The assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University Wednesday marks one more in a list of violent attacks against prominent conservatives.
Kirk, 31, had been hosting an event with students, and was in the middle of discussing shooters who identify as transgender.
He founded Turning Point USA to bring together conservative young people, and the organization grew to become the largest conservative youth grassroots group in the country.
The shooting came less than five months after the Southern Poverty Law Center—which became famous for suing Ku Klux Klan groups into bankruptcy in the 1980s—put Turning Point USA on a “hate map” with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. In a statement today, the group said, “We condemn the shooting of Charlie Kirk and all violence in any form.”
This does not mark the first time conservatives have been targeted for violence after the SPLC criticized them.
Conservatives have faced many kinds of hostility, including 96 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and 356 attacks on Catholic churches since the leak of the Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, Democrats, too, have faced attacks—most recently the horrific shooting of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman.
This article, however, focuses on physical attacks on Republican leaders or conservative groups.
A 2012 Terrorist Attack
In 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins II opened fire at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the conservative Christian think tank the Family Research Council.
He carried a semiautomatic pistol and a bag of Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches. He later told the FBI he targeted the Family Research Council because he found it on the SPLC “hate map.” He said he intended to shoot everyone in the building and smear a Chick-fil-A sandwich in their faces. At the time, liberals had criticized Chick-fil-A for funding socially conservative groups like the Family Research Council.
In September 2013, a judge sentenced Corkins, 29, to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to three felony charges, including a terrorism offense.
The SPLC condemned the attack, but did not take the Family Research Council off the “hate map.”
The Congressional Baseball Game Shooting
In June 2017, 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson opened fire at a Republican practice for the Congressional Baseball Game. He shot and wounded four people: then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.; U.S. Capitol Police officer Crystal Griner, congressional aide Zack Barth, and lobbyist Matt Mika.
Scalise nearly lost his life, and he ascribed his survival to a series of 17 miracles documented in his book “Back in the Game: One Gunman, Countless Heroes, and the Fight for My Life.”
Hodgkinson specifically targeted Republicans in the shooting. He had volunteered for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016 and “liked” the SPLC on Facebook. The SPLC had repeatedly attacked Scalise. Sanders vehemently condemned the shooting. Then-SPLC CEO Richard Cohen condemned the attack as a “sickening and cowardly act of terror that must be condemned by everyone across the political spectrum.”
Rand Paul Attacked
Also in 2017, then-59-year-old Rene Boucher, a neighbor, physically attacked Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., from behind while the senator was mowing his lawn.
Paul suffered multiple fractured ribs and later contracted pneumonia, which required medical attention. Boucher admitted the assault but denied it was politically motivated, NBC News reported.
A judge had initially sentenced Boucher to 30 days in jail, 100 hours of community service, and a $10,000 fine, but prosecutors said the sentence was too lenient. A judge added eight months in prison to the sentence in July 2020, along with an additional six months home confinement.
Minnesota Republican Sucker-Punched Before Election
In October 2018, 53-year-old Richard Schmit punched Shane Mekeland, a Republican candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives.
During the attack, Schmit reportedly said, “You f—ing people don’t give a s— about the middle class.”
Schmit pleaded guilty to third-degree felony assault.
A Would-Be Kavanaugh Assassin
In June 2022, 26-year-old Nicholas Roske staked out near the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, with weapons in an assassination attempt.
The suspect told police “he was upset about the leak of a recent Supreme Court draft decision regarding the right to abortion as well as the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.”
Roske pleaded guilty in May to attempting to assassinate Kavanaugh. A judge has scheduled his sentencing for Oct. 3.
Butler
On July 13, 2024, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot then-former President Donald Trump in the ear in Butler, Pennsylvania. Crooks also shot dead 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, a former volunteer fire chief.
Many questions about Crooks remain unanswered.
Trump has credited God and a “miracle” for his survival.
A Second Assassination Attempt
In September 2024, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh aimed a rifle at Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Secret Service arrested Routh, who is standing trial in Fort Pierce this week.
Routh pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer, along with many firearm charges. He faces a sentence of life in prison if convicted.
