OREM, UTAH — Hunter Kozak, a 29-year-old math education student and liberal TikToker, has spoken out about the last moments he spent with Charlie Kirk in a moving and heartbreaking video he posted to social media. The conservative activist was shot and killed at a Utah Valley University event on September 10. Kozak was the last person to talk to him before the attack.
Kirk answered Kozak’s inquiries concerning mass shootings in the US just seconds before the deadly shot rang out, as shown in the videos of the event. Kozak, who had been waiting in line for an hour and a half to submit his question, first asked Kirk how many mass shootings transgender Americans had perpetrated. Kirk replied, “too many,” and Kozak then asked how many mass shootings had happened in the US in the last ten years. “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked just as the bullet hit his neck.
Kozak, a father of two, talked about his deep sadness and perplexity in a video he posted on social media. “I don’t know how to make this video; it’s been a tough 24 hours,” he remarked. He spoke directly to the gunman and those who have praised the deed, condemning the brutality. “First of all, you sick f—ing psychos who think this is the answer, it’s not,” he continued. “It’s terrible, and a father doesn’t have his kids anymore.” Charlie was married and has two kids.
Kozak could relate to Kirk’s family’s personal grief because he has a one-year-old kid and his wife recently gave birth to their second child on Sunday. “Not to make this about me, but I have a wife and two kids. If my one-year-old boy grows up without memories of his dad, like his one-year-old boy, it will be a tragedy and hard to deal with.”
He also talked about how ironic the event was. “People have obviously pointed out the irony that the point I was trying to make is how peaceful the left was right before he got shot, and that only makes sense if we stay peaceful.” Kozak, who has publicly differed with Kirk on several issues, made it plain that their political disagreements did not make the victim less human. “I don’t agree with Charlie Kirk at all, but he is still a person. Did we forget that?
Kozak and his wife are leftists, although they live in a conservative part of Utah. According to the New York Times, they displayed a Black Lives Matter flag and a Ukrainian flag in their living room. Kozak, who studies math education at Utah Valley University, claimed he came to the event just to question Kirk’s beliefs. The people in charge of the event had already seen his question before they let him go to the front of the line. After the shooting, Kozak was worried that conspiracy theories would blame him and target him, so he spoke out publicly to set the record right and denounce the atrocity.