Charlie Kirk’s Tragic Death
OREM, Utah — Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in an act that the state’s governor called a “political assassination.”
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox originally said a person of interest had been detained but that person was apparently questioned and released.
“This is a dark day for our state,” Cox said, calling the killing a “political assassination.”
“We are actively looking for anyone and everyone who has any information related to the shooting,” he said.
Investigation and Response
Utah authorities said the shooter wore dark clothing and fired from a roof on campus some distance away.
No one was in custody late Wednesday, though authorities were said to be searching for a new person of interest. Authorities had earlier provided evolving information on the status of the search, with FBI Director Kash Patel initially saying on social media that a “subject” had been taken into custody, only to later say the person had been released after being questioned.
Authorities did not immediately identify the person who had been in custody initially, a motive or any criminal charge.
Gunfire Rings Out During Campus Event
Kirk died doing what made him a potent political force — rallying the right on a college campus, this time Utah Valley University. His shooting is one of an escalating number of attacks on political figures, from the assassination of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota to last summer’s shooting of Trump, that have roiled the nation.
Trump announced Kirk’s death on his social media site, Truth Social: “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote.
Videos posted to social media show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone at the university’s Sorensen Center courtyard, sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans, “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.”
A single shot rings out and Kirk reaches up with his hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream. Most in the crowd began running away.
Charlie Kirk’s Life and Legacy
Kirk personified the pugnacious, populist conservatism that has taken over the Republican Party in the age of Trump. He launched his organization, Turning Point USA, in 2012, targeting younger people and venturing onto liberal-leaning college campuses where many GOP activists were nervous to tread.
A backer of Trump during the president’s initial 2016 run, Kirk took Turning Point from one of a constellation of well-funded conservative groups to the center of the right-of-center universe.
Turning Point’s political wing helped run get-out-the-vote for Trump’s 2024 campaign, trying to energize disaffected conservatives who rarely vote. Trump won Arizona, Turning Point’s home state, by five percentage points after narrowly losing it in 2020. The group is known for its flamboyant events that often feature strobe lighting and pyrotechnics. It claims more than 250,000 student members.
Charlie Kirk speaks at Texas A&M University as part of Turning Point USA’s American Comeback Tour on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in College Station.
Meredith Seaver / AP
Conservative Movement and Legacy
Kirk showed off an apocalyptic style in his popular podcast, radio show and on the campaign trail. During an appearance with Trump in Georgia last fall, he said that Democrats “stand for everything God hates.” Kirk called the Trump vs. Kamala Harris choice “a spiritual battle.”
“This is a Christian state. I’d like to see it stay that way,” Kirk told the 10,000 or so Georgians, who at one point joined Kirk in a deafening chant of “Christ is King! Christ is King!”
Personal Life and Family
Kirk was
