A group of 15 students held a vigil Wednesday for Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot in Utah earlier that day.
“We are seeing unprecedented political violence in our republic in recent memory,” said Dillon Bergmann, a senior political science student. “This is the representation of the social disintegration that’s been brought about by the collapse of our civic institutions.”
The vigil was in front of Murrow Hall and organized by WSU College Republicans, where Kirk drew in a crowd of over 1,200 students four months ago.
“We want to kind of bring about symbolism,” Bergmann said. “We wanted to represent the continuation of that and reflection for his time here when he came to Washington State.”
Despite mourning for Kirk reaching both sides of the political aisle, some people on social media extolled his death. Bergmann said celebration will do more damage.
“You’re celebrating the wrong things. Political violence ultimately will harm your cause,” Bergmann said. “It also undermines your entire political purpose. To many on the left, you know, their vocal purpose has been and to be caring to other people. How can cheering for someone’s death be caring to other people?”
Kirk was known for reaching the new generation, which Bergmann supported, saying he first heard about Kirk in high school.
“In high school at some point, I encountered Charlie Kirk. I was involved quite often in politics at a very young age,” he said. “And if you were any sort of political leaning in politics at that time, you knew who Charlie Kirk was. He kind of represented a lot of the contemporary kind of conservative media movement.”
Some on the far-right have called for revenge, but student Jack Danzel disagrees.
“We should not use this as a way of doing violence against the people, because one bad apple on the Left shot and killed one of our guys, we shouldn’t go out and do that to them, because we will only then bring our country into a very dark place to where it may not exist to keep on going,” he said.
Jay Sani, an engineering student who was assaulted for wearing a pro-Trump hat in February, said he is worried about the future of the country without Kirk.
“I’m now concerned about how the country will go, because there will be some strong division,” Sani said. “This is going to be a day that no one will ever forget: September 10, 2025.”
Sani went on stage with Kirk when he visited Pullman in April.
“I was surprised that he pulled me up on the stage,” Sani said. “It was actually a pretty good experience. He means business. He was very straightforward to the point and stuff. And I met him afterwards and he told me ‘Thumbs up.’”
The event ended after a prayer and five minutes of silence. Sani said he is planning another vigil in the near future.
