Pensacola Police have arrested two men in connection with a violent confrontation at Graffiti Bridge during a vigil for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Police said 56-year-old Troy Donovan Grow was arrested Tuesday night. On Wednesday night, officers arrested 49-year-old Larry Wayne Hopkins. Both men have been charged with felony battery.
The clash happened Sept. 14 as mourners gathered around a mural of Kirk painted on the trestle. Police said the victim, who was recording video on his phone, walked up to the mural with a spray can and began painting over it while the vigil was still underway. In the video, the man can be heard saying, “You can’t touch me. Everyone’s got a right to paint it.” Moments later, Grow confronted the man and, police say, used pepper spray on him. Police said Hopkins then threw the victim to the ground and struck him in the head with his elbow.
In the hours before and after the incident, Facebook posts from an account under Grow’s name show him calling for others to attend the vigil and warning that people were threatening to paint over the memorial. In one post, he wrote: “You already have people here threatening to paint over it. That won’t happen on my watch.” In another, after the clash, he said someone tried to spray paint the mural and added, “He F.A.F.O., if you know what that means. He left them in an ambulance.”
The victim was taken to a local hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. Police released photos of both suspects along with the video taken by the victim.
