Eyewitnesses to Charlie Kirk's assassination call for civilized debate

[00:02] 60 Minutes overtime.

[00:06] >> Governor, the flag there hangs right

[00:09] above where Charlie Kirk was murdered.

[00:12] What does that flag mean in this moment?

[00:16] >> That flag symbolizes 250 years of of

[00:20] struggle, 250 years of improvement. It

[00:24] represents all of us. Not one portion of

[00:26] us, not uh not one faction, not one uh

[00:31] identity. It represents all of us. This

[00:34] week on 60 Minutes, we're visiting with

[00:37] Spencer Cox. He is the Republican

[00:40] governor of Utah. And not a lot of

[00:43] people in this country knew of him until

[00:46] the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And

[00:49] then it was Spencer Cox who was before

[00:51] the cameras asking Americans if we could

[00:54] just all stop hating each other.

[00:57] >> So it was

[00:58] >> we went back to Utah Valley University

[01:01] on the first day of class. It was 7 days

[01:05] since Charlie Kirk had been murdered

[01:07] there.

[01:09] The governor wanted to talk to some of

[01:12] the students. I think to hear what their

[01:13] impressions were after a week and also

[01:16] to give them some confidence that their

[01:20] country was going to move forward, that

[01:22] politics could be repaired. I

[01:24] >> I think it's important not to tell

[01:27] people they shouldn't disagree, that

[01:28] there's something wrong with

[01:29] disagreement or that disagreement is the

[01:32] problem. It's not the problem, right?

[01:33] It's how how we do that. I think that

[01:36] matters.

[01:37] >> See, cameras call Mark. We wanted to sit

[01:40] down with a couple of students who were

[01:42] there at the event where Charlie Kirk

[01:45] was assassinated. And so we met Hunter

[01:48] Kak and Jeb Jacobe.

[01:52] >> Jeb was a volunteer at the event. He was

[01:56] part of Turning Point USA.

[01:58] >> He meant an inspiration to me. I watched

[02:01] his campus debates where he was able to

[02:04] communicate with other individuals in a

[02:07] pretty professional way when it came to

[02:10] debates about pretty much anything. And

[02:12] I just found that admirable.

[02:15] >> Yeah.

[02:16] >> Hey, Charlie. Hunter Kak, who would

[02:18] identify himself as a liberal, was there

[02:22] to debate Charlie Kirk and tragically

[02:26] was the person who was speaking with

[02:27] Kirk at the very moment that the shot

[02:30] was fired.

[02:31] >> Hopefully, we're going to have a little

[02:32] bit more disagreement.

[02:34] >> Yours was the last question that Charlie

[02:36] Kirk ever heard.

[02:38] >> Yeah, I don't there's a strange amount

[02:40] of weight to that. I don't really know

[02:42] how to grapple with that. I mean, he's

[02:44] answered tens of thousands of questions

[02:46] and mine just that was the first

[02:47] question I've ever asked him. We never

[02:50] talked before that.

[02:52] >> There's video of you in that moment.

[02:53] What was that moment like?

[02:55] >> I thought I heard a firecracker and um

[03:01] um I see his uh

[03:05] um I see the bullet hit his neck and um

[03:10] uh I fall to the ground. I I think I

[03:12] recognized immediately what this was.

[03:16] This wasn't necessarily like a mass

[03:17] shooting. This was like an

[03:18] assassination.

[03:24] >> I just remember I got up and I ran and I

[03:28] called my mom and I said, "Mom, Charlie

[03:31] Kirk's been shot." And she goes, "What?"

[03:33] And I said, "He's been shot." I

[03:35] literally watched a bullet enter his

[03:36] neck and I watched him die in front of

[03:38] me.

[03:40] Jed, this event pushes Democrats and

[03:43] Republicans farther apart or brings them

[03:46] closer together in your view.

[03:48] >> I think the moderate um Democrats and

[03:52] Republicans, I think it brings them

[03:54] together. I think there are individuals

[03:57] on both the left and the right um some

[04:00] of the more radical that it pushes them

[04:02] apart. And I think it's communication

[04:07] that is the most important element that

[04:09] comes together. And I think that there

[04:11] needs to be effective communication

[04:13] between both parties in order to find

[04:16] solid ground on this issue.

[04:17] >> I think that that's one of the few

[04:19] things that we can agree on is this

[04:21] necessity for a conversation. I think

[04:23] that we need to remember that we we

[04:26] still have to live with each other, that

[04:27] these are still our neighbors, that this

[04:29] is still my community. And when I walked

[04:30] to campus, sure that event was 99%

[04:34] Republicans. Everyone in that crowd

[04:37] disagreed with everything that I had,

[04:38] but that was still my school.

[04:40] >> You both witnessed what happened.

[04:44] Your message to the country is what

[04:47] >> I could I could run down the list of all

[04:49] the disagreements that I had with

[04:51] Charlie Kirk. I could say that his

[04:54] policy proposals brought harm to this

[04:56] this country, but I think he would

[04:57] probably say the same thing to me. But I

[05:00] do think that part of living in a

[05:02] society is not resorting to violence.

[05:05] this shooter

[05:07] is one in 400 million Americans and he

[05:10] doesn't speak for us.

[05:12] I think it's that we need to remember

[05:14] that we're still human and it's

[05:18] genuinely like if you get faced with a

[05:21] situation where you have a disagreement

[05:24] with someone, I think it's about taking

[05:26] into consideration how their day is

[05:28] going and saying, you know, I don't know

[05:31] necessarily what you're going through,

[05:33] but I'm here for you and I understand

[05:37] and I just want the best for you

[05:39] regardless if we disagree.

[05:41] And your advice to our politicians

[05:44] having seen what you've seen.

[05:46] >> My advice would be more towards the

[05:50] voters who vote for those politicians to

[05:52] look at

[05:55] what you are enabling with your vote and

[05:58] recognize that you have a lot more

[05:59] control

[06:00] over the situation together as a

[06:02] community than you might think.