Fired over Charlie Kirk Facebook post? Former transit employee sues Grant County agency
May 20, 2026, 2:00 PM
Charlie Kirk, who founded Turning Point USA, speaks before former President Donald Trump's arrival during a Turning Point USA Believers Summit conference at the Palm Beach Convention Center on July 26, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)
(Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)
A former Grant Transit Authority (GTA) employee has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the agency violated her First Amendment rights by firing her over Facebook posts she made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk after his assassination last September.
Marilee Castillo worked as dispatch support for the Grant County transit system. She filed the complaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. The suit names the agency and its operations manager as defendants, seeking lost wages, compensatory damages, and punitive damages.
Kirk was shot and killed Sept. 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University while speaking at a Turning Point USA event. GTA lowered its flags after Kirk’s death in observance of a presidential proclamation.
According to the complaint, Castillo posted on her personal Facebook page: “When a horrible trash-human dies and others talk about them as if they were wonderful, as opposed to the modern day Nazi that they were, what is that called?”
In a reply to another user, she wrote, “We had to put our flags at half mast this evening. I said someone else can do it because I’m not touching the flag for him.”
The lawsuit stated that Castillo was never asked to lower the flags and had made the remark to a non-supervisory coworker. Her Facebook account did not identify GTA as her employer, she claimed.
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On or about Sept. 12, 2025, a member of the public emailed GTA complaining about the posts but stated they would “still continue to use your services,” the filing said. The agency investigated and learned Castillo had also discussed Kirk with a coworker, though no member of the public heard those remarks, and the coworker did not file a complaint.
GTA terminated Castillo on Sept. 25, 2025, according to the complaint, which alleges the termination letter “expressly considered and disregarded” her free speech rights.
Castillo said in a statement that she was “motivated to write about Kirk online by my passions for justice and equality … When GTA weaponized its power to silence me, I knew I couldn’t let it go without a fight.”
Tyler Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder in Kirk’s killing. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July.
GTA told KIRO Newsradio it has no comment at this time.
Read more of Aaron Granillo’s stories here.
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