Charlie Kirk’s murder is the latest example of violence tearing through American politics
By Chris Boyette, CNN
(CNN) — The fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk this week on a Utah college campus marks the latest example of violence tearing through American politics across centuries and the ideological spectrum.
While history tends to highlight presidential assassinations, the targeting of national figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy and, more recently, state and local public servants has upended the tenor and the terms of democratic debate in a country with more guns than people.
Through the first half of 2025, the US saw some 150 politically motivated attacks, said Michael Jensen, a University of Maryland researcher who tracks terrorism incidents. That’s nearly twice as many as the same period last year – a spike he said reflects growing discontent with the political system and its policies.
“What we’re witnessing right now is not the product of a single group or ideology but perhaps evidence of growing widespread civil unrest,” Jensen said Thursday.
Here are some recent cases:
June 14, 2025
A masked man dressed as a police officer went to the home of the Minnesota House of Representatives’ top Democrat and fatally shot state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband as police tried to stop what Democratic Gov. Tim Walz later called “a politically motivated assassination.”
The same man had just shot and wounded Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife at their home, police said. A list found in the gunman’s abandoned car largely included names of Democrats and figures with ties to Planned Parenthood or the abortion rights movement, including Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Tina Smith.
After a nearly two-day manhunt, police captured a suspect, who has pleaded not guilty to six federal charges, including stalking and murder, which could carry the death penalty. He is a conservative who voted for Republican President Donald Trump and strongly opposed abortion rights, a friend told CNN. State charges are taking a back seat for now.
April 13, 2025
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro – with his wife, their four children, two dogs and another family – were forced to flee after someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the governor’s mansion, severely damaging the home hours after the family hosted a Passover dinner.
The suspect said he targeted the Democratic governor in part because of what he believed were Shapiro’s views on the war in Gaza, search warrants show. The Pennsylvania man faces seven charges, including attempted homicide, burglary, attempted assault and arson.
September 15, 2024
A man was arrested soon after a rifle was spotted in the bushes along the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club in Florida while Trump, campaigning for a second term, was playing. The suspect, who owns a small business in Hawaii, was indicted for trying to kill Trump, among other federal charges. His trial is underway.
July 13, 2024
A young Pennsylvania man shot at Trump during a re-election rally in the state, injuring the presidential candidate, wounding two rally attendees and killing another. Secret Service agents killed the gunman at the scene.
October 28, 2022
A man who reportedly had compiled a list of people he believed were “systematically and deliberately” destroying American freedom and liberty broke into the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, planning to kidnap and hurt her, authorities said.
But she was not home, and he instead attacked the Democrat’s husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, fracturing his skull and knocking him unconscious.
The assailant was sentenced on state charges to life in prison without the possibility of parole and in a federal case to 30 years for assault and 20 years for attempted kidnapping, with the sentences running concurrently.
June 8, 2022
Just after 1 a.m., a man near the Maryland home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee, called 911 to say he was having suicidal thoughts and had a firearm in his suitcase, a criminal complaint states. The man said he had traveled from California to kill “a specific United States Supreme Court Justice,” an FBI affidavit says.
The man was upset about the high court’s draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade and feared the conservative judge would “side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws,” the affidavit says. He also was carrying a tactical knife, a Glock 17 pistol, two magazines, ammunition, pepper spray and zip ties, the FBI said.
The man was arrested and charged with attempting or threatening to kidnap or murder a US judge. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder of a Supreme Court justice and is due to be sentenced October 3.
January 6, 2021
Minutes after a fiery speech by Trump filled with false claims and a call to his followers to march to the US Capitol and “fight like hell,” thousands broke into the Capitol as Congress gathered to certify Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Captured on live television, rioters attacked the Capitol and breached the Senate floor.
Five people died and 140 police officers were injured before the insurrection was quelled. Trump pardoned nearly every convicted rioter and asked the federal court in Washington, DC, to dismiss pending cases. A second House subcommittee is investigating the security disaster after a first found Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election led to the violence.
October 2020
Fourteen people were arrested by the FBI and state police and charged in connection with a plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and take over the state government. They were angry at Whitmer over restrictions she put into place to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, court records show.
Six were indicted on federal charges, and eight were charged at the state level. Nine pleaded guilty or were convicted in the case, with several getting lengthy prison sentences.
November 3, 2017
Sen. Rand Paul was attacked by a neighbor and former colleague as he mowed the lawn at his home in Kentucky. The Republican suffered six broken ribs, he said.
The neighbor, who denied any political motivations in the attack, pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress was sentenced to eight months behind bars. Paul also sued the man and was awarded more than $580,000.
June 14, 2017
Rep. Steve Scalise, a congressional staffer, a lobbyist and a member of the Capitol police were shot in Alexandria, Virginia, during Republicans’ early-morning practice for a charity baseball game.
At least six people, including Scalise and Rep. Roger Williams, were hospitalized. The gunman died after a shootout with authorities.
Scalise’s internal organs were damaged, and he underwent surgeries, hospital staff said, before recovering and returning to Congress.
January 8, 2011
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords suffered a serious brain injury when a man shot her point-blank in the head while she met with constituents outside a grocery store near Tucson, Arizona. Six people were killed in the attack and 13 wounded.
Giffords, a Democrat, was the main target, authorities said.
The shooter pleaded guilty to 19 charges in exchange for the government not seeking the death penalty. He was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years, with no possibility of parole.
2011-2014
An Iraq War veteran who in 2014 jumped the White House fence and ran into the building with a knife was sentenced to 17 months in prison. Another man who tried a year earlier to crash a jeep filled with knives and bullets into a White House security gate got a 35-month prison sentence.
And after shots were fired at the White House in 2011, an Idaho man admitted to trying to kill Democratic President Barack Obama and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
1981-2005
After a grenade thrown toward GOP President George W. Bush in 2005 in Eastern Europe failed to detonate, a Georgian citizen was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
In another case of bullets fired at the White House, a Colorado man was found guilty of the attempted assassination of Democrat Bill Clinton in 1994 and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Another overseas plot – to kill former Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1993 in Kuwait – was foiled, with a Kuwaiti court convicting 13 defendants of related crimes and sentencing some to death.
And Republican Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981 outside the Hilton in Washington, DC, after giving a speech.
The gunman was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent decades at a mental hospital before he was released in 2016 and freed from court restrictions in 2022.
All presidents have faced threats, and all former presidents also get lifetime Secret Service protection.
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CNN’s Kate Carroll and Michelle Krupa contributed to this report.
