Was it Odd that Charlie Kirk’s Events Drew Cop Impersonators?

In matters of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and Turning Point U.S.A., things continue to be odd. Here are another two cases in point.

A new video taken just before Charlie Kirk took to his tent stage on September 10^th at Utah Valley University campus was posted to social media. It showed an unidentified man wearing, and then removing, a law enforcement badge when he realized he was on camera.

Then we had a second incident of a 42 year old man named Joshua Runkles said to be from Moore County North Carolina who was arrested and taken into custody at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona just prior to the memorial service of Charlie Kirk Sunday, September 21^st.

“SEE COURT DOCS: Joshua Patrick Runkles in State Farm Stadium armed with 2 firearms & several knives” – Plunder

What was so odd about this story though is Runkles was confronted by law enforcement, twice before being arrested. The first time he was said to be outside the actual stadium where his credentials were checked by local Arizona law enforcement authorities and found to be invalid or expired.

He told a tale he was contracted by somebody who would be in attendance from Turning Point U.S.A. The credentials he had were found to be outdated indicating he had been in law enforcement at some previous point in time. He was armed with a firearm of a revolver and several knives. He was told to leave the premises and not come back armed. He was not arrested after this first encounter.

A period of time later he was actually found inside the stadium building by Secret Service where he was taken into custody and arrested with charges. Runkles was charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer, a felony, and carrying a weapon into a prohibited place, a misdemeanor, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Local prosecutors had asked for a $5,000 bond but the court set a $500 secured appearance bond plus pretrial services supervision. Unbelievably he was released before the event!

Part of the reason for his reduced bond may have come from a post to “X” by a Turning Point U.S.A. producer who noted “I want to add a note of clarity here,” said Andrew Kovlet.

“This individual was doing advance security for a known guest planning to attend the memorial service tomorrow. We do not believe this person was attempting anything nefarious, however the advance was not done in proper coordination with the TPUSA security team or US Secret Service,” Kolvet wrote.

“Also important to note that this was before the site had been fully sealed and locked down. Every precaution is being taken to ensure everyone’s safety.”

CONCLUSION:

As somebody who once wanted to be in state law enforcement as well the FBI, and once had the opportunity to hang out with the Secret Service for several days, this story kind of stinks.

In the first place, I do not know of any law enforcement officer who is allowed to carry a knife as part of their uniform though they are allowed to carry small ones to do such things as cut seatbelts and open packages. In the second place, a law enforcement officer independently contracted for security normally is told a check in point to go to and person to report to by name to register for the event and have the ground rules explained to them such as “No weapons are allowed around the president other than those of Secret Service.”

Runkles disobeying authorities and showing up not once, but twice, and somehow gaining access into the interior of the stadium makes it seem as he either has mental problems or was there with nefarious intent. Also, being able to bond out before the event was actually held is not normal.

When I was a student-teacher at Buffalo Grove High School in 1976, the district right next to Charlie Kirk’s Wheeling High School of many years later, I got to hang out with Secret Service agents as part of the “Advance Team” to President Gerald R. Ford. One day I had just finished lunch and was walking down the very crowded hallways when two young boys were talking in front of me when one said to the other, “Wouldn’t it be funny if the president got shot while he was here.” Suddenly a Secret Service agent appeared from behind me and took both young men to be held on suspicion of “Making a threat to the president,” whereupon they were held in custody until the president had come and gone from our State of Illinois.

I remember having mixed emotions as I knew, as a teacher, they were just two young boys talking stupid but yet, they wound up in some serious trouble for a period of 72 hours and it all had gone down in front of me.

With that in mind, it is beyond me how and why the Secret Service of today did not do this same retention of Runkles until President Trump had left Arizona airspace?

Another thing I found odd is over the weekend FBI Director Kash Patel reported to the press that the FBI is investigating all the odd anomalies involved around the Charlie Kirk assassination. If that is true, why is he not looking to identify the man in the video of the X post above who had on a law enforcement badge until he saw a camera and took it off?  

“FBI Director Kash Patel says agency investigating ‘theories and questions’ surrounding Charlie Kirk’s murder” – Fox News

Americans are getting fed up and angry as they see actual conspiracy theories proven to be conspiracy realities with no or few appropriate prosecutions. The Charlie Kirk assassination thus far has 2 people arrested; one as the actual assassin and one who served as a decoy after the fact found with child pornography. The public thinks these 2 arrests are just the tip of an actual conspiracy iceberg.

The main question remains:

Who put these people up to what they did or who did they work for?

© 2025 by Mark S. Schwendau

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Thinking Conservative.