FILE PHOTO: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro speaks at the former Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant after a tour by Constellation Energy in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania, U.S., June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/ File Photo

By Jana Winter

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro criticized Republican President Donald Trump's words following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, saying that leaders need to urge calm following acts of violence.

“What we're seeing now from the president of the United States and some of his allies, is by cherry-picking certain violence that is OK and certain violence that is not OK, that is making everyone less safe and it's raising the temperatures instead of lowering the temperatures,” said Shapiro, whose official residence was the target of an April arson. “What we need right now is calm.”

The shooting of Kirk, who was speaking to an audience of college students in Utah, was the latest in a string of attacks on prominent U.S. figures that included the June killing of a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and two assassination attempts against Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly criticized attacks on Republican targets following Kirk's assassination, while generally omitting reference to violent acts against Democrats.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week found that 68% of Americans had read, seen or heard "a lot" about the Kirk shooting -- which was captured in a graphic video widely seen on social media -- with just 26% saying the same about the Minnesota killings.

“I don't care if it's coming from the left or the right, we need to be universal in our condemnation, and the president has once again failed that leadership test, failed the morality test, and it makes us all less safe,” Shapiro said on Tuesday at the Eradicate Hate Conference in Pittsburgh.

Shapiro described the firebomb attack on the first night of Passover while he and his family were sleeping, as well as the immediate outpouring of support from all prior living governors of the state -- of both parties. His Republican predecessor, former Governor Thomas Corbett, introduced his remarks.

“As the survivor of two assassination attempts — and now watching his dear friend Charlie be assassinated — no one understands the dangers of political violence more than President Trump," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in an email.

"That’s why, following Charlie’s assassination, President Trump delivered powerful and unifying remarks urging all Americans to ‘commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived and died. The values of free speech, citizenship, the rule of law, and the patriotic devotion and love of God.’"

Top Trump administration officials this week urged a crackdown on left-leaning groups following the Kirk killing, though investigators say the suspect in the Kirk killing appears to have acted alone.

(Reporting by Jana Winter; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)