Phoenix police arrested a man accused of threatening to shoot people at a local LGBTQ+ bar in retaliation for Charlie Kirk’s death.
Treven Michael Gokey, 49, was arrested Wednesday on two felony counts of making a terroristic threat and using a computer to threaten, according to a police report obtained by AZ Family. He is presently being held in Maricopa County jail on a $250,000 bond. Officers reported that Gokey threatened a shooting at Cruisin’ 7th, claiming that “Charlie Kirk was a martyr” and that he “was a martyr for Charlie Kirk.”
Gokey allegedly told police during a welfare check at his residence that “radical left violence breeds a far-right response,” referencing Kirk’s murder and two school shootings in Minnesota and Tennessee. He then stated that he “wanted to harm others” to convey a message, using many slurs against transgender persons.
Kirk, a conservative podcaster who co-founded Turning Point USA, was shot and killed while conducting a “Prove Me Wrong” debate at Utah Valley University last week. Tyler Robinson, 22, was identified and apprehended as a suspect in the shooting.
The Democratic National Committee offices in Washington, D.C., as well as numerous historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), were compelled to evacuate or lock down the day after Kirk was killed due to threats. While law enforcement has not proven what prompted the threats, conservatives widely blamed “the left” for Kirk’s murder and pledged vengeance even before the suspect’s identity was revealed.
The U.S. Secret Service Threat Assessment Center discovered that cisgender men were responsible for 96 percent of 172 mass attacks between 2016 and 2020. The Advocate previously revealed that transgender suspects were engaged in only six of more than 4,600 mass shootings between 2014 and 2024, accounting for only 0.128 percent. Because transgender people make up only one percent of the US population, they are substantially less likely to be mass shooters than the general population.