The fatal shooting of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Wednesday is renewing calls to address a rise in political violence across the United States.
Recent years have seen similar high-profile incidents — from the assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump to the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, the killing of a Minnesota lawmaker, and the shootings of U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise and Gabby Giffords.
FROM THE ARCHIVES | Scripps News Investigates: A surge of political violence in America
Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, said Wednesday's assassination of Charlie Kirk left his community reeling.
"We all feel deep grief and sorrow for what happened yesterday," he told Scripps News. "The political violence that we witnessed was evil and it is imperative that Americans, regardless of our political backgrounds, that we emphatically denounce violence in all of its forms."
Williams urged Americans to reject division and search for common ground.
"America, we got to rise up and we have to be better than this," he said. "We have to transcend these political divisions because the simple truth is that we have people that we love on all sides of the political conflict."
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Williams emphasized that overcoming divisions is the essence of American pluralism.
"We have to find a way to transcend," he added. "That's what American pluralism is all about. When it's at its healthiest, we're working through conflicts, we're coming together across divides. But at our worst, we're picking up a gun to resolve those conflicts."
Williams said he has been making personal outreach to people across the political spectrum.
"I've been reaching out to my conservative friends and just extending love to them, compassion, seeing the humanity of each other," he added. "This isn't a moment to take political point, cheap political shots. We need to actually reach out to each other and connect across our humanity if we're ever going to solve these problems."
Watch Scripps News' full interview with Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, in the video player above.
