More than 7,000 people attend vigil at Colorado State University for Charlie Kirk

Colorado State University says 7,419 people were in attendance at a Turning Point USA event on the campus on Thursday. It was originally supposed to be an event that featured Charlie Kirk, but the conservative activist was shot and killed in Utah eight days ago during his campus tour. In the wake of the assassination, the group he helped create turned the event into a vigil for Kirk.

A Democratic group that counters Turning Point's messaging held their own event on CSU's campus in Fort Collins shortly afterwards that they called "For Free Speech, Against Political Violence."

Turning Point USA's event was held at Canvas Stadium and lasted about an hour. Attendees packed into the east stands, many wearing hats displaying their support for President Donald Trump.

A stage was set up on the football field with flowers and posters of Kirk. The program started with the singing of the National Anthem and then several speakers took the stage. Some were from nearby chapters of Turning Point USA, and some were conservative Colorado politicians.

Gabe Saint, a chapter president of Turning Point USA in Wyoming, was among those who spoke about his time learning from Kirk and the impact he had.

"For so long, conservatives and Christians on college campuses were told to be quiet. But Charlie gave us our voice to stand up for what we believe in," Saint said.

Frequent chants of "USA! USA!" could be heard from the crowd throughout the event.

CSU was supposed to be the second stop on Kirk's campus tour where he debated people at colleges across the country. Utah Valley University, where he was killed, was the first stop.