Charlie Kirk was shot dead while speaking at Utah Valley University. Photo / Getty Images
An armed man has been arrested inside the stadium where a memorial service will be held for Charlie Kirk.
Authorities are investigating why the individual, reportedly a former sheriff’s deputy carrying a knife and gun, made his way into the venue in Glendale, Arizona, before authorities had set up a security perimeter.
Tens of thousands of mourners, among them US President Donald Trump, are expected to descend on the arena on Sunday (Monday NZT) to remember Kirk, a conservative influencer who was shot dead last week on a college campus in Utah.
Organisers have told the Telegraph that security is being provided by the federal Government and will be tighter “than the Super Bowl”.
Late on Friday (local time), authorities arrested a man, who has not been named, said to have been behaving suspiciously inside Glendale’s State Farm Stadium just hours before Kirk’s memorial service was due to begin.
A federal source told Fox News that when agents approached him, he identified himself as a law enforcement official and presented out-of-date credentials, saying he was armed and at the venue to provide private security.
“This guy is a former deputy sheriff out of Idaho,” the source said. “They are going through his background and trying to figure out what he was up to there.”
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: “The individual was approached by [the] Secret Service and stated during the encounter that he was a member of law enforcement and that he was armed.
“The individual is not a member of authorised law enforcement working the event and is currently in custody.”
Security services will be on high alert given the heavy concentration of senior government figures expected at the event, which is taking place 11 days after Kirk was shot dead in Orem, Utah by a sniper.
“The federal Government is securing the event,” Tyler Bowyer, the chief operating officer of Kirk’s organisation Turning Point USA, told the Telegraph.
“This is the most high-profile event in probably 30 years and has more security than the Super Bowl.”
Several threats of “unknown credibility” have been made against the memorial and those planning to attend, federal agencies said. As of Friday (local time), they had not received information of a “verified or credible plot”.
Security is tighter than at an airport. A memo circulated by Turning Point states that well-wishers will not be allowed to bring bags or prams into the stadium.
Instead of flowers, which have also been banned, mourners are encouraged to “support Charlie’s legacy through a tax-deductible donation”.
In addition to Trump, Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard are expected to pay tribute to Kirk.
Erika Kirk, the influencer’s 36-year-old widow, will also speak, having vowed to carry on her husband’s legacy in a tearful speech after his death.
On Thursday (local time), she formally took up the reins of his movement when she was named the new chief executive of Turning Point, which has chapters on hundreds of colleges across the US.
Prominent right-wing voices have suggested Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old who was charged with Kirk’s murder this week, acted as part of a broader conspiracy to silence conservatives.
Authorities have not made any further arrests in the investigation, but it speaks to a growing sense of paranoia after Kirk’s death as the spectre of political violence looms over the US.
Trump recently announced he would designate Antifa, the loosely organised Left-wing ideological movement, as a terrorist group. Initial media reports linked Antifa to Robinson before the authorities seemingly backtracked on the claims.
The President faced two assassination attempts last year, coming just centimetres from death when he was grazed by a bullet fired by 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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