PROVO, Utah — Many Utahns gathered around television screens in Provo to watch the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, just 10 minutes from where he was assassinated on the campus of Utah Valley University.
Each one of them seemed to have a different reason for showing up.
“It's really tragic, what's happened, and I just want to support him and his wife and his children,” said Carlton Bowen, the state party chair for the Independent American Party of Utah.
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“We've followed Charlie, of course, and felt devastated when this happened, especially the fact that it happened in Utah,” said Marianne Duckworth, who was in attendance for the screening. “It's really the least that we can do to come and take a day and honor him.”
“It was just awesome to be with just a lot of like-minded folks and just people that were out grieving for Charlie and what he stood for,” said Tyler Boyles, chairman of the Federation of College Republicans.
While some were gathered in front of the screen, some were in Arizona.
Justin Briesmaster drove 10.5 hours from Layton in hopes of attending the memorial in person.
“Because of what happened at UVU, it really touched Utah, because that's where the assassination happened. So it really hit home for us. We really started looking into his life, what he was all about, and it really tugged on our souls that we should probably go and do this,” Briesmaster said.
He said he had never seen that amount of people before and was told the stadium and surrounding overflow buildings were full.
“We went over to a trailer side that had a TV on it that was just reviewing what was going on inside the arena. So, we just kind of camped it out for a while and watched that,” Briesmaster said.
“We ran into other people that were sharing the same feelings that we did, that had come from other states that have waited for even longer than us, and made us feel like we all as a community tried our best to get in to support a good cause,” he added.
Regardless of where they were watching, it brought out many different emotions.
“When Erika Kirk was up there, I think that one really stuck with me the most,” Boyles said. "It's hard to not get emotional about it.”
While the memorial service is over, there is a lot of change Utahns want to see for their state.
“Even here in Utah, we've become very divided in families and politically, obviously, but also culturally and socially, and there's room to love each other on both sides,” Bowen said.
“Be able to talk and have dialogue and share each other's feelings and thoughts. It's very important, and when you stop doing that, then that's what brings on the problems that we have,” said Brad Duckworth.
