Disturbing videos have surfaced showing students acting out the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in school hallways, the latest in a wave of incidents where young people have openly mocked or celebrated the conservative leader's killing. The footage, first reported by the Daily Mail, shows students mimicking the shooting in what appears to be a coordinated performance, raising urgent questions about the culture festering in American schools and universities in the months since Kirk's death.

Kirk was shot and killed on September 10 in broad daylight at Utah Valley University. He left behind a wife and two young children. The shooting suspect faces seven charges, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

A pattern no one can ignore

The hallway reenactments are not isolated. Across the country, students and even educators have been caught on camera celebrating or mocking Kirk's assassination, creating a grim catalog of incidents that would be unthinkable if the victim held different political views.

At Hamline University in Minnesota, a student was filmed by Turning Point USA members openly bragging about his reaction to Kirk's murder. The New York Post reported that the student told the camera he was "glad Charlie Kirk got shot" and that he "clapped" while watching video of the shooting.

"I'm just saying, I think it's good Charlie Kirk got shot because he got what he preached."

The same student went further, telling the TPUSA members: "I think bad people deserve to die."

At Clemson University, similar celebrations were documented. At Texas Tech University, a student was arrested and expelled. And in Chicago, a public school teacher was caught on camera mimicking a gun to her neck at a protest.

Texas governor demands action

Two incidents in Texas drew the sharpest official response. At Texas State University in San Marcos, an unidentified student was filmed acting out Kirk's assassination at a Turning Point USA memorial vigil on campus. The video spread rapidly, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott took to X to demand consequences.

"Hey Texas State. This conduct is not accepted at our schools. Expel this student immediately. Mocking assassination must have consequences."

Texas State President Kelly Damphousse moved swiftly. The student was expelled. Damphousse issued a statement making clear the university's position.

"I will not tolerate behavior that mocks, trivializes, or promotes violence on our campuses. It is antithetical to our TXST values. The individual is no longer a student at TXST."

At Texas Tech, the situation escalated even further. Fox News reported that student Camryn Giselle Booker was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges and expelled after shouting profanity-laced taunts at a Kirk vigil, including "F*** y'all homie dead, he got shot in the head."

The legal proceedings against the accused shooter, meanwhile, continue to advance through the Utah court system. A recent ruling by the Utah Supreme Court cleared the way for cameras at the preliminary hearing in the case, ensuring public transparency as prosecutors pursue the death penalty.

The campus culture question

For many conservatives, these incidents confirm what they have long warned about: a poisoned ideological climate on American campuses that treats political disagreement as grounds for violence and treats actual violence as cause for applause.

Tyson Langhofer, director of the Alliance Defending Freedom's Center for Academic Freedom, placed Kirk's murder in the context of years of escalating hostility toward conservative speakers at universities. Writing in the Washington Examiner, Langhofer argued that the killing was a foreseeable result of systemic failures in higher education.

"The unspeakable horror we witnessed on Sept. 10 was a predictable destination of the trajectory of escalating violence on our college campuses."

Langhofer pointed to data showing that the liberal-to-conservative faculty ratio at American universities has grown from 2:1 in 1989 to as high as 26:1 at Harvard in 2023. He argued that this ideological uniformity, combined with the widespread belief that speech equals violence and administrators' failure to enforce rules fairly, created the conditions for Kirk's killing.

His proposed solutions included greater faculty viewpoint diversity, a renewed commitment to open debate, and uniform enforcement of campus policies regardless of the political views of those involved.

"We can only hope that Charlie Kirk's needless murder will be the beginning of the end of violent speech suppression on campus."

Consequences and the road ahead

The expulsions in Texas represent the most forceful institutional responses so far. But they remain the exception. Authorities have not publicly confirmed whether the students filmed reenacting Kirk's death in school hallways have faced any disciplinary action. Investigators will need to determine whether such conduct rises to the level of threats or incitement under applicable state laws, or whether it falls within protected expression, however repugnant.

The Hamline University student filmed celebrating Kirk's death has not, based on available information, faced expulsion or criminal charges. The university's response, or lack of one, stands in contrast to the swift action taken by Texas State and Texas Tech.

For Kirk's family, the stakes extend beyond policy debates. A father and husband was gunned down in broad daylight on a college campus. The suspect faces the ultimate penalty. And in schools and universities across the country, students are performing his death for laughs and likes.

When a society's institutions cannot teach young people that celebrating murder is wrong, the failure runs deeper than any faculty ratio or campus speech code can explain.