A county meeting in Florida descended into shouting, profanity, and the ejection of community members over a proposal to rename a road for the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated earlier this month.
The anger came as the Lake County Commission considered a proposal, which ultimately got unanimous approval, to rename a stretch of road as the Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway.
The majority of public commenters at the Tuesday meeting opposed the plan, including resident Gavin Brown, who argued the county should name roads after local figures who had served the community like veterans or law enforcement, such as Bradley Link, a sheriff’s deputy who was killed last year.
“Wouldn’t it be more suitable and ideal to have a memorial to honor someone who fought to serve and protect us, have a true Lake County resident who was a brave American hero?” Brown said.
“In these dark, dystopian times, let’s remember Deputy Link, and let’s look at things we can do to unite, and not divide us, and that includes you, Mr. Sabatini,” Brown added, referring to Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini, who proposed the name change.
The comments angered the Republican leader.
“How dare you use that deputy’s name for your petty bullsh*t political argument!” Sabatini said. “How dare you!”
Sabitini later told Fox 35 he was alarmed by Brown’s comments, alleging he was a “political agitator.”
“Charlie literally was just assassinated two weeks ago, and here you have political agitators coming out against him,” Sabitini said, “really almost days after he was buried. I thought it was very disturbing.”
Multiple speakers were ultimately removed at the meeting.
Brown wasn’t the only one who opposed the plan.
“If we approach approved political figure naming without clear criteria, we open the door to endless partisan battles over our public spaces,” resident Jaqueline Arnt of Mount Dora said, Click Orlando reports.
Others spoke in favor of the idea to honor the Turning Point USA founder.
“I know at 16 years old, they don’t have votes right now. But they will in two years,” Autumn Jacunski, whose 16-year-old son was a speaker at a local vigil for Kirk, told the commission. “They are the future, they’re going to be our new leaders, and Charlie was someone they looked up to, he was someone they were invested in.”
Kirk’s killing earlier this month has prompted widespread mourning, including a Trump administration directive to fly flags at half-staff, and a massive memorial rally in the activist’s home state of Arizona.
Oklahoma’s top school official, meanwhile, announced this week he would launch Turning Point USA chapters in all of the state’s high schools.
The killing has also set off debates over the extent of protected and dangerous speech, following incidents like late-night host Jimmy Kimmel being temporarily taken off air after he made controversial statements about Kirk and the Trump-appointed head of the FCC appeared to threaten Kimmel’s home network of ABC.
