'Mistaken Identity': Salem Schools Staff Member Targeted After Charlie Kirk Assassination​ TikTok Post

SALEM, MA — Salem Public Schools officials are calling a "reprehensible" TikTok post about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which some attributed to a school staff member, a case of "mistaken identity" — while U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said his family and staff have received "violent and graphic threats" following his own comments on Kirk's shooting death — as the intense political reverberations of the Utah shooting reached the North Shore in recent days.

Salem school officials said on Friday that there was speculation on social media that the staff member made what they called a "reprehensible TikTok post about Charlie Kirk's tragic death," but that the staff member was, in fact, not the author of the post.

"The male individual who made the post appears to have the same name as one of our female staff but is not affiliated with SPS," officials said in a social media statement on Friday. "It is mistaken identity."

• Conservative Activist Charlie Kirk Shot Dead In Utah

Meanwhile, Moulton said his office had received "an extraordinary number of violent and graphic threats" online and via phone "directed toward me, my family, and my staff," after he said he "pointed out the simple fact that President (Donald) Trump should join Speaker (Mike) Johnson and other level-headed Republicans in condemning political violence, not inciting it further."

"The solution to political disagreement in America is never violence. It should be easy for everybody to say that," Moulton said. "Republicans need to condemn violence committed by the right, just as I and many other Democrats condemn violence by the left."

State Rep. Manny Cruz said he also received backlash after he expressed sorrow for Kirk's death and sympathy for his family on social media, while also saying "the scourge of gun and political violence in our country is absolutely unacceptable."

Cruz said he then had a "good number of friends and constituents" tell him that the post was "overly generous to Charlie Kirk, that I should have stopped at denouncing gun violence."

"I did not enter politics with the expectations that I would sacrifice my humanity, morality, values, or character," Cruz said in defending the post. "I watched a man get murdered in cold blood, and at the time of this Tweet, there was a small chance he would live. I believe in radical love and empathy. I condemn all political violence.

"I will not be reduced to a talking head or a divisive person," he continued. "I saw he was shot, that his wife and kids were present, and I empathized with him and them. I am not asking you to mourn him or to embrace my style.

"I realize that Charlie said and did a lot of things that are racist, misogynistic, transphobic, anti-immigrant, etc. My choice to pray for justice is a statement of my values and is rooted in my faith and the radical love Dr. (Martin Luther) King spoke about."

Cruz said his own daughter asked him last week whether "a stranger would take me away," and that caused him to get emotional about the state of political vitriol and violence across the country.

"I am begging my neighbors, for the love of God, stop dehumanizing me and reducing me to a political instrument," he said. "If you want me to explain myself or have questions, ask me. I will not judge your questions, but please consider my family before you start threads on Reddit about me. My cell phone and email address are available through multiple channels. Let's connect human to human.

"To clarify the last part of this Tweet about my hope of meeting Charlie. I hoped to meet him at one of his debates in Massachusetts to challenge and debate him. ... Let's build bridges of understanding and let's embrace our morality, empathy, and grace."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)