On Sunday evening, approximately 40 islanders gathered at dusk on a sidewalk at Ober Park, facing Vashon Highway, to hold a candlelit vigil for Charlie Kirk, the prominent right-wing activist and close ally of President Trump, who was fatally shot on Sept. 10 while speaking on a college campus in Orem, Utah.

Kirk’s violent death, and the subsequent arrest of a 22-year-old suspect, received almost non-stop coverage on cable news networks, and was also widely and sometimes heatedly discussed on social media platforms, including some Vashon community pages.

The Beachcomber learned about the vigil in a voicemail to a reporter that arrived about 20 minutes prior to the gathering’s start at around 7 p.m. After the reporter arrived at Ober Park about 10 minutes later and approached the group, announcing her affiliation with the paper, several group members expressed both surprise and gratitude at the fact that she had shown up to cover the event.

Those in attendance held lighted candles, with a few also holding American flags, as patriotic music by Lee Greenwood, Johnny Cash and other singers was played over a speaker. In an ensuing dialogue, several attendees said they did not want to be named by The Beachcomber for fear of reprisal in Vashon’s predominately liberal community.

But one member of the group, Matt Matthews, stepped forward and seemed to speak for the group, sharing his raw grief over the violent death of a man he said he had greatly admired.

“We are people who feel lost,” Matthews said. “We feel like we have lost a loved one. I have never cried so much for a man I did not know, and it’s because we shared the same belief structure. Now, whether or not people appreciate our belief structures, we have a right to grieve.”

Matthews said he had been characterized by some on the island as racist, misogynist and homophobic when he had expressed his political beliefs in any way.

“And that’s kind of the same feeling of every person here, which is why we’re here,” he said. “We just wanted to come together in a safe place, because unfortunately, on Vashon we don’t have a safe place to express our thoughts and feelings.”

Matthews described Kirk as a man who “liked to perpetuate conversations and open dialogue with people,” adding that he did not think many who criticized Kirk had ever heard his messages.

“That that’s all we ask — to have open dialogue,” he said. “We have to start talking. This cannot be the acceptable norm. The amount of hatred flowing around the world right now is unacceptable.”

Another person at the event, Joe Suchy, who identified himself as the caller who had alerted the reporter about the vigil, echoed Matthews’ call for dialogue.

“We’ve got to treat each other like human beings instead of ‘the other side,’” he said.

As the vigil wound down, and night fell, a long line of cars from the north end ferry line silently passed by the sidewalk where those attending the vigil stood.

“If we were all holding ‘No Kings’ signs, they’d all be honking and waving” said a person in the crowd.

And then, a few minutes later, one of the drivers sounded his horn, followed shortly by another driver, and the group attending the vigil erupted in a cheer and moved forward a few steps closer to the the street, holding their flags and candles higher.