Newport Kirk vigil: Remembrance, even prayers for the suspect

By RICK BEASLEY
Reporter, Boiler Bay Beacon

NEWPORT, Ore. — Millions of Americans shared their grief and unity Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, at vigils across the nation for slain conservative icon Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah.

Even with left-right tensions rising in the aftermath of the Sept. 10 assassination, one vigil stood out on the footsteps of city hall in deep-blue Lincoln County, where dozens of Charlie Kirk faithful prayed for his accused killer.

An unidentified speaker with one child strapped to her chest, and another in tow, recalled her Sunday-schooler’s reaction to Kirk’s death: “She compared him to King Saul of the Bible, and said we need to pray for him — I’d never even thought about that, and I’d been praying all week!”

Saul was the first King of Israel. In the Biblical story, he was a man destroyed by his own jealousy, disobedient to God and covetous of David, the giant-killer. Bottom line, his life became tragic because he did not trust in God.

“Does anybody know his name?” the speaker asked before calling on God to heal the “hateful,” learning it was Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old with a grudge. “Father, he is in a dark place right now, but you created him.”

One eyewitness said several cars drove by the event as the drivers or passengers hurled odious insults, but the crowd of about 50 was nonplussed.

“It didn’t bother anybody, because there was a lot more support for the vigil than hate,” she said. “If you’re a conservative or a Christian in Lincoln County, you sort of get used to it.”