On the University of Arizona Mall, where Charlie Kirk sparred last fall with students over politics and free speech, news of his death stirred conversations that ranged from grief to relief, capturing the deep divisions he left behind.

Kirk, a conservative commentator and campus speaker, was fatally shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Darius Gharavi, a neuroscience and cognitive science major, said that coming to terms with the news was a long process. He described his thoughts as jumping quickly to historical comparisons.

“I thought of Archduke Franz Ferdinand being shot and how that started World War I,” Gharavi said. “I thought to myself it would be really funny if the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the 20th century was Charlie Kirk. And then I got really scared.”

Gharavi, who was on his way to a political science class, said he had already been considering adding it as a minor before the news of Kirk’s death.

“If the professor says anything about what happened yesterday I probably will,” he said.

Olivia Otero, a second-year graduate student pursuing her master’s in library and information science, said she was in the Poetry Center when she heard the news.

“I was pretty shocked. I actually found out from my friend texting me. At first I didn’t recognize his name,” Otero said. “It’s a very unstable time, across the board. I’m worried about what this means for the general public and what type of legislation would come out from this.”

Otero said her social media feed quickly filled with posts and reactions to Kirk’s death.

“There were some people that posted about it that I was kind of surprised about,” she said.

Bryce Becker, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, called the events “horrific,” saying he hoped Kirk’s family was doing OK. He heard the initial news through a group chat with friends, but learned details while scrolling through social media.

“I saw different commentary. Most of the stuff I saw was generally positive, most influencers were saying we should be nice to them despite political differences,” Becker said. “It’s an issue that hits home more for college students. I saw some of my friends in group chats talking about gun violence and starting a productive conversation about that as a result of what happened.”

Student Marina Alvarenga Fagundes Couto said she thinks people should wait to jump to assumptions about the shooter’s motivations, since there were no strong leads, but said she believes it was not a random event.

“It was clearly a targeted thing by someone who had training with guns, since they were able to kill him with one shot and not injure anyone in the crowd,” she said.

Michael Hallock, a freshman majoring in economics, said he heard about the incident from a friend and initially thought Kirk had only been shot at.

When he investigated further on social media and found a video of the shooting, he realized it was much worse. Hallock said he found the video disturbing and that he hopes the perpetrator will be caught.

“It was just a sad, sad thing for Charlie. I don’t think he deserved to die just for voicing his opinion,” Hallock said. “It’s unfortunate.”

Josiah Ticer, a freshman majoring in philosophy, politics, economics, and law said he learned about the shooting while scrolling through Instagram and was not unhappy about the news.

“I think he was a despicable person,” Ticer said. “He dehumanized all kinds of groups of people. Women, minority groups. He was a horrible person, and he platformed horrible things.”

Student Joseph Victoria also found out about Kirk’s death through a group chat with friends. He said that while he disagrees with Kirk’s political views, violence is not the way to fix the country's issues.

“I wasn’t shocked, because we are standing 150-ish feet from where someone walked in and shot and killed a professor,” Victoria said. “I think these kids my age have definitely become desensitized to it, and it wasn’t surprising. I mean we saw Trump get shot, and he’s the president of the United States.”

Genesis Romero, a doctoral student in speech, language and hearing science, said the news made her think of the politically motivated killing of Minnesota Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated in her house in June.

“It makes me sad that we’re at this political point where there are so many extremes going on, not just the Republicans, but also the Democrats,” Romero said. “It makes me sad for Kirk’s children and his wife. I don’t want this to be the world we live in, but also, like I said, I’m not going to cry.”

Macy Hernandez, Ian Stash and Diana Ramos contributed to this story.

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