Updated 9/12/25
This story was originally published by Fresnoland.
The day after Christian nationalist Charlie Kirk was killed at a Utah college event, city and county leaders in Fresno hosted a news conference mourning the high-profile conservative — and they also denounced political violence.
Kirk was killed while speaking at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. Federal authorities have still not apprehended the suspect, after releasing two individuals they took into custody.
City Council President Mike Karbassi, joined by at least five other local elected officials at the Thursday news conference, said Kirk’s killing was disgusting.
“Our prayers are truly with Mr. Kirk’s wife and his two children who are now fatherless,” Karbassi said. “But prayers unfortunately, as important as they are — it’s just not going to be enough.”
Karbassi was joined at the news conference by Mayor Jerry Dyer, Councilmember Nelson Esparza and county supervisors Luis Chavez, Garry Bredefeld and Nathan Magsig.
Karbassi said political dialogue in the U.S. needs to tone down. However, elected leaders did not speak to Kirk’s contributions to the current political climate in the U.S. — the Christian nationalist and CEO of Turning Point USA was known for his racist, bigoted political statements, including about Black people, LGBTQ people, Muslims and preserving a white, Christian America.
Local leaders criticized people and social media posts that appear to be celebrating Kirk’s killing, and said it’s unacceptable.
“I also reached out to council president and the city and my colleagues because of the chatter that I’ve seen on social media,” said Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez. “We are now in the space where we are celebrating somebody being violently murdered in front of us, and we can’t have that.”
During the news conference, Mayor Jerry Dyer said he worries about how Americans “will ratchet up the rhetoric on social media and become even more divided as a country.” And he said he fears how that could play out in Fresno.
“Yes, Charlie Kirk was controversial,” Dyer said at the Thursday news conference. “There’s no question. He said things that ignited the emotions of other people, especially those who did not agree — but Charlie Kirk did not deserve to die.”
Dyer also expressed sorrow over how Kirk’s wife and two kids are left without a father. On Wednesday, the second-term mayor posted a picture of Kirk’s family on Instagram. In the caption, he called on people to honor Kirk’s life.
Dyer’s brief comments Thursday ended with a Bible quote. Supervisor Nathan Magsig’s comments began with one.
“I was thinking a little bit about the Bible and about Psalms 11, verse five, which talks about how the Lord absolutely detests violence,” Magsig said. “What we saw yesterday was a violent act.”
Magsig said he was shocked, and at a loss for words about what happened to Kirk. He said the nation as a whole needs to turn down the temperature on political rhetoric.
Supervisor Garry Bredefeld said he was outraged about Kirk’s killing, and also described the high profile conservative in glowing terms.
“I’m angry over the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Bredefeld said. “This brilliant 31-year-old man went to college campuses to have open dialogue and debate with students that had opposing views to his conservative beliefs.”
Bredefeld praised Kirk’s debates with college students, opposition to abortion and gender-affirming care and said Kirk did all those things “with humor and grace.”
Kirk’s legacy of bigoted political rhetoric
While some elected officials praised and spoke positively of Kirk, the Christian nationalist is known for sharing not only conservative viewpoints, but also making racist and bigoted statements about a number of groups in the United States.
For example, Kirk made racist remarks about Black airplane pilots in early 2024, questioning their qualifications just because of their race. He has called for the deportation of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American member of Congress. Kirk also blamed diversity initiatives as the reason why more than 100 people died in Texas floods this summer.
Kirk has alienated the LGBTQ+ community with his rhetoric for years. He used slurs when talking about trans people and called for a Nuremberg-style trial — not for Nazis, but for gender-affirming care doctors. He has also referred to gay people as groomers, too.
In the day since his killing, Kirk’s comments from an April 2023 Turning Point USA event, which also took place in Utah, has recirculated and gone viral on social media.
“It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment,” Kirk said at the April 2023 event. Kirk was killed at the Wednesday college event in the middle of a tense conversation about school shooters.
Just about a year ago, Kirk appeared on a YouTube show to debate college students, and said abortion should not be legal in America. He said that his strict stance applies to rape survivors, too.
On Monday, two days before he was killed, Kirk wrote that “Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America.”
In another post less than two hours later, Kirk wrote that he agreed with the sentiment that “mass migration is a weapon of mass destruction.”
A call for unity, end to political violence
After the Thursday news conference, Karbassi told Fresnoland that he thought it was important for local leaders to address Kirk’s killing because he would want bipartisan support if the same thing happened to a high-profile Democrat.
“God forbid a Democrat was killed, or a Democratic leader was killed — I hope that doesn’t happen, but if it did — we’d have the outpouring of support from the other side saying, ‘This is wrong and this is undemocratic.’”
Trump famously said it would be a “waste of time” giving Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a phone call in June after a man impersonating police killed a Minnesota Democrat, injured another and had a hit list for 45 other officials.
When asked about Kirk’s political rhetoric, Karbassi said he wasn’t very well-versed on it. However, he said the fact remains that violence is unacceptable.
“As offensive as he could have been, I’m not too versed on him to be frank with you,” Karbassi said. “I mean, it’s murder, you can’t murder someone for what they say. That’s not what we should be doing in this country.”
During the Thursday news conference at Fresno City Hall, Councilmember Nelson Esparza was the only one to reference the two Minnesota Democrats, also victims of political violence in June.
Esparza was also the only one to reference a high school shooting in Colorado that happened the same afternoon as Kirk’s killing.
“While Mr. Kirk was someone who I agree with on hardly anything, what happened to him yesterday is not something I wish upon anyone in this country, in this world,” Esparza said. “It was wrong, and we as leaders need to denounce the political violence of any kind, domestic terrorism of any kind.”
Esparza said political violence upends democracy, and also condemned the assassination attempts on Trump and the attempted kidnapping of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“If you are a leader within this community, anywhere within this nation, it is incumbent upon you to join us in helping to turn down the temperature,” Esparza said.