Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, obviously shaken by what had just happened at Utah Valley University, called the event what it is: “This clearly was a political assassination.”

The victim is Charlie Kirk, a dedicated supporter of Donald J. Trump and a leader of the MAGA movement that gives Trump its unquesitioned support. Kirk was conducting an old-school style pep rally at UVU when a shot rang out. A bullet struck Kirk in the neck, killing him virtually instantly.

The nation is shocked. We are stunned. Every former president, Democrats and the lone Republican, have condemned the murder. They and the nation are extending their prayers and support to Kirk’s family, including his wife and two young children.

Kirk was just 31 years of age.

It is not too early to ask this question out loud: Have we become a nation where one’s disagreement with a leading political figure results in this kind of senseless violence?

Is Kirk’s death a symptom of a greater disease infecting the body politic across the land? It’s one thing for members of Congress to argue incessantly with each other, hurling personal insults across the aisle. This event today at Utah Valley University takes this kind of reaction to a whole different and despicable level.

The FBI had arrested a person of interest. Agents interviewed this person and then released him or her.

Others have said as much, but I want to echo what they are saying. It is that we cannot normalize acts of terrorism as political speech. What happened today was a despicable crime targeted at someone who had a clear political agenda. The individual who committed this heinous act needs to be brought to the fullest extent of punishment that justice allows.

Gov. Cox made this point, too, in making his statement about the tragedy: “Utah still has the death penalty.”