Turning Point USA founder and conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
“We are confirming that he was shot and we are praying for Charlie,” said Aubrey Laitsch, public relations manager for Turning Point USA, per the Associated Press, which has reported that Kirk is in critical condition at a local hospital. Utah Valley University wrote in a statement that Kirk was shot around 12:10 in the afternoon. “He was taken from the location by his security. Campus police is investigating, a suspect is in custody,” the school added.
Orem police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Videos of the incident appeared to show Kirk being shot in the neck while sitting on a table under a small pavilion declaring “Prove Me Wrong.” Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University at an event on Turning Point USA’s American Comeback Tour.
“We are closely monitoring reports of the tragic shooting involving Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote. “Our thoughts are with Charlie, his loved ones, and everyone affected. Agents will be on the scene quickly and the FBI stands in full support of the ongoing response and investigation.”
On Truth Social, President Donald Trump — a longtime supporter and ally of Kirk’s — wrote that “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!”
“Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father,” Vice President J.D. Vance wrote on X.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
Utah Senator Mike Lee wrote on X that he was monitoring the situation and asked his followers to “join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there.” Utah’s other senator, John Curtis, also responded on X. “I am just now learning of a shooting on the campus of Utah Valley University during an event featuring Charlie Kirk,” he wrote. “My heart goes out to Charlie, those in attendance, and their families. We are praying for his safety and the well-being of everyone impacted.”
Kirk has been a fixture in right wing politics for more than a decade. With financial support and mentorship from a conservative benefactor, Kirk launched Turning Point USA in 2012 as a vehicle to mobilize young economic conservatives, primarily on college campuses.
The focus of the organization has pivoted over the years as Kirk has aged, and conservatives have found richer returns among non-college-educated voters. In 2022 Kirk even wrote a book called The College Scam: How America’s Universities Are Bankrupting and Brainwashing Away the Future of America’s Youth.
More recently, Turning Point USA has taken on a religious focus, changing its core goals from promoting “fiscal responsibility” and “free markets” to “restor[ing] America’s biblical values.”
Kirk was a fixture of the 2024 presidential campaign, and appeared at the GOP convention in Milwaukee. Kirk partnered with controversial pastors and sought to mobilize evangelical voters, while Turning Point USA took on a pivotal role mobilizing voters, with Trump’s campaign effectively outsourcing turnout to Kirk’s organization in several swing states.
Throughout Turning Point’s evolution, Kirk’s often-controversial appearances at college campuses remained a bread-and-butter public showcase for the organization — with Kirk often sparring with liberal students and challenging them on their views, with videos of such encounters then becoming fodder for viral social media.
The shooting of Kirk appears to be the latest example in a recent rise in politically motivated gun violence in America, which has included the assassination attempt of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last well, as well as the assassination of a prominent progressive lawmaker in Minnesota this June.
Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona representative who was shot in the head in 2011, responded to the shooting on Wednesday. “I’m horrified to hear that Charlie Kirk was shot at an event in Utah,” she wrote. “Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
From Rolling Stone US
