Charlie Kirk memorial service: Man arrested with knife outside venue, police investigate motive
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Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk
According to the Arizona department of public safety, the accused has been charged with carrying a weapon into a prohibited place and impersonating a police officer.
A a day before Charlie Kirk’s planned memorial service at the State Farm Stadium near Phoenix, law enforcement officers arrested a man armed with a gun and a knife from outside the venue on Saturday. Notably, the man allegedly pretended to be a member of law enforcement.
According to the Arizona department of public safety, the 42-year-old Joshua Runkles has been charged with carrying a weapon into a prohibited place and impersonating a police officer.
“An investigation is ongoing to determine his intent and purpose at the stadium. Runkles has since been released on bond,” Arizona DPS was quoted as saying by ABC.
Later, the Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet in a statement on X said the individual “was doing advance security for a known guest planning to attend the memorial service tomorrow. We do not believe this person was attempting anything nefarious, however the advance was not done in proper coordination with the TPUSA security team or US Secret Service.”
About the event
The public event honouring Charlie Kirk will be held at Arizona Stadium on Sunday morning. While attendance is free and available on a first-come, first-served basis, attendees must pre-register for tickets, according to reports from The New York Times. Kirk’s memorial has been designated as a Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR) Level 1 by the Department of Homeland Security, a designation typically given to events that require extensive security measures, akin to those implemented for the Super Bowl, as reported by The Washington Post.
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