 "US President Donald Trump with rightwing activist Charlie Kirk. White House")
Conservative activist and one of the most prominent allies of US President Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk , was shot dead at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Trump took to TruthSocial to confirm the news, calling Kirk “legendary”.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.” Kirk has been a fervent supporter of Trump and was the founder of Turning Point USA, a group that seeks to spread conservative ideas to students on US campuses.
Officials noted that he had just begun speaking when a single gunshot rang out. Videos circulating online showed Kirk jolting backwards in his chair as students scatter in panic. A spokeswoman for Utah Valley University, Ellen Treanor, said the gunfire came from the Losee Centre, a building about 200 yards away from the campus.
“A single shot rang out in the quad near the food court on the Utah Valley University Orem Campus as Charlie Kirk began speaking at his planned rally,” another spokesperson, Scott Trotter, told BBC. Kirk was attending the rally as a part of The American Comeback Tour, which is hosted by the TPUSA chapter at UVU.
The shooter is in custody or not…
Four hours after the shooting, FBI Director Kash Patel took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to confirm that “the subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.” While addressing a press conference shortly after, Utah Governor Spencer Cox also mentioned that law enforcement had “a person of interest” in custody who was being interviewed. The authorities have not revealed a name as of yet.
Hours after mentioning that the subject of the shooting had been in custody, Patel made another post in which he said that the same subject had been released after interrogation. “The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement. Our investigation continues, and we will continue to release information in the interest of transparency,” the FBI Director wrote on X.
Investigation underway
Meanwhile, Utah’s director of the Department of Public Safety, Beau Mason, said at the press conference that there were security camera images of the suspect and that the shooter was dressed in dark clothing and had potentially fired from a roof.
Trump echoed his love for Kirk while speaking to ABC News. “It’s horrific. It’s one of the most horrible things I’ve ever seen. He was a great guy … He was an incredible guy. Nobody like him,” Trump told ABC News.
A Deseret News reporter, Emma Pitts, who was at the event, said that Kirk was on his second question and that it was “regarding mass shootings ”. “The person he was debating had asked about whether he knew how many mass shootings had involved a transgender shooter, to which Kirk responded,” Pitts said. Then, “he asked how many mass shootings had [there] been in the last couple of years” and “before he could even answer, we heard a gunshot and we just saw Charlie Kirk’s neck turn to the side and it appeared that he had been shot in the neck”.
“There was blood, immediately a lot of blood,” Pitts told The Guardian. “After the shots were fired, everyone immediately took to the ground … we were just trying to stay hidden.” The US vice-president, JD Vance, also tweeted, saying: “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.”
Shortly before gunfire rang out, Kirk tweeted: “WE. ARE. SO. BACK. Utah Valley University is FIRED UP and READY for the first stop back on the American Comeback Tour.” In light of this, on Wednesday evening, Trump released a statement ordering the American flag to be flown at half-mast until sunset on September 14.