ATLANTA — Some students at the University of Georgia are mourning the passing of Charlie Kirk.
The right-wing activist started a Turning Point USA chapter at the university.
Channel’s Cory James spoke with members of the organization who are devastated by Kirk’s assassination.
UGA hosted a similar event last year, like the one in Utah, where Kirk was gunned down on Wednesday. Several hundred people showed up to see Kirk speak.
One of those students was Chaston Atkins.
“We had a little brief back and forth, but he was very respectful,” Atkins said.
It’s a moment that he’ll never get to experience again.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Atkins said. “It’s kind of like if Mr. Rogers dropped dead in front of all of us, that’s what it’s like for us.”
Briar Bundy was a political reporter for the UGA’s student newspaper, The Red & Black.
She covered Kirk’s visit to Athens.
“I was shocked about how many people were there, but it was interesting to see, and also students got up and spoke,” Bundy said.
Some of those students were part of Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA.
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He co-founded it and started a UGA chapter, bringing together conservative students across 3,500 campuses.
“It’s like a piece of us has been taken away,” Turning Point USA member Ja’quon Stembridge said.
He said Kirk empowered younger generations to use their political voice.
“He gave us the permission to be loud about it, to let people know you are conservative,” Stembridge said. “He was able to show us you don’t have to be alone in the fight.”
Students say they fear this shooting will prevent Conservatives from speaking publicly.
Kirk’s shooting has also left many college students worried about their safety during big events on campus.
Just a day after his killing, it’s what students at Kennesaw State University are talking about.
“It’s definitely a little scary just thinking something that big could’ve happened on a college campus. Imagine if it happened here,” KSU student Camilo Rodriguez said.
“It was really shocking,” student Morrison Bivons said.
Channel 2’s Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell asked KSU officials how early their security team prepares for big events and how many resources they use to keep students safe, but they never responded to her requests.
“It definitely makes me worry a little bit, and I hope KSU moving forward at least has a little bit more safety concern,” Rodriguez said.
“I don’t think I would ever be worried,” Bivons told Newell.
“It wasn’t like a random shooting. It was a political assassination. I wouldn’t be concerned about anything like that happening here,” another student said, asking not to be identified.
One student Newell spoke with said he is confident in KSU’s security team during big events, and particularly appreciates push alerts and emails KSU sends to students when serious incidents happen because he knows what parts of campus to avoid.
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