(COLORADO) — U.S. Congressman Jeff Crank (CO-05) has expressed his thoughts on the death of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist who was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University.

In an interview with NewsNation on Tuesday, Sept. 16, Crank, who briefly served with Kirk on the U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, described Kirk as a ‘warrior who loved America, God, and the values of free speech.’

Crank emphasized that the attack on Kirk was an attack on America.

“It was an attack on the values that America holds dear, an attack on the belief that we can work together, that we can disagree with one another, but that we can, at the end of the day, we’re still Americans,” Crank said.

Crank urged every American, not just lawmakers, to stand up and defend these values and to have “…that great debate without trying to incite people to violence.”

“We have to reach out, and I do, I talk to Democrats all the time,” he added. “I may disagree with them on policy, but I have friends who I break bread with, who I talk with, who are Democrats. I had dinner with a Democrat friend last night, so we just have to continue to build those bridges, and we all have an obligation to condemn this violence.”

Crank further stated, “We need leaders right now to step up and say that this is wrong, that what happened to Charlie Kirk is wrong, and it cannot be tolerated.”

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by FOX21. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by FOX21 staff before being published.