Trump Ally Charlie Kirk Killed in Shooting at Campus Event in Utah

Influential conservative influencer and activist Charlie Kirk died Wednesday after being shot in the neck at an event on a Utah college campus, President Donald Trump announced.

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” he wrote on Truth Social following the incident at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

“He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!” Trump added.

Kirk, 31, was hosting a question-and-answer session with students when a shot rang out, according to eyewitness videos and accounts. Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, described the scene in an emotional interview with Fox News immediately following the incident, saying that Kirk could be seen slumping over as someone opened fire.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said at a press conference shortly after 6:30 p.m. ET that authorities had taken a “person of interest into custody,” but declined to say whether that person was the suspected shooter. The person was released shortly after, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.

A university spokesperson told NOTUS earlier in the afternoon that the shooter, who authorities believe took aim from a building roughly 200 yards away from the stage where Kirk was sitting, “left campus.”

“We have security cameras that say he’s left campus, the individual we think is an active suspect,” Ellen Treanor, a spokesperson for the Utah Valley University, said.

Kirk was on the campus, roughly 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, for an outdoor “American Comeback Tour” event hosted by his organization, Turning Point USA. A listing for another stop on the tour at the University of Minnesota billed it as “a high-energy evening featuring a candid conversation about conservative values.”

Chaffetz, who told Fox News’ Sandra Smith that he was out of breath after sprinting across campus, said that at the time of the shooting Kirk was about 30 minutes into the event and taking a question about “trans shooters.”

“I was watching Charlie, I can’t say that I saw blood. I can’t say that I saw him get hit, but I did see him fall immediately backwards into his left,” Chaffetz said. “And I can just hope and pray that somehow he survives that.”

Kirk was the head of Turning Point USA, a youth-oriented conservative organization that is active on hundreds of university campuses across the country. He made his name touring the country and arguing with students during campus events just like the one Wednesday in Utah, building up the organization into a right-wing powerhouse that was crucial to Trump’s reelection campaign.

“No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote in his tribute. The group, which claims more than 250,000 members, helped organize get-out-the-vote efforts for the president’s 2024 campaign.

Tributes to Kirk immediately flowed in from lawmakers and conservative power players, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who told NOTUS, “It’s devastating news.”

“The idea that political violence has taken one of the strongest voices on the conservative side is a great heartbreak,” he added. “Charlie was a close friend of mine and a confidant, and he will be sorely missed, and we need every political leader to decry the violence and to do it loudly. The problem is in the human heart, and it’s gotten out of hand.”

Vice President JD Vance, who has appeared at several events alongside Kirk, reposted Trump’s tribute on X, adding: “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.”

Shortly after news of Kirk’s death was announced, the White House ordered that all flags be lowered to half-mast nationwide.

Democrats also rushed to condemn the shooting.

“Political violence is NEVER acceptable,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a statement posted to X. “My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie Kirk and his family.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California added that the shooting was “disgusting, vile, and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form.”