Turning Point USA executive director Charlie Kirk speaks during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 22, 2024. Credit – Rebecca Noble—Getty Images
Charlie Kirk, an influential conservative commentator and founder of the youth activist group Turning Point USA, was shot at an event he was hosting at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
A video posted online of the event shows Kirk speaking to a crowd of people as a shot rings out. Kirk is thrown backwards by the shot, which appeared to hit his neck, before the crowd disperses in panic.
Kirk was rushed to the hospital following the shooting. His condition is currently unknown.
A statement released by the university said a “single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker. Police are investigating now, suspect in custody.” A university spokeswoman told the New York Times that a suspect had fired at Kirk from the Losee Center, a building about 200 yards away.
Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was at the university in Orem, Utah, for an event dubbed the “American Comeback Tour.”
“WE. ARE. SO. BACK,” Kirk wrote on X shortly before the shots were reported. “Utah Valley University is FIRED UP and READY for the first stop back on the American Comeback Tour.”
Read more: Meet Charlie Kirk, the Conservative Activist Who Is a Key Figure in Trump’s Campaign
President Trump called for prayers for Kirk in a statement posted soon after the shooting.
“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” he wrote on Truth Social.
FBI Director Kash Patel said that the agency “was closely monitoring reports of the tragic shooting involving Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.”
“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,” he wrote in a post on X.
Mike Lee, Republican Senator from Utah, posted on X following the incident: “I am tracking the situation at Utah Valley University closely. Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there.”
Condemnation of the shooting came in from across the political spectrum.
Gavin Newsom, the Democrat governor of California, described the attack on Kirk as “disgusting, vile and reprehensible.”
Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who was nearly killed in a 2011 assassination attempt, said she was “horrified” by the shooting. “Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence,” she said on social media.
Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012, an organization that has made him one of the most influential conservative activists in the country. The youth-focused organization aims to “identity, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government,” according to its website. The Arizona-based group claims to be active on more than 3,500 college campuses.
This is a developing story.
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