WASHINGTON – The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is sending shockwaves through Capitol Hill, a place that is no stranger to political violence.

It began just after Kirk was killed on Sept. 10, when a moment of silence devolved into a shouting match on the floor of the House of Representatives. House Speaker Mike Johnson recognized Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert to speak after she requested that lawmakers say a prayer out loud for Kirk and his family.

Democrats immediately broke out into jeers, with some reportedly bringing up a shooting at a Colorado high school that also occurred on Sept. 10, according to Politico. Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna at one point yelled at Democrats, “y’all caused this!” before Johnson quieted down the chamber.

Before being elected to Congress, Luna served as the director of Hispanic engagement for Turning Point USA, the college conservative advocacy group that Kirk co-founded. She told reporters after the verbal tussle that lawmakers "should have been allowed to pray for Charlie.”

It was a scene emblematic of the charged political moment in which Kirk's assassination occurred. Kirk's killing came as Congress, increasingly divided over President Donald Trump and his agenda, is barreling toward the prospect of another government shutdown with little bipartisanship in sight.

Lawmakers also have had their own traumatic run-ins with violence, most notably in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol during the certification ceremony for Joe Biden's election win that led to several deaths and numerous injuries.

Other high-profile examples include the 2022 attack at the home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that left her husband seriously injured, the 2017 shooting of then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three others at a Republican practice for the Congressional baseball game and the 2012 attempted assassination of Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabriel Giffords where 19 people total were shot and six died.

After Charlie Kirk's death in Utah, Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN, "It's changed the atmosphere of the place."

In the aftermath of the Sept. 10 incident, members have begun canceling political events. Johnson said he was considering upping lawmakers' security.

While politicians on both the right and left were quick to condemn political violence in the wake of the shooting, Trump's effort to immediately lay blame for the tragedy on the "radical left" has already hampered their ability to stand in solidarity against it.

"This is a time that all Americans should come together and mourn what happened," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, told reporters Sept. 11. "Coming together is what we ought to be doing. Not pointing fingers of blame."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, scoffed when asked whether Democrats should be toning down their rhetoric amid the Kirk assassination.

"Oh, please," she told reporters outside the Capitol Sept. 10. "Why don't you start with the president of the United States? And every ugly meme he's posted, and every ugly word."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Charlie Kirk assassination casts a pall over Congress

Reporting by Zachary Schermele and Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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