Sept. 11 (UPI) — Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance will travel to Utah Thursday to pay respects to the family of Charlie Kirk.

The vice president changed his previous plans to visit New York City to honor the victims of the Sept. 11. 2001, terrorist attacks, according to sources reported by USA Today, The Hill and Politico.

Political activist and author Charlie Kirk, 31, was shot and killed Wednesday while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, which is about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City.

About 3,000 people attended the event, and Kirk was responding to a question about mass shootings when a single shot was heard at about 12:20 p.m. MDT, Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason told reporters during a late-afternoon news conference.

Kirk placed his right hand on his neck as he fell. He was picked up by his private security team, which took him to Intermountain Health Utah Valley Hospital, which is near the university.

He was pronounced dead soon after.

The vice president was a close friend of Kirk.

President Donald Trump still plans to attend a 9/11 observance at the Pentagon and then a New York Yankees–Detroit Tigers baseball game at Yankee Stadium.

Vance eulogized Kirk in a long post on X late Wednesday.

“Charlie Kirk was a true friend,” Vance wrote. “The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him. I am on more than a few group chats with Charlie and people he introduced me to over the years. We celebrate weddings and babies, bust each other’s chops, and mourn the loss of loved ones. We talk about politics and policy and sports and life.”

“I was in a meeting in the West Wing when those group chats started lighting up with people telling Charlie they were praying for him,” he continued. “And that’s how I learned the news that my friend had been shot. I prayed a lot over the next hour, as first good news and then bad trickled in.”