More than 1,000 people stood in line Monday night at the University of South Florida's Tampa campus to attend a vigil for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
So many, in fact, that the line to get in stretched for nearly a half-mile.
Kirk, co-founder of the youth conservative organization Turning Point USA, was gunned down Sept. 10 while speaking with students at Utah Valley University. Tyler Robinson, 22, faces a murder charge in Kirk's death.
One of those in attendance Monday was Christina Montalegre, a sophomore studying biology at USF. She was at Kirk's last appearance with Turning Point USA at the Tampa campus in February.
"He was here last year, and it just seems crazy that something like this would happen to somebody who, like, seems so close," she said.
When asked what she looked to get out of the vigil, Montalegre hoped people can resolve their differences peacefully.
"I live in a residence hall and usually it's pretty divided, but I would say this has definitely caused a lot of people to rethink their decisions, rethink their political affiliations," Montalegre said. "People think that violence really isn't an answer on both sides of the spectrum."
Kirk, credited with energizing the Republican youth movement, became known for debating people who disagreed with his outspoken Christian and conservative stances during appearances on college campuses.
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"We all looked up to him a lot. He was an inspiration to a lot of people," said Josh Haub, of Indiana, who attends Florida College in Temple Terrace. "He really put his faith out there forward and for us Christians that really meant a lot. And we're just praying for the people that are involved, praying for the [Kirk] family, praying for the people close to him."
He said there will always be people looking to react to Kirk's assassination with more violence — but that is not the answer.
"We're looking to handle these things the way Charlie would have wanted us to, and the way that the Bible calls us to, and calls us to pray for our enemies, to love those who persecute us and who do all sorts of evil against us," Haub said.
Joe Lomoglio of Plant City said he was looking for some closure.
"I've been following Charlie for a couple of years," Lomoglio said. "I've always agreed with his ability to not have confrontation, to debate, to try to be open, to be reasonable. I just wanted to be here in a group of people that were sharing in his loss."
But he wasn't optimistic about the future of the country.
"My deepest fear is we're heading for a civil war between red and blue. If it escalates and escalates and escalates the way it is, that's my fear of what will happen. I really don't know," Lomoglio said. "I don't know how you reach those people. I don't think there's anything that could be said or done to change how they feel. In my opinion, they're broken. And they may never be able to be fixed."
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Others have said Kirk didn't deserve that kind of praise because of comments he made. Critics called his rhetoric extreme, divisive, misogynistic and racist.
Joshua Scacco, who directs the Center for Sustainable Democracy at USF, said a lot of people may not have been aware of some of the more controversial comments Kirk has said in the past.
"They are already coming across content that is curated for them," Scacco said. "And so in these particular settings, it is, in a lot of ways, very easy to get some types of content and not get other types of content, because the people or the organizations behind the sharing of particular memes and messages and videos may only be selectively giving one part of the story."
"I live in a residence hall and usually it's pretty divided, but I would say this has definitely caused a lot of people to rethink their decisions, rethink their political affiliations. People think that violence really isn't an answer on both sides of the spectrum."Christina Montalegre, USF sophomore
Scacco said there are a couple of reasons why so many young Christians seem attracted to Kirk's message.
"One is identity, and it could very well be a shared sort of religious affinity and identity that attracts people to him," Scacco said. "And so that's important, because an additional component may very well be our media environment encourages people to find like-minded others who might agree with them.
"Not only that, but you look at the online component of the Turning Point USA network on college campuses, so you have that organizational effort on the ground that kind of, in some ways, supplements the online as well."
Political violence seems to be happening more frequently, which Scacco said is corrosive to our whole democratic experiment.
"The whole series of terrible events highlights is that political violence degrades democracy. It degrades the way that people participate, speak, engage, and it's important that people reject soundly political violence, regardless of who is targeted," Scacco said.
"It makes communities less safe. And so this is another moment in a series of moments of political violence where it's important that people stop and reflect on the ways in which they themselves are rejecting these types of behaviors."
