Kansas City Chiefs kicker and well-known conservative Harrison Butker is speaking out after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon.
Butker took to X to thank Kirk as a part of a prayer that he posted.
The 31-year-old Kirk died after being shot in Utah at the first stop of his American Comeback Tour on college campuses.
"Thank you for your strong witness for Christ @charliekirk11. Thank you for pursuing truth and leading your family as a husband and father,“ Harrison Butker posted. ”Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."
Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck while seated on a stool behind his “prove me wrong” table as he answered questions from a person in the audience about mass shootings.
President Donald Trump announced that the husband and father of two had died approximately two hours after he was shot.
Utah Valley University officials said the suspected gunman fired from the school’s Losee Center, a building roughly 200 feet away from where Kirk was sitting.
Kirk was an outspoken supporter of Trump who founded Turning Point USA. His YouTube channel has more than than 3.84 million subscribers.
Kirk was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs and became politically active in politics in high school.
He briefly attended Harper College, located northwest of Chicago, but dropped out after Tea Party member Bill Montgomery convinced him his time would be better spent in political activism full time.
As for Harrison Butker, the three-time Super Bowl champion is an outspoken conservative who made headlines when he gave a graduation speech at Benedictine College last May.
During the speech he spoke out against Pride Month and told the women graduating that they were probably more excited about getting married and having children than receiving their degrees.
“Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world,” he said, according to the Associated Press. ”I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother."
PennLive’s Christine Vendel contributed to this report
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