People paid respects to the far-right activist and Trump ally as they pondered his divisive legacy

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Orem, Utah, a sleepy suburb of roughly 100,000 people at the feet of the Wasatch mountains, never asked for the national spotlight.

But in the wake of the killing of far-right activist Charlie Kirk in front of a packed audience at a university in the heart of town, the weight of the nation’s gaze was inescapable. A forest of American flags planted atop a highway interpass next to Utah Valley University (UVU), where Kirk was shot. A campus on lockdown and makeshift memorials. The ubiquitous presence of local cops and FBI agents.