Outrage on social media has been swirling after teacher John Colgan posted on Facebook that the deadly shooting “brightened up” his day.
FOREST GROVE, Ore. — A middle school science teacher in the Forest Grove School District has been placed on administrative leave and resigned from his local city council role after suggesting in a Facebook post that conservative activist Charlie Kirk was “asking” to be shot and killed.
Kirk was assassinated by a gunman during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
After learning that Kirk had died, John Colgan, a science teacher at Neil Armstrong Middle school and a Cornelius city councilor, apparently posted about the shooting on his personal Facebook page.
“Hearing that Charlie Kirk got shot and died really brightened up my day,” Colgan wrote in the original post. “Nobody deserves it, but some are asking for it.”
“Edit: For anyone else that wants to creep my wall and tell me how upsetting this is, Charlie was a f—ing ghoul who got on tv after every school shooting and mass shooting and defended guns,” Colgan later added. “He’d want us to support the gun in this case. See more in comments.”
While Colgan’s profile no longer appeared searchable on Facebook by early Thursday afternoon, screengrabs of the post were making the rounds among social media users at the time, many of them calling for Colgan to be punished by his employer, the Forest Grove School District.
“Students should not be taught anything remotely close to this,” one Facebook user sharing the screengrab wrote. “If this is his mindset, I cannot imagine what he is teaching in the classroom when no one is watching.”
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Colgan did not reply to a request for comment from KGW on Thursday, but the Forest Grove School District put out an initial statement when asked about Colgan’s comment.
“The Forest Grove School District was made aware of inflammatory comments made by a teacher at Neil Armstrong Middle School on social media,” the district said. “These comments were made on his private social media account while off duty.
“The District does not condone violence nor the celebration of violence. Our top priority is to protect the right of students to a safe and welcoming learning environment, and our policies prohibit the sharing or teaching of personal political views in our school classrooms.
“We remain committed to the wellbeing and education of our students.”
By Thursday evening, Colgan’s comments were being shared online by far-right influencers like Andy Ngo and Libs of TikTok, with his post featured for condemnation alongside other examples from around the country of comments either making light of Kirk’s death or denigrating his views.
Some social media posts about Colgan included contact information for the Forest Grove School District, urging others to contact the district and advocate for the teacher to be disciplined.
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On Friday morning, the school district put up an updated post, indicating that Colgan had been placed on leave.
“We recognize the harm caused by our staff member’s post and we are taking the situation seriously,” the 9:20 a.m. update read. “Consistent with our policies, we have placed this staff member on paid administrative leave, and we are conducting an investigation. We are committed to keeping families informed as the process moves forward.”
Then, at 3 p.m. on Friday, the mayor of Cornelius announced on the city website that Colgan had resigned from his seat on the city council:
“This afternoon, September 12, 2025, Former City Councilor John Colgan submitted his resignation letter to the City Manager and me,” Mayor Jeffrey C. Dalin wrote, in part. “In his resignation, he expressed that he is deeply sorry for his comments and the harm they caused to our community and staff. Effective immediately, he has resigned from City Council.”
Dalin underlined that Colgan’s comments don’t reflect his values or those of the city of Cornelius.
“I am committed to fostering respectful dialogue and ensuring that every member of our community feels safe to share their views without fear of harm, intimidation, or retaliation,” he continued. “Violence is never an acceptable response to differences in opinion or belief. I strongly condemn all acts of political violence and stand firmly against words or actions that could incite it.”
Oregon Sen. Janeen Sollman, a Democrat representing Hillsboro, Cornelius and Forest Grove, said in a statement that public servants should set a better example in times like these.
“First and foremost, Charlie Kirk is someone’s husband, father and son and I don’t wish what happened to him on anyone,” she said. “We all must look to bring the temperature down, during this tense political climate. We all play a role and words matter. Many people look to public figures and elected members of our communities as examples for how to react and what to say. Let’s all strive to be better neighbors again, through our words and actions.”
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