Right-wing US movement continues campus tour without founder Kirk

The assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk hasn't slowed his conservative youth movement -- rather, it has energized it.

"What happened ignited something in me. Like, he let down the flag, I've got to pick it up and carry it," 16-year-old Kieran Owen told AFP news agency.

The Virginia high school student was among 2,500 people attending a Turning Point USA event on Wednesday evening at Virginia Tech University, four hours outside Washington.

"We are Charlie," the crowd chanted. Some attendees wore red caps with President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, others doffing white ones with "47" reflecting his current White House term.

On each seat, organizers had placed a poster featuring a portrait of Kirk against the backdrop of the American flag.

Staff at the "American Comeback Tour" event wore white T-shirts with the word "Freedom," same as the one Kirk was wearing when he was killed.

The 31-year-old was fatally shot in the neck two weeks ago while speaking at a Utah university as part of his popular public debate series.

Owen recalled discovering Kirk on social media around the time of last year's presidential election.

"He did a live stream... I watched his live stream until like 1 am," the soft-spoken teen said. "He really persuaded people."

A Christian with anti-abortion beliefs, Owen had been considering attending the Virginia Tech event before Kirk was killed.

"Very shocking to me. No place for that in America," he said of the political violence.

Virginia's Republican governor Glenn Youngkin addressed that vision in his address to the gathering on Wednesday.

"You'll be the next Charlie," he told the crowd, before leading them through a prayer.

Some leaders at UN condemn 'sick expression of joy,' 'macabre response' to Charlie Kirk's killing

The reaction over Charlie Kirk's assassination touched yet another constituency this week: the collection of world leaders gathered at the United Nations.

Decrying the "sick expression of joy for the crime committed against an innocent person," Serbian President Alexsandar Vucic told assembled leaders on Wednesday that reaction to Kirk’s death represents "the best confirmation of that."

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña also mentioned Kirk in his speech Wednesday, saying in Spanish that he was “shaken, saddened, and distressed” by Kirk's killing and arguing that the “macabre response must awaken us from our sleepy state of complacency.”

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Kirk, as well as last month's stabbing death of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail system, as representative of “headlines about violent attacks happening all around the world.”

“Sadly, his life was short by a bullet,” Zelenskyy said of Kirk. “Once again, violence with a rifle in hand.”