The Missouri State University and Glendale High School Turning Point USA chapters held a candlelight vigil for Charlie Kirk, the founder of their organization, Monday night.
A crowd gathered near Plaster Student Union on the MSU campus to honor the conservative influencer who was killed earlier this month.
One of them was Nick Bogani, a recent graduate of the University of Wyoming where he was a member of Turning Point.
"So processing Charlie's death was a lot of mixed emotions," he said. "I was very depressed for probably — for a long time. I was angry. I was also — I'm also very — I feel empowered to do, to go even stronger, and I'm sure a lot of other people are, too."
Jacob Cheney was handing out candles to those in the crowd before the vigil started.
"Charlie Kirk means to me, like, what every young man aspires to be," he said. He was a man who loved his family. Above everything else he was a man who loved — he loved his faith above everything else. He believed in Jesus and the hope that he is for this whole world, and he really led the way of what Jesus in today's culture — what that looks like, what embodying the love of Christ looks like in today's culture."
Charlie Kirk was a controversial figure. He argued on his podcast that DEI was to blame for some of the deaths in the Texas flooding over the summer. Kirk, a loyal supporter of President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, also claimed that the 2020 Election was "rigged."
Security was tight at the event. Along with police officers on the ground, there were officers on at least a couple of nearby MSU buildings.
