‘Cancel culture has gone crazy’: US students mourn Charlie Kirk’s death

Some students from around the United States have been grieving the murder of right-wing political influencer Charlie Kirk.

“He was a martyr of free speech,” Carson Caines, a 23-year-old computer science student, told Agence France-Presse. "I think, like a lot of people, my first initial reaction was like, wanting to do something physical about it. But I refuse to feed this cycle of violence."

Kirk, who was gunned down on Wednesday (U.S. time), 10 September 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University, co-founded Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization aimed at advocating conservative politics to high school and college-aged Americans. Caines later told AFP that he will be joining the organization in Kirk’s memory.

Another student, Alexander, who refused to disclose his surname, said that Kirk’s murder would only lead to further dissent and division among Americans.

"I hear a lot of people saying he was an extremist. But in the right-wing community, he's one of the more moderate voices out there," Alexander told AFP. "In the past decade, I think anyone who leans conservative has had to censor their beliefs, even basic ones like being pro-family or pro-Second Amendment, in order to avoid public backlash," he added. "Cancel culture has gone crazy.”

26-year-old Dave Sanchez said that Kirk’s murder felt close to home. "It still makes me sick to my stomach," said Sanchez. "We watch him all the time and so it really does feel like one of your own family members, your own brother's been killed.”

U.S. authorities are still on the hunt for any leads on Kirk’s shooter. — with reports from Agence France-Presse