A Texas Tech University student was arrested and charged with assault after a confrontation in a campus free speech area in which a man holding a sign mourning conservative commentator Charlie Kirk said the student provoked and struck him.
Cameron Payne told the Daily Mail he was holding a sign reading “RIP Charlie Kirk” on Friday when 18-year-old Camryn Giselle Booker approached him, shouted at him and later, according to video of the incident, jumped and chanted profanity-laden lines about Kirk’s death. Payne said he and others had gathered to pray and that Booker repeatedly returned to the area after walking away, prompting concern.
Video shared publicly shows Booker chanting near Payne while he held the sign and then shoving her phone toward his face. The exchange escalated when Booker was seen knocking Payne’s hat off while members of the Texas Tech Police Department watched. Payne told the Daily Mail he began filming because he was worried for those gathered to pray and wanted a record of the interaction.
Payne said he declined to press charges, telling officers, “I said ‘no.’ I don’t want her to screw her life up over this.” Texas Tech police, who witnessed the altercation, nonetheless took Booker into custody and charged her with one count of assault. Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office records and university officials confirmed Booker posted $200 bond and was released.
Texas Tech told Fox 4 that Booker has been expelled. “Any behavior that denigrates victims of violence is reprehensible, has no place on our campus and is not aligned with our values,” the university said in a statement. The school also noted that federal law prevents it from commenting on individual student conduct matters and said it addresses reported violations under university policy and the law.
Payne, who said his only intent was to let other students know it was permissible to grieve, described the encounter as evidence of politically driven malice. “Evil is real people, and it kind of looks like that,” he said in video posted online, urging viewers to pray for Booker and saying he had removed online comments about her race or appearance because he did not want to worsen her situation.
The incident occurred amid a national reaction to the shooting death last week of Charlie Kirk, 31, a conservative commentator who was shot on the campus of Utah Valley University. Video of the Texas Tech confrontation includes Booker chanting, “F*** y’all, homie dead, he got shot in the head,” according to copies of the footage shared publicly.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott commented on the arrest on X, saying the student “definitely picked the wrong school to taunt the death of Charlie Kirk,” and reposting an image of Booker being taken into custody. Abbott included the acronym “FAFO,” which is commonly understood to stand for “F*** around and find out.” Texas Tech Board of Regents Chairman Cody Campbell reposted Abbott’s message and wrote, “We are proud of our values and are not afraid to stand up for them.”
Booker told people in the video that she was not being emotional and later accused her interlocutors of calling her aggressive because she is Black, language that Payne denied. The altercation drew campus police attention while it unfolded in the free speech area, and university officials said they take reported violations seriously.
Payne said he uploaded the video to warn others and to emphasize that grieving public figures is legitimate. He said he hoped Booker could change her ways and expressed regret that the episode had derailed a student’s life, even as law enforcement pursued a charge after witnessing the confrontation.
The case underscores tensions on college campuses over political speech and mourning; university officials and law enforcement have addressed the confrontation through disciplinary and criminal channels. Booker faces the assault charge as university conduct processes proceed, and no additional criminal filings have been reported.
Authorities have not released additional details about the investigation. Payne and university officials said they sought to keep the focus on the violence that took Kirk’s life and on campus safety rather than on stirring broader conflict.