NEW: State Farm Stadium in Arizona has reached full capacity, with over 60,000 seats filled and more still waiting outside as thousands gather to honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk.

NEW: State Farm Stadium in Arizona has reached full capacity, with over 60,000 seats filled and more still waiting outside as thousands gather to honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk.

Thousands were gathering in Arizona for a public memorial to honor Charlie Kirk, the rightwing youth organizer who was fatally shot during an event at a Utah college.

Donald Trump, his vice-president, JD Vance, and Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, were among a long list of prominent officials and figures expected to pay tribute to the slain activist, a reflection of his deep imprint on the president’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement.

The memorial service was being held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, a 63,000-seat home of the Arizona Cardinals football team and the venue where Taylor Swift launched her Eras tour.

Thousands of people wearing red, white and blue poured into the stadium.

Lines snaked several blocks before sunrise Sunday, when temperatures were expected to near 100F (37.8C) by the afternoon. Inside the stadium, seats began to fill hours before the official program was due to begin. Supporters were already in tears as they listened to a Christian rock group that performed on stage in advance of the official program.

Jeffrey Barke, a physician with a large online following, went to the stadium with a group of friends from Orange county, California, on what he called a “pilgrimage of sorts” to honor Kirk’s life and legacy. He pledged to use own platform to aid in spreading “Charlie’s message”.

Christina Sawick, wearing a “Trump was right about everything” hat, said she had been watching and listening to Kirk since 2016. On Sunday, she left her home in Mesa at 3am to attend his memorial service.

She said she appreciated Kirk’s willingness to debate anyone regardless of their politics or background. “He didn’t sugarcoat anything,” she said. “He just wanted to be heard and he wanted everybody to be heard.”

Sawick said she hoped more Americans would accept – even if they did not support – the president and his message. “I want people to get behind our president,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with making America great again.”

A massive security presence, led by the US Secret Service, was in place, with the event expected to receive security on par with the Super Bowl. A man armed with a gun and a knife, with inactive law enforcement credentials and amid claims he was providing private security, was detained on Saturday at the venue.

A spokesperson for Kirk’s Turning Point USA organization said the man was doing “advance security for a known guest” but it was not properly coordinated with the Secret Service or Turning Point. The spokesperson also said it was not believed the man was “attempting anything nefarious”.

Americans are grappling with the killing and complicated legacy of the 31-year-old conservative “youth whisperer”, Trump ally and podcasting provocateur, who was shot and killed on 10 September in what prosecutors have labeled political violence – and which has deepened fears about the trajectory of a profoundly divided nation.

Kirk was struck by a single bullet as he spoke before a crowd of 3,000 mostly college students at Utah Valley University, the first stop on his national “American Comeback” campus tour. Utah prosecutors have charged Tyler Robinson, 22, with capital murder in Kirk’s killing and said they will seek the death penalty.