WASHINGTON -- Vice President JD Vance abandoned plans Thursday to attend a commemoration of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in New York and instead headed to Salt Lake City, Utah, to pay respects to the family of his friend, assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

After meeting with Kirk’s family and close friends in Utah, Vance and his wife, Usha, planned to accompany them—and Kirk’s casket—to Phoenix, Arizona, where Kirk had lived, aboard Air Force Two.

Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot on the campus of Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. He was transported to a hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead. The shooter fired once, according to Utah Department of Public Safety, and remains at large.

In a lengthy tribute poste

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