Baala Shakya, Photography Editor

Students gathered on Cross Campus Friday evening for a candlelight vigil in honor of victims of political violence.

The vigil, which was announced in an email that circulated that morning, began just after 8 p.m., as roughly a dozen students stood in silence around a heart-shaped arrangement of candles. Over the next hour, the circle grew, and attendees stepped forward to place candles. By 9 p.m., about 50 students had participated in the vigil.

After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday while speaking at a university in Utah, a coalition of students unaffiliated with specific groups organized a vigil to honor “all those who have fallen victim to political violence in recent times,” an email invitation from William Barbee ’26 read. 

“We actually ended up choosing not to have it officially sponsored by any organization at Yale, in the spirit of both bipartisanship and nonpartisanship,” Kylyn Smith ‘26, an organizer of the event, said. “We thought that by having the vigil not affiliated, we’d be able to open the door for a more thoughtful and cohesive time of prayer and reflection for our students of all political ideologies.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called Kirk’s killing a “political assassination,” and news alerts and graphic videos of the incident spread quickly across social media Wednesday. The motives of Kirk’s suspected killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah, are still obscure, though Robinson engraved his bullet casings with phrases from video game slang and the words “hey fascist! CATCH!”

The invitation for the vigil circulated Friday morning through political and religious networks, including Buckley Program fellows, Yale Political Union leaders, Yale College Republicans and Democrats. Barbee said the outreach was directed towards “politically minded or politically involved” students.

Barbee said he wanted to help lead the event after hearing from friends and peers who wanted a designated space to grieve. Smith said she began considering the vigil after the David Network, a conservative-leaning student organization, asked her whether Yale students were planning a remembrance.

Smith and Barbee worked with friends connected to political and religious groups across campus to put the event together. The David Network provided some of the candles, and others were borrowed from the Yale Chaplain’s Office. Still, Smith emphasized that organizers intentionally chose not to affiliate the vigil with any student group, which she described as crucial for drawing students from across the political spectrum. 

Smith admitted she worried before the event that it could become contentious but said her fears faded once the vigil began.

“At the vigil, I was reminded of how truly respectful and open to civil discourse the students at Yale are,” she said. “We were not met with any contention. We were met with respect, even from bystanders who asked what the vigil was for.”

Barbee similarly stressed that the vigil was not a celebration of Kirk, pointing toward other instances of political violence that have occurred recently in the United States. 

In June, an individual shot and killed Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, and also shot Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. President Donald Trump survived two failed assassination attempts in 2024, one in July at a Pennsylvania campaign rally and another in September in Florida.

“This is obviously an immediate reaction to what happened on Wednesday with Charlie Kirk, but the vigil itself is not at all related or tied to celebrating him or his life,” Barbee said. “It’s more so a moment for the Yale community to come together at a time when in the last year, we’ve seen the president have attempted assassinations against him on two separate occasions and lawmakers in states like Minnesota be targeted and killed for bills that they supported.”

Students who attended said the silence of the evening was powerful. 

Abhinay Lingareddy ’26 noted the importance of being able to pray and grieve together “no matter how evil you think someone is or how great you think someone is.” 

“There is no greater expression of empathy or affirmation of our common humanity. During the vigil, not many words were said but multitudes were conveyed in the silence,” Lingareddy said.

Ethan Powell ’27 echoed the sentiment.

“Political violence, no matter what your viewpoint is, is never acceptable and should never be celebrated,” Powell said. “I just wanted to be with other people.”

Barbee said the event served its purpose and that the vigil had been “pretty positively” received. 

Under Trump’s orders, the flag on the New Haven green was flown at half-mast until Sunday evening in honor of Kirk.