Trump is tackling Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting
President Trump lamented the death of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University and condemned radical left-wing violence.
They first met in middle school – their eyes widened and they were able to easily separate themselves based on what Americans believe in.
“Even so, he was political,” Christina Laurie wrote in a social media post after his death. “Republican-but not an extremist. He was funny, friendly and the first person to discuss everything at all times.”
Lorey, a left-wing journalist who currently lives in Wisconsin, is currently living in Wisconsin, where conservative influencer Charlie Kirk grew up in the Chicago suburbs. On September 10, the shooter is believed to have fired one gunshot that killed 31-year-old Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus.
Now, Laurie pays homage to her childhood friend a few years after their paths diverge. She refused to speak further out of respect for his family.
In her post, Laurie wrote that Kirk “talked a lot.” She did that too. They “became friends,” she said. They were not “best friends,” but they were “people like those who worked well together on school projects and enjoyed it.”
Chocolate chip cookie campaign
Then, at the end of sixth grade, both Laurie and Kirk were voted “most likely to become president.”
“He was much more excited than I did, and it looked like he might actually run for the president one day,” Laurie wrote. “In high school, we were on different tracks, and together we had one memorable class. The Associated Press Government. It was also an election year. Charlie’s Super Bowl.” Former President Barack Obama and former Arizona Senator John McCain were on the ballot.
Laurie said there were only five students in government classes, but he said it was rare at public high schools in Illinois, like Wheeling High School.
“During that year, Charlie got to know very well,” Laurie said. “One of my favourite memories was the schoolwide campaign that launched the cafeteria to lower the prices of chocolate chip cookies.
She continued: “That trait stayed with him until the very end. When Charlie believed in something, he really believed in it.” And they both were released the senior top class just before graduating from Wheeling.
Graduation has come and go. The Wildcats on the wheels of the 2012 class were walking their own paths. Laurie said Kirk started Turning Point USA that summer. The organization advocates conservative politics on high school and university campuses. His high school friend, Laurie, went to college. Kirk dropped out.
“We didn’t talk much other than the occasional check-in. We didn’t agree or praise it at all that it became his organization, but the middle school boy we always wanted to discuss would want to build it,” Laurie told social media. “It was impressive.”
But she created something impressive. Lorey boasts 125,000 Facebook followers while sharing good news in Wisconsin.
Last year, 12 summers after graduation, Kirk spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee after an attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump, part of a growing trend in violent political acts across the United States.
Then again, on a sunny summer day in Utah, a public assassination attempt occurred. Laurie’s childhood friend was killed.
“Fast-forward to this day, we didn’t agree much, but we’re certainly sure. Political violence is never alright,” writes Laurie. “We send embraces to Charlie’s parents, sister, wife Erika, one of his and her three-year-olds, as well as all of his former classmates and teachers. We can’t wait for a day when gun violence is no longer common in America.”
We grow up with each other, graduate from high school and go our own way, as Lorey and Kirk did. Bonds we shared. They meet again every 5-10 years. Remember a good day. And we check in when tragedy strikes in small towns, suburbs and city streets across America.
But sometimes we look back at who is with us.
(This story has been updated with new information.)
