Hawaiʻi officials condemn the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk — the latest instance of increased political violence across party lines in the U.S.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot in the neck yesterday at Utah Valley University during a speaking event. The Hawaii Republican Party said it’s “devastated” about Kirk’s death and spoke against political violence.
GOP Chair Arthur Hannemann described the shooting and the previous assassination attempts against President Donald Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign as “gang violence.”
“There's just a group of people out there that have just taken a very violent position in regards to what we Republicans believe and what we stand for. It would be really great — though we have differing views, differing opinions, ideas regarding this country and leaders — that we can agree to love one another, and to agree to disagree," he said.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox declared Kirk’s death a “political assassination.” Videos posted to social media show that Kirk was shot while fielding a question from a crowd about mass shootings.
Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green, in an Instagram post, said, “There is no place in Hawaiʻi or in our country for political violence. We may disagree on policies, but we must never allow division to turn into hate or harm. Democracy only survives when we resolve our differences through respect, dialogue and compassion.”
In another statement today, he said, “We have come to accept some amount of violence against one another as though it’s normal or acceptable. It’s not normal. It’s not acceptable.”
Green also ordered that flags be flown at half-staff through Sunday in memory of Kirk.
Kirk's death follows other notable instances of political violence over the last year that have targeted members of both major political parties.
The most notable took place in June, when a shooter disguised as a police officer fatally shot Rep. Melissa Hortman, the Democratic Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband at their home.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz described the shooting as a politically motivated assassination.
The same shooter also allegedly stalked and shot at Minnesota Democrat Sen. John Hoffman, as well as his wife and daughter.
In April, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home in Pennsylvania was burned in what has been classified as an arson.
Kirk’s death has also served as a platform to continue a national conversation about gun control in the U.S. Kirk and the Republican party in general have worked to stymie increased gun control efforts in favor of a more armed citizenry.
Hannemann said there are enough gun control laws in place and that, to prevent another situation like Kirk’s, there should be more protections in place for political events.
“There's a lot of people out there that are in the same position as Charlie Kirk — a lot of good people and on the left as well — that have a lot of hate coming their way,” he said. “I would suggest there should be drones. There needs to be more police … because we live in a very violent world.”
