From The Senate Floor: The Day Charlie Kirk Was Shot
By: Matthieu McCarty
I was working inside the U.S. Capitol building when Charlie Kirk was shot. Let me explain: I was accepted to be a U.S. Senate Page, a position held by high school juniors who work in the Capitol. I worked there for a couple of weeks, and the craziest moment I saw was when Charlie Kirk (a political activist who went around colleges all over the country spreading his ideals and debating students) was shot. It truly felt unreal at the moment that something of that scale happened, especially given my surroundings. It was not a one-and-done, though; there was a timeline in which my fellow Pages and I realized what was going on, especially because we did not have access to our phones.
2:23 p.m. That was the exact time that Charlie Kirk was shot. Of course, there is always a delay in the spread of news, so it was not until 2:27 p.m. that everyone started running around the Capitol. My fellow Pages and I were confused; it honestly felt as if another 9/11 had happened while we were working. It was around 2:35 p.m. when we heard the news for the first time from our work supervisor. I can remember the exact words: “Since you guys probably will not find out until there are discussions on the floor, I can tell you guys Charlie Kirk was just shot.” The words echoed because everyone was silent for a minute. Soon, the inevitable question: “Is he alive?” At that moment, it was a “we do not know.”
An hour later, there was the news: he had died. At first, none of us had truly believed it until the discussions of it made their way onto the Senate floor with speeches coming from various senators, for whom I was working during the event. Eventually, at that point and for the rest of the day, the Capitol felt different. What was only a few hours ago a buzzing workplace of debaters, hearings, and speeches, all of a sudden turned into a place of true shock and unease. Some of my fellow Pages who usually moved swiftly and quietly were now looking around for reassurance. I can also recall some senators left the area to take phone calls, while some did stay but looked a little shaken. But honestly, for us Pages, there was no stopping. In fact, for a brief moment, we were the busiest people in the Capitol; we had to keep delivering papers and filling water, etc, but only now did it truly start to feel as if we were in the middle of history.
The rest of the day went by similarly to a blur in time. Security tightened instantly, officers were absolutely everywhere in every door and hallway. For me, it was the first time history was truly unfolding. But I suppose what struck me the most was how fragile normal life really was, because at 2:22 p.m., the Capitol was running around how it usually did, but not ten minutes later, everyone was now quiet, scared, and nervous as violence struck the entire nation.
Still to this day, I can vividly remember my work supervisor saying, “Charlie Kirk was just shot.” The silence that followed has never left me. Being a Page, though, I had a front row seat to government in action, but that day it was a front row seat to real history that was both terrifying and unforgettable.