Life is getting back to normal in my part of the world. The flags are back to full staff, and the signs and balloons have come down. One exception is the flag draped over the bridge adjacent to the amphitheater where Charlie was shot.
I’ve been to the UVU campus on several occasions. I go to Timpanogos Regional Medical Center to have labs drawn. I routinely drive by the Utah County Jail, where the suspect is housed, usually on my way to buy chicken feed.
The locals are still getting over the shock, even as the community remains the epicenter of conversations of pundits and reporters who have probably never even set foot here.
Classes resumed this morning at Utah Valley University. KUTV talked with some of the students who were going to try to get back to the business of learning, even as they continue to deal with the aftermath of the incident.
Sophomore Hallie Landingin told the outlet, "I was on about the second or third row, standing on the corner and edge. I feel like right now these are kind of sacred grounds… Now that I have been able to process everything, I feel ready to come back, and hopefully, everything will stay safe. And hopefully we’ll have more security on campus as well.” Senior Kaitlyn Allen remarked, "It’s just like the heaviness behind it. It’s just hard knowing this is where I go to school. It’s been a hard week, so I think it will be hard coming back and just living this again, but I think it will be good to come back.”
When something of this magnitude happens, it is the impulse of members of the media to try to squeeze every angle of the story for as much juice as possible. It’s a normal, but abrasive tendency. There is also a desire to make oneself relevant by adding something to the conversation, no matter how inane the concept may be.
Naturally, the MSM and their various wannabes are pushing the theory that the shooter is a conservative and Mormon who committed the murder because Kirk was not conservative enough. That is to be expected since they are frantically grasping at straws to prove that the rhetoric and ideology the Left has been pushing are not inherently inflammatory and dangerous.
There were stories around the arrest of George Zinn, who initially claimed to have been the one who shot Charlie. According to the folks around my part of the world, the 71-year-old is known for this kind of behavior. If what I am hearing from my fellow Utahns is correct, Zinn would have been happy to show up at a county fair pie-eating contest to make a progressive fool of himself. Of note, Zinn was also busted for having CSAM on his phone, which is an indicator that the Left should simmer down, since it is just going to step on every rake in the yard the longer it talks.
Some people began floating the idea that the real killer had not been caught and was immediately spirited out of the country to cover up an international conspiracy. This was predicated on the idea that a plane was seen leaving Provo with its radar turned off.
To these mental carbuncles, allow me to explain since I live here. Allegiant Air, American Airlines, and Breeze Airways serve Provo’s regional airport. Woodhouse Field in Spanish Fork has a flight school and a large number of private pilots. And then there is Salt Lake International, a Delta hub. Let’s not forget the Heber airport, where plenty of well-to-do folks land their jets to frolic in Park City and visit their vacation homes in Deer Valley. Oh, and then there is Camp Williams, and farther out, the Dugway Proving Grounds and Hill Air Force Base.
So a plane over Provo is the sign of an international plot? Look, you intellectual fish sticks, there are days when there are more aircraft in the skies over Utah County than birds.
And then, of course, there was Candace Owens with the pièce de résistance: it was THE JEWS! Because it’s always THE JEWS! I guess the Freemasons are sitting this one out. Mediaite notes that Owens has opined that Charlie was starting to have “rational thoughts about Israel,” and that a billionaire named Bill Ackman had threatened Charlie’s life. The outlet said she commented, “Bill Ackman was very upset and threats were made. That is what I am told, and I will tell you that I am very happy for Bill Ackman to dispute this narrative.”
According to Mediaite:
Both Ackman and Andrew Kolvet, the executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show, have done just that.
“I have been asked about the Bill Ackman event more than a few times now, so I asked our staff who were traveling with Charlie to find out what’s true and what’s not. His team was with him ‘100% of the time when he wasn’t in his hotel room,'” wrote Kolvet on X. “Here’s what they told me: ‘Bill never yelled at Charlie, never pressed him on Bibi [Netanyahu], never gave him a list of Charlie’s offenses against Israel.’ There was concern raised about having Tucker [Carlson] at SAS (we don’t believe this came from Bill), and Charlie’s reply was: ‘Honestly, people telling me not to have Tucker makes me want to have Tucker, and I am going to lock him in for AmFest too.’ Charlie personally told me he had a very cordial relationship with Bill, and the event was productive.”
Owens has also cheekily said that “all will be revealed” and added fuel to the fire that Charlie’s murder was part of an attempt to help his killer escape.
While I am tempted to tell Owens to get some new tinfoil for her hat and go chase clicks and kick rocks, Charlie’s friend and pastor had a much more thoughtful and measured response:
Charlie Kirk’s pastor Rob McCoy asked a few of us to pass along his statement about the Candace Owens mess:
— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) September 16, 2025
“Charlie Kirk was my friend and I was his pastor. I want to simply say this regarding Candace Owens:
Charlie Kirk was a friend to Candace and never publicly spoke poorly…
Charlie Kirk was my friend, and I was his pastor. I want to simply say this regarding Candace Owens:
Charlie Kirk was a friend to Candace and never publicly spoke poorly of her, though he disagreed with her. He never operated nor entertained gossip or innuendo concerning Candace.
My only comment I offer regarding Candace is this: I only wish at this tragic time of mourning, she would be the friend to Charlie that he was to her. He would never have treated Candace or her family in such a way had God forbid this tragedy been hers.
A friend loves at all times…
Proverbs 17:17
Amen.
