U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk is in critical condition after being shot on Wednesday at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.<\/p>\n
Kirk, 31, is an influential ally of President Donald Trump and co-founder of Turning Point USA, the largest conservative youth organization in the country.<\/p>\n
He was taken to a hospital, Fox News reported. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that he was in critical condition.\u00a0A\u00a0suspect was in custody, the college said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A spokesperson told NBC News that\u00a0Kirk\u00a0was giving a presentation when shots were fired and “to the best of our knowledge he was hit and taken with his security team away from the premises.”<\/p>\n
Video of the incident circulating on social media showed Kirk addressing a large outdoor crowd when a loud crack that sounded like a gunshot rang out. Kirk can be seen briefly moving his hand to his neck as he falls off his chair, sending the attendees running.<\/p>\n
“A shot was fired from a nearby building and we have a suspect in custody,” a university spokesperson told Reuters in an email.<\/p>\n
Local TV station KSL-TV aired video of an older man wearing a blue shirt being led away by police following the attack.<\/p>\n
“We are closely monitoring reports of the tragic shooting involving\u00a0Charlie\u00a0Kirk\u00a0at Utah Valley University,” FBI Director Kash Patel said on X. “Our thoughts are with\u00a0Charlie, his loved ones, and everyone affected.”<\/p>\n
Kirk, an activist and the founder of conservative student group Turning Point USA, played a key role in driving youth support for Trump last November. His events at college campuses nationwide typically draw large crowds.<\/p>\n
Kirk has been an effective voice for the conservative movement. He has 5.2 million followers on X and hosts a popular podcast and radio program, The Charlie Kirk Show.\u00a0He has also recently co-hosted Fox & Friends\u00a0on Fox News.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Donald Trump called for prayers.<\/p>\n
“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom,” Trump posted on Truth Social.<\/p>\n
Both Republican and Democratic politicians expressed support for Kirk following the shooting.<\/p>\n
“Political violence is NEVER acceptable,” Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, said on X. “My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie Kirk and his family.”<\/p>\n
Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre also responded on social media, writing on X, “We must all strongly denounce the shooting of\u00a0Charlie\u00a0Kirk. Political violence is NEVER justified.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk is in critical condition after being shot on Wednesday at an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-134558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}