Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox said Friday that the assassination of Charlie Kirk could be a “turning point” on whether the country would embrace free and open debate or turn to political violence. 

Cox made the comments during a press conference announcing that 22-year-old Tyler Robinson had been arrested for the murder of Kirk on Wednesday. After announcing the arrest, Cox delivered an impassioned plea, declaring that Kirk’s killing was a direct attack on the values he championed.

“This is certainly about the tragic death, assassination, political assassination, of Charlie Kirk,” he said. “But it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us. 
It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been, and who we could be in better times.”

“Political violence is different than any other type of violence, for lots of different reasons,” Cox added. “One, because in the very act that Charlie championed of expression, that freedom of expression that is enshrined in our founding documents, in having his life taken in that very act makes it more difficult for people to feel like they can share their ideas, that they can speak freely.”

Cox added that in the hours following Kirk’s killing, he was as angry as he had ever been, but that his attitude changed when he reflected on Kirk’s own advocacy of forgiveness, the importance of debate, and advocacy of non-violent disagreement.

Kirk, a devout Christian, frequently urged his supporters to treat their political opponents with respect and peacefully engage with them. 

Cox highlighted how no riots or looting had broken out in the wake of Kirk’s killing.

“I want you to look at how Utahns reacted the last two nights. There was no rioting. 
There was no looting. There were no cars set on fire,” Cox said. “There was no violence. There were vigils and prayers, and people coming together to share humanity. And that, ladies and gentlemen, I believe is the answer to this. 
We can return violence with violence, we can return hate with hate. And that’s the problem with political violence: It metastasizes because we can always point the finger at the other side. And at some point, we have to find an off-ramp, or it’s going to get much, much worse.”

Cox ended his remarks with a call for everyone to follow Kirk’s advocacy of peaceful debate. 

“History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country,” he said. “But every single one of us gets to choose right now, if this is a turning point for us. We get to make decisions. We have our agency. And I desperately call on every American Republican, Democrat, liberal, progressive, conservative, MAGA, all of us to please, please, please follow what Charlie taught me.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) ignited outrage during a House Judiciary Committee markup when she referred to Kayla Hamilton — a 20-year-old autistic woman raped and murdered by an MS-13 gang member who entered the country as an unaccompanied minor — as a “random dead person.”

🚨 DISGUSTING BEHAVIOR: Rep. Jasmine Crockett just called Kayla Hamilton, a young girl murdered by an illegal alien, a “random dead person.” pic.twitter.com/pSqBF0RAc5

— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) September 10, 2025

 

Jasmine Crockett just called Kayla Hamilton who was m*rdered by an illegal a “random dead person”

No words.

This is absolutely sickening. https://t.co/rIdkyRrbG3 pic.twitter.com/p5UV7ha2gK

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 10, 2025

The committee was debating the Kayla Hamilton Act, legislation introduced by Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) that would require background checks on Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) before releasing them into U.S. communities. The bill is named in honor of Hamilton, who was brutally murdered in 2022 by Walter Javier Martinez, a 17-year-old illegal immigrant with known gang ties who had been placed in the U.S. without vetting.

Crockett, rather than focusing on the substance of the bill, lashed out at Republicans, accusing them of exploiting tragedies. “Stop just throwing a random dead person’s name on something for your own political expediency,” she said, in reference to Hamilton. Crockett didn’t stop there — she also accused the GOP of ignoring victims like those tied to Jeffrey Epstein and claimed Republicans only use tragic deaths when politically convenient.

Rep. Fry fired back, calling Crockett’s comments “disgusting rhetoric” and “shameful behavior.”

“Let me be clear: Kayla Hamilton was not just a random person,” Fry told Fox Digital. “She was a young woman with a family and a future.”

“Sadly, this is what we’ve come to expect from Democrats, who will take any opportunity to downplay the tragedy of Americans killed by criminal illegal aliens,” Fry continued. “I expect Mrs. Crockett to issue a full, public apology to Kayla’s family and to every American who has suffered because of her party’s reckless, open-borders agenda.”

Kayla’s mother, Tammy Nobles, voiced support for the bill, stating clearly: “The Kayla Hamilton Act is necessary to ensure background checks of unaccompanied alien children occur before they are released. If that had happened in the case of Kayla’s murderer, authorities would have known he was an MS-13 gang member.”

Martinez, who was sentenced to 70 years in prison, had a criminal history in El Salvador and MS-13 tattoos — details the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) failed to uncover or ignored before releasing him into the country. Later, he reportedly confessed to multiple additional murders and rapes.

The Kayla Hamilton Act aims to close these loopholes by mandating:

Background checks of UACs aged 12+ via their home countries. Screening for gang tattoos. Housing gang-affiliated minors in secure facilities. Banning illegal immigrants from sponsoring UACs. Full sharing of background data on sponsors with DHS.