Charlie Kirk
Photo: Meredith Seaver/Meredith Seaver/College Station Eagle via AP
Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist, CEO of Turning Point USA, and controversial media personality, is dead at 31 after getting shot while speaking at a university on September 10. President Donald Trump shared the news on Truth Social, writing, “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.” The conservative news outlet Real America’s Voice, which airs The Charlie Kirk Show, reported that Kirk was assassinated.
Kirk was shot during a student Q&A at Utah Valley University. “A single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker,” UVU confirmed in an emergency alert sent to students. The campuswide message added that police are investigating and a suspect is in custody, but the police later determined it was not the shooter, according to the university. Kirk was hosting a debate in the courtyard of the university, per the the UVU Review. Prior to his arrival, a petition was signed by nearly 900 students at the school requesting that Kirk not be allowed on the campus.
In multiple gruesome videos of the shooting that have gone viral on TikTok and X, he is seen taking questions from the audience while under a tent. “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America in the last ten years?” a person asks. Kirk replies “Counting or not counting gang violence?” before getting hit. The shooter is believed to have fired from a campus building about 200 yards away from Kirk, a university spokesperson told CNN.
A suspect has not been publicly identified. FBI director Kash Patel posted on X that a suspect is now in custody, and that the Bureau will update the public when they are able.
Police determined that a person who was previously taken into custody after the shooting was not actually the shooter, university spokesperson Scott Trotter told the New York Times. Ellen Treanor, another university spokesperson, later clarified in a statement to the Times that no one was arrested. “There is no suspect in custody, it is an active investigation,” the statement read. According to UVU, the Orem Police Department, the Utah Valley University Police Department, the FBI, and the Utah Department of Public Safety are all involved in the investigation.
All classes have been canceled. UVU sent an alert advising those who remain on the closed campus to “secure in place until police officers can escort you safely off campus.”
Conservative politicians, including the president, shared support for Kirk following the shooting. “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Vice-President J.D. Vance wrote on X, “Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father,” while FBI director Kash Patel added, “We are closely monitoring reports of the tragic shooting involving Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.” Utah senator Mike Lee tweeted, “I am tracking the situation at Utah Valley University closely. Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there.”
Former presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton all expressed condolences for Kirk’s family. “We don’t yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy,” Obama wrote on X. “Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie’s family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children.” Biden said he and his wife “Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones.” Clinton said he hopes “we all go through some serious introspection and redouble our efforts to engage in debate passionately, yet peacefully. Hillary and I are keeping Erika, their two young children, and their family in our prayers.” Bush issued a statement on Instagram urging that “Violence and vitriol must be purged from the public square.”
There has been a bipartisan condemnation of the incident with several Democratic figures initially expressing hope for Kirk’s recovery. “The horrific shooting today at Utah Valley University is reprehensible. Political violence has absolutely no place in our nation,” Nancy Pelosi tweeted. “All Americans should pray for Charlie Kirk’s recovery and hold the entire UVU community in our hearts as they endure the trauma of this gun violence.” Leftist streamer Hasan Piker, who was scheduled to debate Charlie Kirk in two weeks, urged his audience not to joke about the shooting as he reacted to the news of Kirk’s death on his Twitch stream. “The reverberation of people seeking out vengeance in the aftermath of this violent, abhorrent incident is going to be genuinely worrisome,” Piker said.
Utah governor Spencer Cox has been briefed by law enforcement on the shooting, he confirmed in a tweet. He vowed that anyone responsible will be “held fully accountable.”
This is a developing story.
