PHOENIX — They placed bouquets outside the mortuary where Charlie Kirk’s body lay. They drove by his church. They formed prayer circles and snapped somber photos at a sprawling memorial outside the headquarters of his conservative political group.
As tens of thousands of people poured into the Phoenix area this weekend to attend Kirk’s memorial service at the stadium of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, they turned the sunbaked streets into a kind of sprawling pilgrimage to commemorate the conservative activist in his adoptive home state, where conservatives are fighting to roll back Democratic wins in statewide offices in recent years.
“I just felt called to come,” said Cate Cara, 54, who flew to Arizona from her home in Boca Raton, Florida, with the hope of joining the more than 100,000 people planning to attend the memorial service for Kirk at a sprawling sports complex in suburban Phoenix.
Cara was planning to line up hours in advance to get a seat at the service, but first, she stopped Saturday morning at the front gates of Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organizing group Kirk founded.
She placed a sign honoring Kirk among the wilting flowers, faded notes and scribbled prayers of a tribute that has grown to the length of a city block in the 10 days since Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at a Utah college.
“He built this, here,” Cara said. “I just wanted to be around it, and feel it.”
All day long, people streamed up, some in mourner’s black, and others in flag-emblazoned T-shirts and MAGA hats. They left Bible verses, or notes that thanked Kirk and expressed sympathies to his widow, Erika Kirk, who was named to take over Turning Point. They pushed babies in strollers, or walked hand in hand with their children.
Nearby, a vendor sold T-shirts bearing an image of a smiling Kirk raising a fist.
Nathan Michael, 36, said he decided to fly from his home near Green Bay, Wisconsin, with his wife and three daughters as soon as he heard the details about Kirk’s memorial service.
Michael said he had not known much about Kirk before his assassination, and that he had not watched Kirk’s viral debates with liberal critics and college students. But Michael said that he, like Kirk, was a conservative Christian, and that he viewed Kirk’s assassination as an assault on Christianity.
“I felt it was a personal attack against me,” Michael said. “He spoke biblical truth.”
According to law-enforcement officials, the 22-year-old charged in Kirk’s killing had accused Kirk of spreading hate in conversations with family members, and he had texted his romantic partner that he had “had enough of his hatred.”
Prosecutors have charged the suspect, Tyler Robinson, with aggravated murder, and they are seeking the death penalty. Robinson appeared in court for the first time last week and has not yet entered a plea.
Some of Kirk’s supporters said they were torn about whether to attend his memorial, saying they did now know whether there would be enough available seats or parking spaces around State Farm Stadium in Glendale and an overflow hockey arena next door.
Others said they were worried about security at a high-profile event that was set to be attended by President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and a long list of high-ranking administration officials, elected leaders and conservative speakers.
On Saturday afternoon, many of the streets leading to the stadium were barricaded by police cruisers. In the parking lot, crews worked in the 100-degree heat to set up security checkpoints and fences.
The Department of Homeland Security has designated the memorial a top-level security event, similar to the Super Bowl or the New York City Marathon, and local and federal law-enforcement officers are expected to provide security.
But it was not enough to allay the worries of some visitors, like Gina Harroun. On Saturday, Harroun drove to the mortuary in Phoenix where Kirk’s body had been taken after arriving in Arizona. She wanted to pay her respects to Kirk, but she said a memorial with so many politicians and high-profile conservatives felt like it could become a target.
“I’m afraid to go,” she said. “There are going to be so many MAGA people there.”
A few of Kirk’s supporters wandered outside the stadium Saturday, walking alongside newly erected security fences as they tried to figure out where they would park and how they would get inside the next morning.
Jonny Burk and his father, Dave, flew into Phoenix on Saturday morning from their home in Gig Harbor, Washington. The younger Burk recently had knee surgery and wore a brace on his leg, but said he was willing to put up with the discomfort of long lines and travel to honor Kirk and witness a pivotal moment in American history firsthand.
“We’re going to look back on this moment in 20, 30 years,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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