New Jersey residents react to assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk
Rutgers University students, a national security expert with roots from New Jersey, the NJGOP and Gov. Phil Murphy have all weighed in on the incident.
The news of the assassination of conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk is making shockwaves throughout New Jersey and across the country.
Rutgers University students, a national security expert with roots from New Jersey, the NJGOP and Gov. Phil Murphy have all weighed in on the incident.
Kirk's death happened on the Utah Valley University campus on Thursday afternoon.
[twitter] https://twitter.com/FBI/status/1965962302458417304 [/twitter]
Rutgers University students tell News 12 that they are still processing what happened.
"Honestly, it's jarring," said freshman Nyasa Bryson. “Somebody getting shot at somewhere that’s supposed to be other people’s homes, is really scary, I think.”
A student wishing not to be identified described his initial reaction as “shocked.”
"I think that it’s very sad that we don’t know how to resort to words and that we resort to violence," said the student.
National security expert Brian Higgins says the nature of the event was risky to begin with.
RELATED: Conservative activist Charlie Kirk assassinated at Utah university event
“Charlie's very format is what led to some of the security, we’ll call them lapses, if you will," said Higgins, who's also the president of public safety consulting firm Group 77. "The fact that you’re in an open campus, any open environment - is very difficult to secure.”
He described it as a shame that the world is in a “contentious environment” right now, so much so that people can’t have constructive discourse in a place like a university.
“It’s very interesting that he was killed on a college campus," said Higgins. "College campuses used to be the place where people spoke about others’ opinions, where you met people who you disagreed with.”
The governor expressed his outrage about the incident on social media.
“The murder of Charlie Kirk during an event on a college campus is abhorrent. Political violence has no place in our nation,” Murphy wrote. “Tammy and I are sending our prayers to Charlie’s family and loved ones.”
As of Wednesday night, a motive for the shooting isn't known and no arrests have been made.
