Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker blamed Charlie Kirk's assassination on President Donald Trump's "rhetoric" and claimed that he was responsible for "fomenting" political violence, Breitbart reported. The 31-year-old conservative star was gunned down during an appearance at a Utah college on Wednesday.
America was left reeling after Kirk was apparently shot in the neck by a sniper's bullet and later pronounced dead. The graphic video made the rounds on social media as many in the conservative movement expressed their deep sorrow and sympathies for Kirk's wife and children.
As of Thursday, authorities were still unsure of the motive and had not taken anyone into custody. Nevertheless, many on the left began their ghoulish business of celebrating the murder, including Pritzker.
He was asked for his remarks about Kirk's death while speaking to reporters, and Pritzker took the opportunity to take a shot at the president, even though it was unclear who the shooter was and what the motive might be. The Illinois Democrats are just one of many who took the opportunity of Kirk's death to smear Republicans.
Pritzker's answer to a reporter's question about Kirk's death was absolutely disgraceful. The governor started with a short word of condolence for Kirk's family before launching into his reprehensible rhetoric. "Charlie Kirk has become a target for somebody," Prtizker said.
"I don’t know whether it’s political violence, because I don’t know who did it. But I will say that political violence, unfortunately, has been ratcheting up in this country," Prtizker remarked.
"We saw the shootings, the killings in Minnesota. We’ve seen other political violence occur in other states. And I would just say it’s gotta stop," Pritzker said, referring to the murder of Minnesota’s Democratic House Speaker, Rep. Melissa Hortman, and her husband, earlier this year.
"And I think there are people who are fomenting it in this country. I think the president’s rhetoric often foments it," Pritzker claimed. He then went on to repeat the narrative about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. "We’ve seen the January 6th rioters who clearly have tripped a new era of political violence," he claimed, though the only person killed in that attack was an unarmed woman shot by a Capitol Police officer.
JB Pritzker uses the assassination of Charlie Kirk to blame President Trump and talk about J6: "Political violence has been ratcheting up in this country. I think the president's rhetoric often foments it."
Despicable. pic.twitter.com/fkHanokers
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) September 11, 2025
Pritzker was quick to blame Trump for Kirk's killing, but the governor has actively encouraged the people of his state to resist federal and National Guard troops sent in to clean up the crime in Chicago. "To any federal official who would come to Chicago and try to incite my people into violence as a pretext for something darker and more dangerous, we are watching, and we are taking names," Pritzker said late last month.
This was deliberately misleading about the reason for their presence, namely, stopping the hundreds of murders that happen in the Windy City every year. He also made a veiled threat on social media, promising, "If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me — not time or political circumstance — from making sure you face justice…"
Still, Pritzker wasn't the only leftist to pin the murder of a conservative pundit on Republicans. As the New York Post reported, MSNBC's Matthew Dowd blamed Kirk after previously speculating that it could have been a bullet from a "supporter shooting their gun off in celebration," the author and political analyst said on air as the tragedy unfolded.
"You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place. That’s the unfortunate environment we’re in," Dowd claimed.
Kirk's assassination was one of the most harrowing tragedies to befall a political figure in recent times. While decent people mourn the loss of a man who was a husband, father, and beloved public figure, the dregs of society on the left took the opportunity of Kirk's death to debase him and themselves.
Attorney general Pam Bondi signaled a shift in President Trump's crackdown on urban crime, saying federal troops will head next to a "city who wants us there" instead of intervening in resistant Democratic cities.
Trump has repeatedly toyed with the idea of taking over Chicago, which has long been plagued with gang violence. But Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) have furiously pushed back on Trump's offer of assistance.
The Trump administration is now suggesting they will not waste time fighting with Democrats who refuse to be helped.
"They are a progressive city, and they don't want the president's help. That's on them," Bondi said of Chicago on Fox News Tuesday night. "Chicago should be begging Donald Trump for help to keep Chicago safe — yet they aren't. So we’re going to a city who wants us there."
Bondi did not say which city is next, but Trump has named Democrat-run New Orleans as another city that could use federal help with fighting crime.
Louisiana is a Republican-run state, and Trump has already said the governor, Jeff Landry, is receptive to Trump's crackdown.
According to Bondi, the feds have arrested over 2,310 people and seized over 225 guns in Washington, D.C. since Trump launched his takeover of the capital in August.
The city's police data shows that homicides have fallen 43% since the crackdown started, with violent crime dropping 18%.
The president touted his D.C. operation as a success during a rare stop at a restaurant in downtown D.C., where he teased a major announcement.
“We’re going to be announcing another city that we're going to very shortly. We’re working it out with the governor of a certain state that would love us to be there and the mayor of a certain city in the same state,” he said on Tuesday.
“We’ll announce it probably tomorrow," he added.
The takeover of D.C. expired Wednesday after Congress declined to renew it, but National Guard troops are expected to remain in the city for now.
While Bondi is pointing to a more limited federal presence in Chicago, immigration agents have started a new crackdown in the city in honor of a 20-year-old woman who was killed by an illegal alien in a hit-and-run accident.
Since beginning Operation Midway Blitz, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has arrested several criminal foreigners, including for offenses as sexually assaulting a child family member, rape, armed robbery, and domestic battery.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The suspect in a school shooting in Evergreen, Colorado, this week has died of self-inflicted injuries.
That's according to a report from Fox affiliate KDVR.
Classes at the school, located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains about 25 miles west of Denver, were canceled for the rest of this week.
Reports of an "active assailant" came in to authorities about noon on Wednesday, and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office revealed three students were injured.
One student remained hospitalized in critical condition on Thursday, another had less serious injuries.
The shooter died at the hospital from his injuries.
Jefferson County Public Schools Supt. Tracy Dorland said, "We cannot pretend this is just another tragic incident. The pain of this incident reopens old wounds. I know there are many in our Jeffco community hurting and grieving tonight, in Evergreen and beyond. The urgency this moment demands is undeniable. Student safety is not an abstract issue for us in Jeffco. It is the most important responsibility we hold. Safety is our number one priority every day, and yet, here we are once again, grieving with a community over gun violence impacting our students."
Dorland also bashed those of faith who respond to tragedies with their "thoughts and prayers."
"The nation is tired of statements filled with platitudes and 'thoughts and prayers.' What we need is courage. What we need is the collective will of our entire community. Violence involving our young people should never be normalized, and we must face the difficult truth that too often, it is," Dorland said.
KDVR also posted a list, from state records, of shootings at Colorado schools that have taken place during school hours, "not including suicides."
They include:
There have been additional shootings on school grounds, and the list does not include mass Colorado shootings in movie theaters and such.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The United States now is in a "new and chilling stage" of what constitutional expert Jonathan Turley has described as the "age of rage."
In fact, his book, "The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage," specifically addresses the issues that were involved in the assassination this week of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed while holding a rally for students at a Utah university.
The killer remains at large at this point.
Turley, who not only has testified before Congress as an expert on the Constitution but also has represented members in court in constitutional fights, is a popular commentator and analyst on all things legal and constitutional, as well as the forces shaping America now.
He warned that the leftist agenda across the nation that now includes the assassination of Kirk, a popular speaker and speech rights advocate who founded Turning Point USA, could "succeed in forcing the thousands of conservative and libertarian students back into the shadows of our campuses and classrooms."
He said, "We cannot allow that to happen. Charlie Kirk challenged not just the left to debate but the right to be heard in higher education."
He explained the possible benefit for the nation.
"Yes, this is an age of rage. However, amidst the rage and the violence, there are a special few who have defied the threats and the attacks. The writer George Bernard Shaw once said that unreasonable people expect the world to conform to them. He then added that that was why all history is made by unreasonable people. Kirk was one of those wonderfully unreasonable people who refused to yield; refused to be silenced. Despite unrelenting attacks by the media and the establishment, he remained undeterred and unbowed. Students need to remember not how Kirk died, but why he died. His loss is Charlie's final challenge to all those today wringing their hands and muttering the usual expressions of shocked regret. Kirk would likely say, 'prove it.' Speak. Defy those who spend their time silencing others rather than speaking themselves. If you want to honor Charlie Kirk, speak out, speak boldly on both the right and the left. Prove them wrong."
Turley cited the two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump as among the "growing attacks on free speech around the world."
He explained, "Kirk came up with the brilliant idea of challenging liberals to simply debate issues from abortion to immigration. His group would go to campuses and invite debate with signs reading 'prove me wrong' and encourage liberals to engage in dialogue rather than violence."
That provided a reason, he said, for "the left" to hate Kirk.
"Campuses have long been the bastions of the left, reinforced by faculties which now have few, if any, conservatives or Republicans. Higher education has long been an incubator for intolerance; shaping a generation of speech phobics who shout down or attack those with opposing views," he said.
And Kirk hit the very heart of "that power base" by showing students "they could be open and bold about their views. He told them that they did not have to yield to orthodoxy and the groupthink."
The assassination, however bad, was not surprising.
"The response to TPUSA was all too often rage and violence. Liberals and anti-free speech groups like Antifa would trash their tables and threaten the students. Recently, at UC Davis, police simply watched as a TPUSA tent was torn apart and the tent carried off," he cited.
"Violent speech has long been acceptable on campuses so long as it targets conservatives. Teachers have called for others to 'take out' Trump supporters and for the Secret Service to assassinate him. University of Wisconsin Professor José Felipe Alvergue, head of the English Department, turned over the table of College Republicans supporting a conservative for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He reportedly declared, 'The time for this is over!' At universities, professors have called for 'detonating white people,' denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters, and supporting the attempted assassination of President Trump. One professor who declared that there is 'nothing wrong' with such acts of violence as killing conservatives was actually promoted," he wrote.
Some specifics:
_"At Hunter College in New York, Professor Shellyne Rodríguez trashed a pro-life display of students, telling the students that 'This is bulls–t. This is violent. You're triggering my students.' When the students tried to engage the professor and apologized for upsetting her, Rodríguez yelled, 'No you're not — because you can't even have a f–king baby. So you don't even know what that is. Get this s–t the f–k out of here.' In an Instagram post, she is then shown trashing the table."
This wasn't enough for the school to dismiss her. That only happened after she "chased reporters with a machete."
_"At the University of California Santa Barbara, they did not even bother to fire a professor who pleaded guilty to assaulting pro-life students on campus. Professors actually rallied around feminist studies associate professor Mireille Miller-Young. She was later honored as a model for women advocates at the University of Oregon."
He explained why such violence is pursued by "anarchists, socialists, and other groups."
"What few today want to admit is that they like it. They like the freedom that it affords, the ability to hate and harass without a sense of responsibility. It is evident all around us as people engage in language and conduct that they repudiate in others. We have become a nation of rage addicts; flailing against anyone or anything that stands in opposition to our own truths. Like all addictions, there is not only a dependency on rage but an intolerance for opposing views. The difference between rage and reason is often one's own views. If one agrees with the underlying grievance, rage is viewed as passion or justified fury at injustice. If one disagrees with those views, it takes on a more threatening and unhinged quality. We seem to spend much of our time today raging at each other. Despite the amplification of views on both sides, there is also an increasing intolerance for opposing views. Those views are treated as simply harmful and offensive—and, therefore, intolerable. Indeed, to voice free speech principles in a time of rage is to invite the rage of the mob."
He explained, "In recent months, some of us have warned Democratic politicians about their violent rhetoric. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) has called for people to take to the streets to save democracy and posted a picture brandishing a baseball bat. Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would 'strike fear in the heart' of Trump. Liberal sites sell Antifa items to celebrate the violent group. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared, 'I'm going to punch these sons of b—— in the mouth.' It follows other violent rhetoric from Democratic leaders."
The result across America has been protesters "burning cars, dealerships, and even lawyers and reporters on the left are throwing Molotov cocktails at police. We have also seen a massive increase in attacks on ICE officers, who are now covering their faces to avoid doxxing or retaliation against themselves or their families."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The FBI on Thursday released images of the suspect agents want to interview regarding the assassination on Wednesday of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah university event.
"We are asking for the public's help identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. 1-800-CALL-FBI," the announcement said.
The FBI also said it recovered a bolt-action rifle believed to have been used in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
And agents are investigating whether there are any usable fingerprints on it, whether footprints found near the weapon are significant and much, much more.
The assassin remained at large Thursday, after two individuals were taken into custody, questioned, and then released on Wednesday in the hours after the shooting.
There were reports, in an X post from Steven Crowder, of Louder with Crowder, that law enforcement found an "older model imported Mauser .30-06 caliber bolt action rifle wrapped in a towel in a wooded area near the campus."
"The location of the firearm appears to match the suspects route of travel. The spent cartridge was still chambered in addition to three unspent rounds at the top fed magazine. All cartridges have engraved wording on them, expressing transgender and anti-fascist ideology," the report said.
That word comes on the heels of a long list of mass shootings perpetrated by transgender-advocating individuals.
A report in the Washington Examiner explained authorities confirmed at a news conference that the murder weapon was recovered in a wooded area near the shooting scene, a region that now has been swept and secured.
Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason also confirmed authorities have a "good video" of the shooter.
"The suspect was described as being of college age, and arrived on campus about a half hour before the murder. The assassin jumped off the roof after the shooting and fled into a nearby neighborhood," the report said.
The suspect, immediately after the shooting, was described to police as wearing jeans, a black shirt, a black mask, and a black vest, and carrying a "long rifle."
The shooter is thought to have shot Kirk from atop the Sorensen Student Center on the campus of Utah Valley University.
Multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in the investigation, including the FBI.
An analyst said in the Washington Examiner report that police likely were using cell phone data, cameras, license plate readers and such.
The weapon is expected to provide some details, such as when and where it was purchased, where the ammunition was purchased and such.
The report noted, "The UVU campus will be closed for the rest of the week, and classes have been canceled for several days. Several Utah universities increased their security and/or police presence on their campuses, including the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, and Southern Utah University."
The individuals detained and released, the report said, were identified as George Zinn and Zachariah Qureshi.
Both were let go after being interrogated.
Radio traffic from Utah County Public Safety earlier in the day had a dispatcher saying: "Description on the male: All in black, long pants, black bag, aviator-style sunglasses with a long gun."
It is believed the shooter fired a weapon from a long distance, striking the founder of Turning Point USA who was speaking while seated under a tent.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
CANCELED!
That's the word for a just-released launch of a comic book series called "Red Hood" that saw its first issue release on Wednesday.
It's because the writer, a "transgender-identifying" individual working for DC Comics, launched into celebration on learning of the assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk that same day.
A report at Daily Wire explained it was the "Red Hood" project written by Gretchen Felker-Martin with artwork by Jeff Spokes that had just released issue 1 on Wednesday.
Then came Kirk's murder, and Felker-Martin's social media statements, since removed, who said, "Thoughts and prayers you Nazi b—-." And "Hope the bullet's okay after touching Charlie Kirk."
"'The job market is grim, but there's a silver lining: Gavin Newsom needs a new co-host for his podcast,' Felker-Martin wrote in a third post, referencing a time Kirk and Newsom filmed a podcast episode together," according to the Daily Wire.
The next two planned installments of "Red Hood" now have been dropped, and DC Comics is offering retailers reimbursement for any unsold copies of the first, the report said.
DC said it affirms, "the highest value on our creators and community and affirm the right to peaceful, individual expression of personal viewpoints. Posts or public comments that can be viewed as promoting hostility or violence are inconsistent with DC's standards of conduct."
Felker-Martin's reputation for advocating violence already had been established.
"Referring to anti-trans activist J.K. Rowling, Felker-Martin previously wrote on Bluesky, 'I hope someone splits her skull.'" And in 2022, Felker-Martin released a story about burning Rowling alive.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The internet was flooded with prayers for conservative activist Charlie Kirk on word hitting the headlines he was shot in the neck at a Utah speaking event Wednesday.
Hundreds of pleas for God's mercy and healing consumed X postings. President Donald Trump later eulogized Kirk, confirming his death at age 31.
"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie," Trump said.
But some didn't join in the prayers.
Some demonized him, even as he lay hospitalized, fighting for his life.
It was MSNBC that took that position.
"MSNBC is ALREADY back to demonizing Charlie Kirk, just MINUTES after he was shot in Utah. Katy Tur called him 'a divisive figure, polarizing, lightning rod. What ever term you want to use.' THE LEFT IS FCKING DISGUSTING!!!!"
Actually, Tur read a statement from FBI chief Kash Patel in support of Kirk, then reverted to demonizing him.
Other memes that could be described accurately as demonic appeared. One showed a desk full of talking heads laughing uproariously.
Under the headline, "CHARLIE KIRK DEAD."
Anairuda posted a GIF of young ladies laughing and celebrating, under the statement, "They saying Charlie Kirk got shot…"
This, like one about Tur's comments, were removed from X almost immediately.
Another showed a man enthusiastically whipping his hand against his hip, with the statement, "me at the hospital watching Charlie Kirk's datascope flatline."
Someone posted an image of Kamala Harris chortling over, "I love good news," with the line, "pro-gun racist misogynist Charlie kirk dead by gun shot."
Harris, herself, actually said she was "deeply disturbed" by the shooting, sending her prayers to Kirk and his family.
"Andrea Junker" wrote, "Let's make one thing clear from the start: Charlie Kirk was the victim of a shooting in a country where he, along with other right-wing extremist influencers, have been inciting violence for years. — Kirk is neither a martyr nor a hero, he is a cause."
The antics of the commenters, drew a quick conclusion, too.
"We can never look at the far-left the same again after what they did to Charlie Kirk … These people want to m*rder us."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
FBI Director Kash Patel says a person of interest arrested in Wednesday's assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, has now been released.
"The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement," Patel said on X.
"Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency."
Radio traffic from Utah County Public Safety earlier in the day had a dispatcher saying: "Description on the male: All in black, long pants, black bag, aviator-style sunglasses with a long gun."
It is believed the shooter fired a weapon from a long distance, striking the founder of Turning Point USA who was speaking while seated under a tent.
"Our nation is broken," said Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox at an afternoon news conference. "Nothing I say can unite us as a country. … Nothing I say can bring back Charlie Kirk."
"I don't care what his politics are. I care that he's an American," he continued. "We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be."
"I pray that those who hate what Charlie Kirk stood for will put down their social media and pen and pray for his family and that all of us will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans."
"I just want to remind people we still have the death penalty in the state of Utah."
As the manhunt was under way, Jesse Watters of Fox News expressed some doubt the assailant being captured.
"If you look at the geography around the area, you can just walk down from that building, get in your vehicle and you can be in the mountains in ten minutes," Watters said on "The Five."
"You could be at the airport in Provo in five minutes. I'm a little worried that this manhunt is gonna go on for a long time because if they don't have this guy now, there is no telling where he or she or they could be."
Dana Perino on the same program noted: "It's very scary to think that this person may have gotten away."
Kennedy, host of "Kennedy Saves the World," said the shooting was intended to send a message.
"It's absolutely a message. This is a message meant to silence people," she said.
"This is an assassination. This is an act of terrorism because although Charlie Kirk was not a politician, he was political and he was powerful and his power came from joy and igniting a movement and being really, really convincing."
"That person intended for this assassination to silence everyone who agrees with him, and to silence everyone who wants to go out on a limb and make their case and refute so much of what especially younger people are being fed."
Fox News anchor Greg Gutfeld said of the message: "It's like, you could be next. … It feels professional."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., is demanding to know how shouting Code Pink protesters got so close the president of the United States in a D.C. restaurant Tuesday night as he dined with members of his Cabinet.
President Trump, who rarely dines out in D.C., made the visit to celebrate how the streets of the nation's capital had become markedly safer since he sent in National Guard troops to help keep the peace.
But anti-Trump protesters were able to make a reservation for a table in the same room where administration officials were dining – at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab.
Luna posted on X: "Did someone leak the President's location to the organization that showed up to protest him? Was this code pink? How are they allowed that close to him? Where was Secret Service and was there someone in Secret Service that leaked his location? This needs to be looked into."
"We actually had a reservation, and got it pretty last-minute, and went in," Code Pink organizer Olivia DiNucci told the Daily Beast. "We didn't think they would be in such an open room – we thought he'd be in a different area – and we were placed really close to them."
Luna and others first heard about the confrontation when Code Pink posted the video online. Protesters shouted: "Free D.C., Free Palestine. Trump is the Hitler of our time!"
Trump is seen walking straight toward the protesters
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
UPDATE: The sheriff's office has now reported that two students were injured in the shooting, plus the shooter, who also was hospitalized. All three, all minors, are considered in critical condition. No names were released immediately.
There's been another school shooting, this time at Evergreen High School in Colorado.
Initial reports say that at least three people, probably students, are in critical condition after being hospitalized.
A report from KDVR television said authorities in Jefferson County, which encompasses the foothills community of Evergreen about 25 miles west of downtown Denver, said there was an "active assailant" at the school.
A spokesperson for CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood told FOX31 that three people are in the hospital in critical condition related to the incident.
Authorities revealed a 911 call came in about 12:40 p.m. Mountain Time, and a warning was issued that people who have kids at the school should not try to go there, as it still was "an active scene."
The building was being evacuated room by room.
A reunification site was set up at Bergen Meadow Elementary, nearby.