'I mourn for him': Obama slams Charlie Kirk shooting as 'horrific' as he urges grace for grieving family

ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA: Former President Barack Obama addressed the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a public event in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday night.

Calling the killing “horrific,” Obama said “regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, what happened to Charlie Kirk was horrific and a tragedy.”

Barack Obama offers condolences after Charlie Kirk’s death

“Look, obviously I didn’t know Charlie Kirk,” Obama said, according to a transcript released to CNN. “I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong, but that doesn’t negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family.”

The former president noted that Kirk was a young father with two children and a wife, in addition to his many friends and supporters.

“We have to extend grace to people during their period of mourning and shock,” he added.

Obama praises Utah Governor Spencer Cox’s leadership

Obama also singled out Republican Utah Governor Spencer Cox for his handling of the aftermath.

“He is a Republican, self-professed conservative Republican, but in his response to this tragedy, as well as his history of how he engages with people who are political adversaries, he has shown that it is possible for us to disagree while abiding by a basic code of how we should engage in public debate,” Obama said.

He compared Cox’s leadership to that of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, crediting both with demonstrating civility amid political polarization.

The remarks came as Obama delivered the keynote at an event for the Jefferson Educational Society, an Erie-based nonprofit. He used the platform to warn against escalating political violence, citing both Kirk’s death and the June killing of Minnesota State Rep Melissa Hortman and her husband, which also left a state senator severely wounded.

“What happened, as you mentioned, to the state legislators in Minnesota, that is horrific. It is a tragedy,” Obama said, adding, “There are no ifs, ands or buts about it, the central premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resort to violence.”

Obama slams Trump’s rhetoric and policies

While offering condolences, Obama also drew a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump’s approach, accusing his successor of fueling division.

“When I hear not just our current president, but his aides, who have a history of calling political opponents vermin, enemies, who need to be ‘targeted,’ that speaks to a broader problem that we have right now and something that we’re going to have to grapple with, all of us,” he said.

Obama highlighted what he described as alarming policies, including the deployment of National Guard troops and immigration enforcement checkpoints in Washington, DC. “That’s not something that we’ve seen before in a non-emergency situation,” he said, calling the trend a “dangerous moment.”