WHEELING, Ill. (WLS) — People from the Chicago area are continuing to reflect on the death of Charlie Kirk, the conservative political activist who was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah university.

From the halls of Wheeling High School to center stage at the last two Republican National Conventions, Kirk built his brand as a young darling of the MAGA movement.

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“Charlie Kirk was one of the first people to really reach out to young students on college campuses,” University of Chicago Republican student Akshay Kirthi said.

As a teenager, Kirk decided he’d do better speaking to college students than studying as one, and it was that campus forum that Kirk rode to conservative fame.

As the founder of his self-built student activist group Turning Point USA, Kirk toured colleges starting campuses chapters, including one at University of Chicago, and drawing crowds of thousands, with not all of them friendly.

His signature forum was called “Prove Me Wrong.”

“I felt particularly isolated, politically,” said Kellen Riall, Vice President of the Turning Point USA University of Chicago Chapter. “The fact that Charlie has been such a major moving force at colleges all across the nation, it’s extremely impactful in allowing people like me to feel comfortable, represents us.”

READ MORE | Those who knew Wheeling HS grad Charlie Kirk, whose political org started small in Lemont, reflect

“He extended the olive branch to different people, and that’s something I really resonated with,” Kirthi said.

But his critics saw Kirk’s opinions as offensive and divisive.

Kirk amassed a following of millions across social media platforms, frequently blasting controversial views:

“Democrat women want to die alone without children.”

“Indoctrinating 5-year-old kindergartners that they can be something other than a boy or a girl is child abuse and should be illegal.”

“We don’t have enough people in prison in America. We need a lot more prisoners.”

“My relationship with him, I say he was like a son to me,” former Republican congressman Joe Walsh. “But by the end, as of a week ago, I found his views abhorrent… he was everything I opposed.”

Walsh nurtured then split with Kirk.

“But I’ll always want to remember him as the idealistic, happy, young, freedom loving warrior,”

Now, the young self-made firebrand is dead amidst a moment of peak political violence.

Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin spoke Thursday on the rise of political violence in the nation.

“In 20 years up to 2015, we had two incidents of political violence against elected officials,” Durbin said. “In the 10 years since, we’ve had 25. The numbers tell a story. It is much more dangerous than it used to be.”

In the wake of Kirk’s murder, many Chicago City Council members are now expressing concern for their own safety.

Twenty alderpersons have signed a letter to the police superintendent and corporation counsel, calling for new security procedures at City Hall. The letter says that because of the subjects discussed in Council recently, some members have needed escorts out of the building.