sides of the political divide in the United States.
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