Featured Image Credit: Salt Lake Tribune/Getty
Topics: News, US News, Charlie Kirk
Gerrard Kaonga
The student who spoke to Charlie Kirk right before he was shot and killed has spoken about the situation, and of his own difficulties.
Charlie Kirk was shot and killed by an individual police believe was on the roof of a college building while the conservative commentator was speaking at Utah Valley University.
The lethal shot resulted in the many people who had come to debate and speak to Kirk rapidly dispersing, fearing for their own lives.
The FBI have so far released footage of who they believe to be the shooter, and have called for the public’s help as they attempt to apprehend the person.
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Most eerily, before Kirk was shot, he was speaking about mass shootings, and the student who was debating him has made his own video addressing the incident.
The student who spoke to Kirk, Hunter Kozak, who goes by 'staxiom' on his social media pages, is a student at the university, and called the shooting a tragedy.
Kozak, who said he is a mathematics student at UVU, condemned the shooter and other people who think ‘this is the answer’.
He said: “It is not the answer, I don’t know what else to say.
“A father doesn’t have his kid anymore, Charlie had two kids and a wife and not to make this about me but I have two kids and a wife.
“If my one year old boy, like his one year old boy will grow up without memories of his dad... it is a tragedy.
“It is hard to grapple with and I am part of a community that is struggling to grapple with it.”
He also reflected on the irony of discussing gun violence and mass shootings before Kirk was shot. He explained he was trying to explain how peaceful the left was, and added that only makes sense if we stay peaceful.
While many people on social media have been offering kind words towards Kirk and his family, with many condemning political violence, some, unsurprisingly, have not.
Kozak took issue with some people celebrating the death of Kirk, and condemned them for not treating Kirk as if he was human.
He added: “If you are salivating about what happened... don’t. I don’t know if any of my audience is but if you are you are not part of what I am trying to build here, at all.”