'Martyr for Christ:' Big crowd gathers Saturday in Fort Worth to honor Charlie Kirk

Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Sep 20, 2025

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FORT WORTH, Texas — American flags fluttered in the September breeze on Saturday evening as more than a thousand people gathered near the John F. Kennedy memorial in downtown Fort Worth to honor the life of slain activist Charlie Kirk.

The crowd filled the space around the memorial and consumed the intersection of Main and East 8th streets. Speakers stood in the bed of a pickup truck and shouted into a bullhorn before the Fort Worth Scottish Pipes and Drums led the march to the steps of the Tarrant County Courthouse.

The march, organized by local activists Carlos Turcios and Paul Lemon, comes 10 days after Kirk was assassinated on a Utah college campus.

Fort Worth residents Howard and Judith Leftin came to the rally after noticing it out of their apartment window.

The Leftins, who said they came to the event out of curiosity, called the rally “something this country needs.”

“I think this is a positive sign of renewed faith and civility in our country that’s desperately needed,” Judith Leftin said. “There’s too much hate and division out there and it’s just great that there’s hope again.”

The rally also took on a religious tone as speakers led prayers, the crowd sang along to Christian music and some waved the Christian flag. Chants of “Christ is king” and “Jesus” broke out as the crowd marched to the courthouse.

For friends Christine Ballard and Samantha Penn, the rally was about faith — their own and Kirk’s. The two said they attended the event because they’ve supported Kirk for years and wanted to join in the mission of trying to bring more followers to Jesus.

Ballard wants the world to know that conservatives “get painted in a bad light” and are not hateful people, she said.

“We just want people to think for themselves,” Ballard said. “We want people to show love and to have love for God and country and family.”

On the steps of the courthouse, Turcios and his wife both spoke of their experiences as members of Turning Point USA, Kirk’s organization. Turcios’ wife, who he said was a former LGBTQ+ activist, spoke before tearing a rainbow flag in half and letting it fall to the ground.

“It was Charlie and his bravery that woke us up and put us where we are today,” Turcios said. “The same story has been repeated across the country by millions of young Americans who found their voice, their courage and their mission because of Charlie’s work.”

Turcios characterized the current political climate in the United States as no longer about policy disagreements. Instead, Turcios said, America is in a “state of total war.”

“The message is clear: an extreme and godless communist progressive movement in this country seeks to silence, to intimidate, and to destroy us,” Turcios said.

State Rep. Nate Schatzline, a leader of Fort Worth’s Mercy Culture church, emphasized Kirk as a “martyr for Christ.”

Schatzline joined Turcios in characterizing issues such as abortion, human trafficking, “racist DEI,” and “getting sexual addiction out of our classrooms” as issues that are no longer political, but spiritual.

Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn also appeared, calling Tarrant the “biggest red county in America” as well as the safest.

“I want you to arm yourself with the truth, because you are going to be challenged,” Waybourn said. “Charlie was a man, he was only a man, but he was a good man, and what an incredible vision he had.”