The high-security event in Arizona, featuring speakers like Trump, Vance, and Kirk’s wife Erika, saw hundreds of thousands arriving Sunday morning, well beyond what was expected and what venue State Farm Stadium and a nearby overflow site.
Well before the start of Charlie Kirk’s public memorial service in Glendale, Arizona, event organizers were dealing with an unexpectedly massive influx of traffic.
With some attendees camping out Friday night, Turning Point USA was anticipating 100,000 or so people, but on Sunday told CNN that more than 200,000 had registered on the site. That’s the same number the Glendale Police Department told the outlet they were anticipating.
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Law enforcement is treating the massive event at a Super Bowl level when it comes to security. “The Department of Homeland Security has designated the upcoming funeral and memorial service as a Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR) Level 1 event,” a DHS Senior Official told TMZ Sunday morning. “This designation is reserved for events of the highest national significance and enables the federal government to provide the full range of law enforcement and security resources necessary to support local officials in ensuring a safe and successful event.”
Seating inside State Farm Stadium quickly reached capacity, according to The New York Times. The stadium can accommodate more than 63,000 people and can be expanded to fit an additional 10,000. Overflow venue Desert Diamond Arena’s capacity is around 19,000, per CNN, meaning more than half of the expected attendees would not get a seat inside either facility.
The high-security event (livestreamed above via TMZ) had a massive lineup of key political figures from the Trump Administration, including President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. It is being livestreamed via multiple outlets and stations, including Fox News, CNN, NewsNation, ABC News, and CBS News.
Also expected to speak are White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secret of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secret of War Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Donald Trump Jr., Tucker Carlson, and Sergio Gor, Trump’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to India.
The fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk took place during signature debate format at Utah Valley University on September 10, which saw him seated on a stage as students spoke to him from a microphone positioned in front of him. He was debating with one student about gun violence when he was shot and killed.
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Two days later, Tyler Robinson, 22, was identified as the suspected shooter. He was taken into custody on September 11 and has been charged on multiple counts, including aggravated murder, for Kirk’s death. The prosecution has stated its intention to pursue the death penalty.
After his death, Kirk’s wife Erika was elected to replace him as CEO of TPUSA, vowing that the “movement my husband built will not die.” She was also among those expected to speak at Sunday’s service.
An unexpected arrival, coming in shortly after 2 p.m. ET, was Elon Musk, who reportedly arrived to cheers. Musk had a very public falling out with the Trump administration after his controversial tenure as head of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), but CNN notes that Kirk had been working to reconcile the two after their fallout hit social media in June.
Musk posted to X from the stadium, “Charlie was murdered by the Dark for showing people the Light.” He also shared a short clip of the capacity crowd at the stadium, saying he was “honored to be here.”
Musk then proceeded to share tweets from others about Kirk, which you can see below.
The service also appears to have fulfilled Kirk’s reported desire to see Musk and Trump reconcile their differences, with TMZ sharing video footage of the two sitting together in a luxury suite. The men sat next to one another and talked, and at one point even shook hands. It is not clear what they might have been talking about, and if this will change things between the duo going forward.
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