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Massive Lines Spotted Outside Charlie Kirk’s Memorial 14 Hours Before Funeral Will Take Place

Massive lines have begun forming outside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Nearly 14 hours before the memorial is set to kick off, thousands of people began to line up for a chance to attend Charlie Kirk’s memorial, which is set to occur Sunday afternoon.

Take a look:

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The New York Times reported on the atmosphere in Glendale:

They placed bouquets outside the mortuary where Charlie Kirk’s body lay. They drove by his church. They formed prayer circles and snapped somber photos at a sprawling memorial outside the headquarters of his conservative political group.

As tens of thousands of people poured into Phoenix this weekend to attend Mr. Kirk’s memorial service at the city’s N.F.L. stadium on Sunday, they turned the sunbaked streets into a kind of sprawling pilgrimage to commemorate the conservative activist in his adoptive home state, where conservatives are now fighting to roll back Democratic wins in statewide offices in recent years.

“I just felt called to come,” said Cate Cara, 54, who flew to Arizona from her home in Boca Raton, Fla., with the hope of joining the more than 100,000 people planning to attend the memorial service for Mr. Kirk at a sprawling sports complex in suburban Phoenix.

Ms. Cara was planning to line up hours in advance to get a seat at the first-come, first-served service, but first, she stopped on Saturday morning at the front gates of Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organizing group Mr. Kirk founded.

She placed a sign honoring Mr. Kirk among the wilting flowers, faded notes and scribbled prayers of a tribute that has grown to the length of a city block in the 10 days since Mr. Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at a Utah college.
“He built this, here,” Ms. Cara said. “I just wanted to be around it, and feel it.”

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All day long, people streamed up, some in mourner’s black, and others in flag-emblazoned T-shirts and MAGA hats. They left Bible verses, or notes that thanked Mr. Kirk and expressed sympathies to his widow, Erika Kirk, who was named to take over Turning Point. They pushed babies in strollers, or walked hand in hand with their children.

Nearby, a vendor sold T-shirts bearing an image of a smiling Mr. Kirk raising a fist.

Nathan Michael, 36, said he decided to fly from his home near Green Bay, Wis., with his wife and three daughters as soon as he heard the details about Mr. Kirk’s memorial service.

Mr. Michael said he had not known much about Mr. Kirk before his assassination, and that he had not watched Mr. Kirk’s viral debates with liberal critics and college students. But Mr. Michael said that he, like Mr. Kirk, was a conservative Christian, and that he viewed Mr. Kirk’s assassination as an assault on Christianity.

“I felt it was a personal attack against me,” Mr. Michael said. “He spoke biblical truth.”

A pizza shop in Arizona handed out pizzas to people in line:

USA Today reported the time of the memorial service:

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Doors for Kirk’s memorial service are expected to open at 8 a.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) and the program is planned to begin at 11 a.m. local time (2 p.m. ET), according to Turning Point USA.

Attendance for the service is determined on a “first come, first serve” basis, and prospective attendees had to register with Turning Point USA on its website.

Apart from USA TODAY, the memorial service will be carried live on networks including CBS News, CNN, Fox News, ABC News and NewsNation.

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