Hundreds gather to honor Charlie Kirk at Orem vigil; Mayor Dave Young speaks
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- People honor Charlie Kirk at a vigil Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem.
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- People honor Charlie Kirk at a vigil Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem.
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- A memorial for Charlie Kirk is shown Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem.
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- Orem Mayor David Young speaks at a vigil for Charlie Kirk Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem.
Reverence and sorrow washed over Orem City Center Park on Thursday night as residents paid their respects to Charlie Kirk at a candlelight vigil.
A lengthy line of people took turns leaving candles and flowers at the base of an enlarged photo of Kirk, who was a prominent conservative speaker slain in a shooting at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
The event was hosted by The Tribe, a locally based events company. Several Orem police officers were on the scene and surrounded the perimeter of the vigil.
Orem Mayor David Young shared prepared remarks with the attendees, expressing his shock that such a “violent act” occurred in his city and extending his condolences to Kirk’s wife, Erika, and their family.
He asked people to turn on their cellphone flashlights to “come together in light.”
“Your lights remind us that even in sorrow, light has the power and the comfort to guide us and to bring us together,” Young said. “Charlie was not the only victim of yesterday’s attack. Our hearts are also with the many students and residents who witnessed the terrible act of violence firsthand. No young person should carry the weight of such a memory. I pray that they may find comfort, healing and love and process what they saw, and I wish that our entire community can surround them with compassion and strength.”
Thursday marked 24 years since the 9/11 attacks, and Young spoke on how people unified on that tragic day and said he hopes people do the same now.
“That same spirit of unity, love and community is what we must call on tonight as we face this loss together. This tragedy was not merely an attack on one man or one set of beliefs, it was an attack on the freedoms that define America,” he said.
Young called the assassination a “direct opposition” of Orem and the United States’ values, and asked people to defend the value of life.
“The best way we can honor Charlie’s memory is to be great Americans, to live with courage, to be willing to engage in dialogue and to remain open to communication even when we disagree,” Young said.
The mayor spoke after Mike Harris, an institute teacher at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Orem Utah Valley Institute of Religion. Harris recounted his experience on campus Wednesday.
He said he was preparing to teach a 1 p.m. class when he saw some of his students rushing into the building, many crying or visibly shaking.
“Others like myself had no idea what was going on,” Harris said. “I was informed we were in lockdown and there was an active shooter, but I was not prepared for what I heard next: Someone had shot and killed Charlie Kirk here in Orem, Utah.”
His message to vigil attendees was to lean on their community despite their differences and look to God.
“If Charlie was here today, he would also say that we need something else, something beyond ourselves, something higher than ourselves,” Harris said. “He would encourage us, without hesitation, he would plead with us, he would implore us to pray to God for help for us, individually and as a nation, as a community, so that we can heal.”
Many in the crowd appeared to resonate with the messages, participating in a prayer conducted by Harris, quieting down for a moment of silence and chanting “USA!” in unison.
Friends Isaac Stoddard and Daxton Huntsman, both sophomores at UVU, went to the vigil to honor Kirk and mourn the violence that occurred in their town and school.
“It was just like a punch in the face,” Huntsman said, “that something like this happened in my community.”
“Utah isn’t like this,” Stoddard added. “That’s why it’s kind of a shock. But I don’t think it has anything to do, actually, with Utah. It was definitely planned, and it happened here, and it’s a shame, but Utah’s strong, and I think we all have this to bring us together.”
