No room for this behavior…
A reporter with a popular Florida political website was immediately suspended after attempting to capitalize on the shooting of political activist Charlie Kirk.
The 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday when the shooting occurred. Video taken by students attending his speech shows Kirk appearing to have been shot in the neck after the sound of a single gunshot was heard. Kirk was later pronounced dead after being rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
Kirk was a popular figure in conservative media circles and a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, encouraging the young voters in his organization to vote for Trump during his presidential campaigns and speaking at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last year.
News of the shooting stunned politicians and commentators on both sides of the aisle, who offered prayers for his family and condemnations of political violence.
Wednesday afternoon, after news of the shooting had spread but before it was known that Kirk had died, A.G. Gancarski, a reporter with the Florida Politics website, texted Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), a Republican elected to Congress earlier this year in a special election.
According to a screenshot posted by Fine, Gancarski asked him “if Charlie Kirk getting shot affects your position on campus carry?”
“If gun control had been in play could the tragedy have been avoided?” Gancarski added.
“I learned that Charlie Kirk was shot 23 minutes ago. I am repulsed that you would even think to ask a political question when all anyone should be doing is praying for his survival,” Fine wrote back. “Never contact me again.”
Fine shared a screenshot of the texts on social media along with a caption that read, “You don’t hate the media enough.”
Less than an hour later, Peter Schorsch, the founder and publisher of Florida Politics, posted that he had “immediately suspended [Gancarski] from his position with [Florida Politics].”
Schorsch then noted that he had “urged [Gancarski] to go dark on social media for the time being while we address this situation,” and invited anyone with comments or questions to email him. Gancarski’s account on X has been set to private and is no longer publicly viewable.
Another X user posted a screenshot of a tweet Gancarski had purportedly sent to Fine before deleting it and locking down his account. In the screenshot, Gancarski replied to Fine that it was a “valid question” because Fine “ran a bill that would have allowed ‘campus carry’” as a state senator, but had left the legislature by the time of the April 17 shooting at Florida State University.
“I stand by the question,” Gancarski wrote. “Tragedy is ultimately what tests policy positions.”
Mediaite and other outlats have not yet confirmed the authenticity of this screenshot, but it does accurately display Gancarski’s username on X and most recent profile photo. Mediaite reached out to Schorsch for comment but did not receive a reply.
He was suspended, not fired. Knowing how the Leftist collectivist press functions, that probably means that he will be back on the job in a week. The Left never allows consequences for anything they do, and imposes consequences for everything a conservative does, and even for things the conservatives haven’t done.