(La Porte, IN) - About 300 people turned out for a candlelight vigil outside the downtown La Porte courthouse Saturday evening in honor of assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

 

Many participants reflected, grieved and called for an end to the political violence while expressing a commitment to continue on with the message of Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA.

 

“Thank you, Charlie.   We will keep spreading your word,” said La Porte resident Tom Giglio, who described his reaction to the fatal shooting on the campus of Utah Valley University on September 10 as very emotional.

 

“I cried.  My heart wept,” he said.

 

“He was, by far, the best us,” said La Porte County Commissioner Joe Haney, who hosted the event.

 

Utah resident Tyler Robinson, 22, is charged with delivering the fatal single round from the top of a building about 150 yards away while Kirk was giving a presentation under a tent.

 

La Porte County Republican Party Chairman Al Stevens said the turnout spoke volumes about Kirk and his impact, which he felt was similar to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. before and after he was assassinated by a gunman during the Civil Rights movement.

 

“You can kill the messenger but you can’t kill the message I think is important to remember here,” he said.

 

Kirk was credited with persuading enough young people with his message about conservatism that it could have potentially decided the outcome of the November presidential election.

 

He did so while challenging people from the opposite side of the spectrum to express and explain their beliefs.

 

La Porte County Council President Adam Koronka called the tragic shooting “a call for people to finally come together instead of resorting to violence.”

 

“Speak your thoughts.  Speak your opinions and be able to talk about them.  That’s what we really have to look for going forward after all of this,” he said.

 

Since the assassination, republicans and democrats in some states like Rhode Island have already pledged to turn down the temperature of the political rhetoric out of respect for all forms of human life and differences of opinion.

 

“His entire life was talking, communicating and having a dialogue, which is what we need.   They stole that voice from us and it hurts.  It really does,” said Haney, who’s in the first year of his second term.