Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination carried out from a rooftop.”This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear, this is a political assassination.” No suspect was in custody late Wednesday, though authorities were searching for a new person of interest, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss the situation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Two people were detained earlier in the day, but neither was determined to have had any connection to the shooting, and both have been released, Utah public safety officials said. Authorities did not immediately identify a motive, but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.In a video statement published to Truth Social on Wednesday night, Trump said he was “filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination.””Charlie inspired millions, and tonight, all who knew him and loved him are united in shock and horror,” Trump said. Trump called Kirk “a patriot who devoted his life to the cause of open debate and the country that he loved so much, the United States of America.””He fought for liberty, democracy, justice, and the American people,” Trump added.Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out, and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The Associated Press was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus. Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.”Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an audience member asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?””Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.Then a single shot rang out. The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a roof on campus some distance away. The death was announced on social media by Trump, who praised the 31-year-old Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the youth organization Turning Point USA, as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later Wednesday, he released a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.”No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account. Utah Valley University said the campus was immediately evacuated and remained closed. Classes were canceled until further notice. Those still on campus were asked to stay in place until police officers could safely escort them off campus. Armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for information on the shooter.Officers were seen looking at a photo on their phones and showing it to people to see if they recognized a person of interest.The event, billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour,” had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”Related video below: Law enforcement on a roof near where Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at Utah college eventLast week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”The shooting drew swift bipartisan condemnation, with Democratic officials joining Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.”The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last March hosted Kirk on his podcast, posted on X.”The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district. The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has cut across the political spectrum. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year. Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at Wednesday’s event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk go back.”It seemed like it was a close shot,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke.He said there was a light police presence at the event, and Kirk had some security, but not enough.Related video below: Charlie Kirk dead after being shot at Utah college event”Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a Tea Party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences. Several vigils were held in cities across the U.S. on Wednesday night. In Utah, people gathered outside the hospital where Kirk was pronounced dead.The crowd outside Timpanogos Regional Hospital lined the road, holding American flags as passing cars honked. Visitors placed lit candles, bouquets of flowers, and small American flags in front of a large hospital sign.As the sun set in Utah, some attendees read Bible passages, while others spoke about continuing the work that Kirk had begun. Video below: Dozens gathered at the California State Capitol on Wednesday for a vigil honoring Charlie Kirk, calling for unity and an end to political violence in America.At least 200 people attended a Scottsdale, Arizona, vigil to honor Kirk.With moderate winds picking up at times, people clutched candles that wouldn’t stay lit and little U.S. flags while reciting Catholic prayers and singing verses. The Rev. Daniel Cruz led a rosary.John Yep, president and CEO of Catholics for Catholics and a friend of Kirk’s, was the only other speaker at the vigil, which was also livestreamed. He shared how he sent Kirk a text after learning of his passing today.“I want you to know we’re gonna honor your blood, your sacrifice and your tears,” Yep said, summarizing his text. “Your little tiny kids are gonna know that when their dad was taken from this Earth, that we came here and prayed.”Scottsdale, where Kirk has a home, is a suburb of Phoenix, where Kirk’s Turning Point organization has its headquarters.______Hannah Schoenbaum, along with Alanna Durkin Richer and Mark Sherman, who reported from Washington, as well as Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Michael Biesecker, Brian Slodysko, Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.
Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination carried out from a rooftop.
“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear, this is a political assassination.”
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No suspect was in custody late Wednesday, though authorities were searching for a new person of interest, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss the situation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Two people were detained earlier in the day, but neither was determined to have had any connection to the shooting, and both have been released, Utah public safety officials said.
Authorities did not immediately identify a motive, but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.
In a video statement published to Truth Social on Wednesday night, Trump said he was “filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination.”
“Charlie inspired millions, and tonight, all who knew him and loved him are united in shock and horror,” Trump said.
Trump called Kirk “a patriot who devoted his life to the cause of open debate and the country that he loved so much, the United States of America.”
“He fought for liberty, democracy, justice, and the American people,” Trump added.
Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out, and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The Associated Press was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.
Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.
“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an audience member asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”
The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”
“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.
Then a single shot rang out. The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a roof on campus some distance away.
The death was announced on social media by Trump, who praised the 31-year-old Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the youth organization Turning Point USA, as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later Wednesday, he released a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.
“No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account.
Utah Valley University said the campus was immediately evacuated and remained closed. Classes were canceled until further notice. Those still on campus were asked to stay in place until police officers could safely escort them off campus. Armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for information on the shooter.
Officers were seen looking at a photo on their phones and showing it to people to see if they recognized a person of interest.
The event, billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour,” had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”
Related video below: Law enforcement on a roof near where Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at Utah college event
Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”
The shooting drew swift bipartisan condemnation, with Democratic officials joining Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.
“The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last March hosted Kirk on his podcast, posted on X.
“The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.
The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has cut across the political spectrum. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.
Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at Wednesday’s event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk go back.
“It seemed like it was a close shot,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke.
He said there was a light police presence at the event, and Kirk had some security, but not enough.
Related video below: Charlie Kirk dead after being shot at Utah college event
“Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”
Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a Tea Party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.
But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.
Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.
Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.
Several vigils were held in cities across the U.S. on Wednesday night.
In Utah, people gathered outside the hospital where Kirk was pronounced dead.
The crowd outside Timpanogos Regional Hospital lined the road, holding American flags as passing cars honked. Visitors placed lit candles, bouquets of flowers, and small American flags in front of a large hospital sign.
As the sun set in Utah, some attendees read Bible passages, while others spoke about continuing the work that Kirk had begun.
Video below: Dozens gathered at the California State Capitol on Wednesday for a vigil honoring Charlie Kirk, calling for unity and an end to political violence in America.
At least 200 people attended a Scottsdale, Arizona, vigil to honor Kirk.
With moderate winds picking up at times, people clutched candles that wouldn’t stay lit and little U.S. flags while reciting Catholic prayers and singing verses. The Rev. Daniel Cruz led a rosary.
John Yep, president and CEO of Catholics for Catholics and a friend of Kirk’s, was the only other speaker at the vigil, which was also livestreamed. He shared how he sent Kirk a text after learning of his passing today.
“I want you to know we’re gonna honor your blood, your sacrifice and your tears,” Yep said, summarizing his text. “Your little tiny kids are gonna know that when their dad was taken from this Earth, that we came here and prayed.”
Scottsdale, where Kirk has a home, is a suburb of Phoenix, where Kirk’s Turning Point organization has its headquarters.
______
Hannah Schoenbaum, along with Alanna Durkin Richer and Mark Sherman, who reported from Washington, as well as Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Michael Biesecker, Brian Slodysko, Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.
