Cybersecurity·TikTokTeens say they can’t escape graphic s of Charlie Kirk shooting on TikTok, X, InstagramBy Makiya SemineraBy Jocelyn GeckerBy The Associated PressBy Makiya SemineraBy Jocelyn GeckerBy The Associated Press Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at his "American Comeback Tour" when he was shot in the neck and killed.
Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty ImagesSome students watched the in the middle of class.
Others pulled out their phones as they walked out of school and found themselves watching the s over and over. Some teachers interrupted lessons to discuss the horrific news.
Almost instantly after Charlie Kirk was assassinated Wednesday at Utah Valley University, the news — captured on in grisly detail — sent shockwaves through classrooms everywhere.
Because no matter teens’ political opinions, everyone knew Kirk.
In high school classes in Spanish Fork, Utah, chatter spread fast Wednesday, as students learned of the shooting and began to wonder if Kirk would or die.
A cellphone ban meant many students didn’t learn of Kirk’s fate until the final bell — pushing tough conversations in class to the next day.
“By the end of the day, I was worn out,” said English teacher Andrew Apsley. He discussed the shooting with each of his four classes Thursday at Landmark High School, 15 miles south of UVU.
In the current political climate and with new cellphone bans, schools have tried to push social media and controversial topics to the sidelines, saying classes should focus on basic academics.
Kirk’s shooting up all that. Graphic footage of Kirk’s shooting on the Utah college campus was available almost immediately online, captured by cellphones from several angles.
The s, in slow motion and real-time speed, show a direct view of Kirk being shot, his body recoiling and blood gushing from his neck. The s were easy to find on X, TikTok and Instagram.
Many teens say they feel traumatized by what they saw. They couldn’t escape the s popping up on their social media s or being passed to them by friends and classmates.
Some teens posted warnings that urged people not to click on the Kirk s, saying they wished the visuals had come with trigger warnings.
Apsley’s 19-year-old child received a gruesome of Kirk’s death in a message from a friend. His child has autism and has difficulty cessing emotions, so the was “pretty traumatic,” Apsley said.
That incident became a teaching moment for Apsley’s students. “I know we want to be first.
I know we want to be the one to the information that other people rely on,” Apsley recalled telling his classes.
“But at the same time, not everyone is well-equipped to handle something as graphic and violent as that.” Students tuned in everywhere, highlighting the global reality of social media.
In Canada, Aidan Groves was in a college writing class when he saw a headline on Reddit that Kirk had been shot.
He had not d Kirk’s political views, yet “my heart sank, and I was immediately on edge,” said Groves, a student at Southern Alberta Institute of nology in Calgary.
He quickly swiped through s, feeling overcome by horror and dread. Even so, he left his classroom to watch the .
Groves, 19, grew up watching his dad play games with violent imagery, but he was struck by the ’s immediacy and the crowd’s frantic reaction.
“I’ve never seen anybody die, and immediately everybody in this crowd had just witnessed that,” he said.
When Groves returned to class 10 minutes later, everyone was distracted by the news of the shooting. Students passed around their phones. Some of his classmates expressed shock.
Others who weren’t fond of Kirk’s views cracked jokes. Through it all, the fessor carried on with his lesson.
A similar scene played out in a now-viral taken in a classroom at the University of North Texas, where a student filmed her class watching the on tablets and cell phones they passed around the room.
Some students have amused looks on their faces, and the student filming the chastises those making light of it. “Why are we cheering for someone getting shot?
No matter what political beliefs are, we should not be cheering that someone got shot,” the student tells her classmates.
A University of North Texas spokeswoman confirmed the was filmed in one of its classrooms. Whether students admired Kirk or not, teenagers across the world knew him from his social media presence.
A right-wing activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, Kirk’s savvy use of social s, capturing his pithy responses to questions from liberals, raised his file at speaking events on college campuses and online, especially among young men.
San Francisco teen Richie Trovao didn’t agree with all of Kirk’s ideas, but admired how the activist “really stood on his beliefs.” Trovao, 17, had thought getting politically involved himself, but the assassination has given him second thoughts.
He worries that speaking his mind could put him at risk. The high school senior was on Discord when a friend messaged that Kirk had been shot.
Trovao didn’t believe it at first, so he went to X to confirm, and a of Kirk’s death autoplayed. His stomach turned.
“I never thought I would see something that happen to someone who’s just basically an influencer,” Trovao said. Especially shocking: Some social media s seemed to celebrate Kirk’s death.
Reaction to the has highlighted the political divide and polarization that exists among American youth, said Connecticut high school senior Prakhar Vatsa.
That was the main topic of discussion among classmates in his AP Government class after Kirk’s death.
Raised in an era of easy access to violent imagery, Vatsa, 17, said he wasn’t too affected when he saw the while scrolling social media, because he isn’t too sensitive to gore.
“It was a bit traumatizing, but I’ve seen worse,” he said. Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh.
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