United States president Donald Trump on Thursday (Wednesday in the US) announced his government would posthumously award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated at a campus in Utah.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honour in America.
"I am pleased to announce that I will soon be awarding Charlie Kirk, posthumously, the Presidential Medal of Freedom," Trump said.
Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination.
Authorities say Kirk was killed with one gunshot from a rooftop on Wednesday. Whoever fired the gun then slipped away amid the chaos of screams and students fleeing the Utah Valley University campus. Federal, state and local authorities were searching for an unidentified shooter early Thursday and were working what they called "multiple active crime scenes."
“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said. "I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”
Two people were detained Wednesday, but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, Utah public safety officials said.
Authorities did not immediately identify a motive behind Kirk's killing, but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.
Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A gunshot rings out, and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.
Kirk was taking questions about gun violence
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