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A former Michigan prosecutor was blasted online for suggesting Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was responsible for his own assassination Wednesday because of his pro-Second Amendment stance.
Carol Siemon, who in 2022 stepped down as the top prosecutor in Ingham County, which includes much of Lansing, Michigan’s state capital, mocked Kirk’s lifelong defense of gun rights.
“I’m terribly sorry when anyone is shot,” Siemon wrote on X. “But I’m sure he doesn’t mind because he has said that shootings and gun deaths are a price he is willing to pay for nearly unfettered abilities to possess and use firearms. I support sensible firearm control, and perhaps he will too.”
Siemon, who did not respond to a request for comment, appears to have deleted her account.
Kirk, 31, was shot and killed Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The conservative activist and father of two young children had been leading his American Comeback Tour and was taking questions from supporters and detractors when he ws killed.
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This split image shows Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk speaking moments before his assassination and a still from cellphone video showing a dark-clad figure on a rooftop nearby. (@Doug_Zimmer1/X, Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)
But while tributes to Kirk poured in from fans and colleagues across the world, Siemon’s remarks quickly drew fire. Former Michigan House Speaker and current gubernatorial candidate Tom Leonard blasted her statement as “politicizing the murder of a young father and husband.”
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He said it was “rich coming from a prosecutor that refused to prosecute gun crimes, making Lansing one of the most dangerous cities in the country during your time in office.”
Siemon was elected in 2016 as the county’s first female prosecutor and later was criticized over her soft-on-crime record as well as clashes with law enforcement and the judiciary.
Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk is seen onstage at the Fiserv Forum during preparations for the Republican National Convention on July 14, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
In 2019, she allowed Anthony McRae, later responsible for the 2023 Michigan State University mass shooting that left three dead and five injured, to plead a felony gun charge down to a misdemeanor.
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That decision meant McRae avoided jail time and kept his ability to purchase firearms.
In 2022, Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina rejected a plea deal Siemon struck for convicted murderer Kiernan Brown, accusing the prosecutor of “trying to be creative to get around the law” and publicly calling for her resignation.