The Heavy Weight of Kirk’s Passing on the BYU Community
- Ella Katzenbach
- Sep 18
- 3 min read
By: Ella Katzenbach
Last Wednesday, Charlie Kirk made his appearance at Utah Valley University for a public debate and student Q & A as part of his “America Comeback Tour”. He arrived at the campus at 11:52 AM and began on the topic of gun violence when minutes later he was shot in the neck from 200 yards away in broad daylight.
The police had taken someone into custody, though it was quickly clarified he was not a suspect. This kept people in the UVU and BYU community on edge for their safety. UVU had taken obvious action to cancel classes and evacuate the campus following the shooting. BYU; however, had released a statement that they had a higher number of police on campus and classes were still taking sessions.
I was in my Writing 150 class when I got a text from one of my good friends who was at UVU when the assassination took place. When he sent me the disturbingly graphic video of Kirk getting shot, I audibly gasped. It looked like a horror scene from a movie and it was so surreal. The mood of campus that day shifted dramatically. My phone was blowing up with recent updates about the event and I was stunned.
In response to the event occurring at UVU, The Church Newsroom released a statement, “We affirm our repeated calls to seek peace and unity despite our differences, we call upon people everywhere to build communities of greater kindness and love”.
On September 19, 2025, UVU invites all of their students to attend a vigil held on campus.
Because of this upcoming event, I wondered how students at BYU were feeling about the recent tragedy of Kirk’s death.
I gathered a few responses from those who felt comfortable to answer about how Charlie Kirk’s death impacted them. Many replied with the same responses that it made them super sad. One girl named Hailey pointed out, "I don't think anyone should die for what they believe in even if I don’t agree with everything”.
I asked another girl named Maya where she was when she found out about his passing. She said that she was at work at the BYU Book Store when she was refreshing the news and , “...finally found out that he passed away and it was really sad”.
Many responses that I gathered about how word spread around was through surrounding students talking about it in classes. Some even expressed how they had friends there when the shooting took place. One interviewee said he had a friend from UVU who witnessed the event and it “shook him up pretty bad”. He said his friend had to take time away from school and work because it was so traumatizing.
Despite this horrific act that was committed to an innocent man whose ambitions in life were to debate and reintroduce the word of God back into society, the waves of impact that Charlie Kirk made on younger generations were astounding.
Many people from which I interviewed were inspired by his example of being a good person and staying strong in holding onto faith. One of my favorite responses was from a student named Reese. He said that Charlie inspired him to “....be a Christ-like man and serve Jesus Christ, serve others, work hard, and be nice to people around you and love them”.
Despite differences of opinions in politics, no person should ever have to experience what Charlie Kirk went through. He was a devoted and hardworking man who set a great example of organized thought and speech. Regardless of this tragedy, his legacy commenced an awakening of freedom, faith, and community for those across the nation.
The views expressed by contributors do not necessarily represent the position of Ward Radio News. Ward Radio News is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Church) and does not officially represent the Church.
My youngest son walked out of our front door to tell me what had happened on that fateful day as I was headed back to work. I could tell he was in shock. Politically, I would characterize my son as a moderate but this shook him as it did my other adult children. I had no idea they even knew who Charlie Kirk was but all had watched some of his videos in the past. I had watched some and been impressed by his willingness to engage in conversation with people that disagreed with him in a respectful way. I think a generation of young adults were changed that day he was killed. My heart aches for the fam…
Charlie Kirk is an example of peacemaking we should all follow. He loved God, family, and this country and we should honor him by doing the same and advocating for those values.