ALBAWABA - Charlie Kirk was a conservative activist, a close friend of President Trump, and a big part of getting young Republicans to vote.
He was shot and killed Wednesday at a college event in Utah in what the governor called a "political assassination" that happened from a rooftop. The police reported that they were in control of an individual of interest.
“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 incident is a political assassination.”
Authorities didn't say right away who was arrested, what the shooting was about, or if anyone was being charged with a crime. However, the shooting brought to light a new danger of political violence in the US that has been growing for a few years and includes people of all political views. Since the FBI looks into these kinds of crimes, they were helping to lead the investigation. However, officials said they had no reason to think there was a second person involved at this point.
Social media posts from Utah Valley University show Kirk talking into a hand-held microphone while sitting under a white tent that says "The American Comeback" and "Prove Me Wrong." When there is a single shot, Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a lot of blood pours out of the left side of his neck. You can hear the crowd breathing and screaming in shock before they begin to flee. The AP was able to identify that the videos were taken on the campus of Utah Valley University in the courtyard of the Sorensen Center.
Cox promised that the shooter would be punished in a state with the death sentence. He or she wore dark clothes and fired from a roof on campus that was a ways away.
Kirk was speaking at a discussion put on by his nonprofit political group. Before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from a person in the crowd about gun violence and mass shootings.
“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 person then asked, "Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in the US in the past ten years?"
“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.
Trump shared the news of Kirk's death on social media and called him "great and even legendary." Kirk was 31 years old and co-founded and led the youth organization Turning Point USA.
Charlie Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University (Photo by GEORGE FREY / Getty Images via AFP)
“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 school was evacuated right away and would stay closed. There will be no more classes until further notice. People who were still on campus were told to wait until cops could take them off campus safely. Armed police officers went door-to-door in the neighborhood next to the school, asking people for information about the shooter.
Police officers displayed a picture of a person of interest on people's phones, seeking confirmation if they knew the individual.
Activist and influencer Charlie Kirk (Photo by Amy KING / UGC / AFP)
People on campus had strong feelings about the event, which was advertised as the first stop on Kirk's "The American Comeback Tour." Almost 1,000 people signed an online petition asking university officials to not let Kirk speak for free. Last week, the university put out a statement citing its "commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue" and the First Amendment.
Last week, Kirk put pictures of news clips on X that showed his visit was making many people angry. "What's going on in Utah?" he wrote.
People from both parties quickly condemned the shooting. Democratic officials joined Trump in calling for flags to be lowered to half-staff and issuing a presidential proclamation, as did Republican supporters of Kirk.
Activist and influencer Charlie Kirk after he was shot (Photo by Jeremy King / UGC / AFP)
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X, "The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible." Kirk was on Newsom's show in March of last year.
"It breaks my heart that Charlie Kirk was killed." "My deepest condolences go out to his wife, two young children, and friends," said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic representative from Arizona who was shot and hurt in 2011.
Political violence has been on the rise, and the killing appeared to be another instance of this trend. One attack killed a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband at their home in June. Another attacked a parade in Colorado to demand that Hamas free hostages. And finally, in April, a fire was set at the home of Pennsylvania's Jewish governor. The most well-known of these events is when Trump was shot at a campaign gathering last year.
A Republican who used to be a congressman in Utah and was at the event on Wednesday told Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk move back.
“It seemed like it was a close shot,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke.
It was said that there were a few cops at the event, and Kirk had some security but not enough.
Turning Point was started in 2012 by Kirk, who was 18 at the time, and William Montgomery, who was active in the Tea Party, in a neighborhood of Chicago. Their goal was to promote low taxes and limited government on college campuses. It wasn't a hit right away.
But Kirk's determination to stand up to liberals in education won over a group of powerful conservative financiers in the end.
Even though they had doubts at first, Turning Point backed Trump wholeheartedly once he won the GOP nod in 2016. During the general election, Kirk worked as a personal assistant for Donald Trump Jr., the president's oldest son.
Soon, Kirk was a regular on cable TV, where he discussed the culture wars and gave the president a lot of credit. Both Trump and his son were very enthusiastic, and they often spoke at Turning Point conferences.
