Teacher praised Charlie Kirk killing as ‘1 Nazi down.’ Now he’s on leave in Iowa
A high school teacher in Iowa is on leave after being accused of praising the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Matthew Kargol, an art teacher at Oskaloosa High School, has been put on administrative leave after he posted on Facebook supposedly referencing the shooting of the Turning Point USA founder on Sept. 10 in Orem, Utah, district officials confirm.
Screengrabs from The Iowa Standard in a Sept. 10 Facebook post show Kargol’s original post saying “1 Nazi down” and a series of comments from people upset by the sentence.
“This has created substantial material disruption to our learning environment, the last 12 hours,” Oskaloosa Schools Superintendent Mike Fisher told KCCI.
Fisher’s recommendation to the Oskaloosa Community School District is to terminate Kargol’s contract effective Sept. 17.
Pat Grassley, the speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives, said in a Sept. 11 Facebook post that he expects the district will investigate the situation before appropriate action is taken.
“I have been made aware of social media posts by teachers in Iowa praising the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Grassley said.
“This hate has no place in our state, and certainly does not belong in our schools.”
Founded by Kirk in 2012, Turning Point USA is a nonprofit right-wing advocacy organization that encouraged conservative political organizing in high schools and on university campuses. Kirk had just embarked on his “American Comeback Tour,” where he planned to visit colleges across the U.S. and challenge spectators to “prove me wrong” on a variety of hot button political issues.
He was often credited for helping President Donald Trump return to the White House in 2024, with Vice President JD Vance saying in an X post that “so much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene.
“He didn’t just help us win in 2024,” Vance continued. “He helped us staff the entire government.
Oskaloosa is about a 60-mile drive southeast from Des Moines.