OREM — Conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck and killed Wednesday while speaking to students at Utah Valley University.
“This is a dark day for our state; it’s a tragic day for our nation. I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination,” Gov. Spencer Cox said Wednesday on the campus of UVU.
About the same time as the press conference was starting in Orem, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X: “The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.” Then, about 90-minutes later, Patel posted: “The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement,” but he did not elaborate.
A second man was arrested right after the shooting for investigation of obstruction of justice and later released.
The Utah Department of Public Safety issued a statement Wednesday night, clarifying the person of interest was “released after interrogation with law enforcement. There are no current ties to the shooting with either of these individuals. There is an ongoing investigation and manhunt for the shooter.”
Watch the press conference:A ‘single shot was fired’
The Utah Department of Public Safety will take the co-lead in the investigation along with the FBI.
“There was one shot fired, and one victim. While the suspect is at large, we believe this was a targeted attack toward one individual,” said Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason. “We do know (the alleged gunman) was dressed in all dark clothing, but we don’t have a much better description than that. The shot came … potentially from the roof, yes, longer distance shot from a roof.”
President Donald Trump confirmed the death on Truth Social. Kirk was 31 years old.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. 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 said.
In a subsequent post, Trump ordered all American flags to be lowered to half staff in honor of Kirk — “a truly Great American Patriot” — until Sunday at 6 p.m.
Charlie Kirk hands out hats before he was shot during Turning Point USA’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday. (Photo: Tess Crowley, Deseret News)
Kirk’s speech was part of the American Comeback Tour hosted by Turning Point USA. The shot rang out at 12:20 p.m., and Kirk was driven in a private vehicle by his security team to Timpanogos Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
An alert UVU sent to students said a “single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker,” and the campus was placed on lockdown. Dozens of law enforcement agencies from Utah County, Salt Lake County and the state responded to assist in the investigation.
One man, George Zinn, was arrested for investigation of obstruction of justice.
“Somebody in the crowd told the police that he was the shooter, and after interviewing they could tell he wasn’t, and they took him to the hospital with the police officers,” UVU spokesman Scott Trotter said.
Mason said it was later confirmed that Zinn was not the shooter. It was not immediately known Wednesday whether Zinn, who has a history of making terroristic threats in Utah, was involved.
Public safety administrators Wednesday night said the State Crime Lab “along with all law enforcement involved are working multiple active crime scenes. These were identified based on where the victim was shot, as well as the locations where the suspect and victim traveled.”
Law enforcement officials prepare to sweep a building at Utah Valley University, Wednesday. (Photo: Tyler Tate, Associated Press)
Those on campus were told to secure in place until police officers could escort them safely off campus, UVU said. Alpine School District said five schools near UVU were put into secure protocol for the immediate future: Lakeridge Junior High School, Cherry Hill Elementary, Westmore Elementary, Vineyard Elementary and Orem Elementary.
Trotter confirmed the shot came from inside the Losee Center, about 200 yards away from where Kirk was speaking.
UVU Police Chief Jeff Long said six uniformed officers and several plainclothed officers were working the event in addition to Kirk’s own security team that he travels with.
“We’re devastated. We’re a small police department. We have a very large campus. We have over 40,000 students,” he said while adding that an estimated 3,000 people attended Wednesday’s event. “This is a police chief’s nightmare. I’m very saddened for the Kirk family.
“You try to get your bases covered, and unfortunately today we didn’t.”
The university later issued a statement saying the campus will be closed through Sunday and all classes are canceled, as law enforcement continues their investigation and attempts to locate the shooter.
Allison Hemingway-Witty cries after Charlie Kirk is shot during Turning Point USA’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday. (Photo: Tess Crowley, Deseret News)’We will find you … and we will hold you accountable’
The governor called it a dark day in Utah.
“Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to young children,” he said. “Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people.
“That’s what he does, he comes on college campuses and he debates,” Cox continued, calling free speech a foundation of the country. “And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened.
I want to make it crystal clear right now, to whoever did this: We will find you. We will try you. And we will hold you accountable to the further extent of the law.–Gov. Spencer Cox
“I want to make it crystal clear right now, to whoever did this: We will find you. We will try you. And we will hold you accountable to the further extent of the law,” the governor said, before adding: “And just want to remind people, we still have the death penalty in the state of Utah.”
Cox said he also spoke with Trump on the phone about Kirk’s death.
“I just got off the phone with President Trump. Working with the FBI and Utah law enforcement, we will bring to justice the individual responsible for this tragedy. Abby and I are heartbroken. We are praying for Charlie’s wife, daughter, and son,” he said in a social media post earlier in the day.
Wednesday afternoon, Cox said, “Our nation is broken.”
“If anyone in the sound of my voice celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting, I will beg you to look in the mirror and see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere. I don’t care what his politics are; I care that he was an American,” the governor said. “We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be.
“I pray that those who hated what Charlie Kirk stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family and that all of us will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans.”
The FBI has created a digital tip line for information regarding this shooting at fbi.gov/UtahValleyShooting.
Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at a press conference at Utah Valley University following Charlie Kirk’s death after Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot during a visit to Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday. (Photo: Tess Crowley, Deseret News)Witnesses share what they saw
In a video posted on X, it appears Kirk was sitting under a tent in the courtyard when he was hit on the right side of his neck.
Minutes after news of the shooting spread, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, saying, “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 JD Vance said.
UVU professor Michael Andersen was about 50 feet away at the event when he heard what he thought was a firework while Kirk was answering a question.
“Then people started running out of the amphitheater, and I saw some people trying to get up out of the terraces. … As I was walking away, as we were evacuating, the person next to me said he saw Charlie Kirk get hit,” Andersen said.
He said the atmosphere was “fairly panicked” right after it happened as people ran to take cover.
Kirk is the founder of the conservative Turning Point USA, where he has developed a large and loyal online following. He is an ally of Trump and a leader of the “America First” political movement.
In recent years, he has looked to expand his influence in the GOP through Turning Point Action. He appeared in Utah last year to endorse Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs’ campaign for U.S. Senate.
Aspen Brown, a Utah Valley University junior, was watching Kirk from the right side of the stage, about 15 feet from the man. All she remembers is hearing a gunshot and then pandemonium.
“He was two questions in, and then we heard the shot,” she said afterward, still shaken. “People were trying to run out when they heard that.”
The crowd reacts after Charlie Kirk is shot during Turning Point USA’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday. (Photo: Tess Crowley, Deseret News)
People were stumbling as they fled, even crawling through a nearby fountain, and Brown helped an older woman who had fallen. “I didn’t see (Kirk) at all. I was just trying to survive,” she said.
In the midst of it all, she saw people, including at least one uniformed officer, wrestling with a man behind the tent where Kirk had been speaking.
“It was so chaotic. It happened so fast,” Brown said.
Tim Miller said he saw Kirk’s shirt bounce after hearing the loud noise and turned around and ran.
“He got up and was speaking, and you just heard a pop, it sounded like a firecracker, and he hit the ground, and instantly I knew what happened. I grabbed my wife, and we took off running,” he said.
Keanan Cantreo, who came to the event with a friend, said he was listening to Kirk speaking about how much he loves members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he looked down at his phone to send a message when he heard what sounded like a firecracker — but now he knows it was a gunshot.
“Everyone’s like going down, my instincts were like to get up and go down and help if I could, and so I did — I stood up and I went down to the middle of it,” he said.
Cantreo said people were trying to clear the area, so he was told to leave.
“It’s just really sad, there were apparently some people celebrating it, which I just, I can’t understand,” he said.
Strangers Cheryl Stout, left, and Charlotte Miller, right, comfort each other after Charlie Kirk is shot during Turning Point’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday. (Photo: Tess Crowley, Deseret News)
Former state Rep. Phil Lyman, who ran as a Republican for governor last year, was at the event and said he spoke briefly with Kirk backstage before the incident.
“I met Charlie’s group when they pulled up; we spoke for a minute and took some pictures,” Lyman told KSL.com. “He was pumped up. He loves America. It was a bunch of college kids, young college students. He was Charlie Kirk, you know? ‘God bless America. God bless y’all.’ You know, that kind of stuff.”
Lyman said he was standing next to a man with a disability who told him he “wanted a hat so bad.”
“I raised my hand up, and Charlie saw me and came right over and shook this guy’s hand,” he said.
The former lawmaker didn’t see the shooting but said he heard the gunshot after walking toward one of the campus buildings while Kirk spoke.
“It sounded like a gunshot, and I started looking around to see where that came from and saw the kids down below … they just started running away,” Lyman said. “It’s so bad, it’s just so hard. Here in Utah, this neighborhood where UVU is, I kind of grew up with my cousins and stuff around here, and it just feels like so close to home.”
Contributing: Bridger Beal-Cvetko, Tim Vandenack, Emily Ashcraft
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.