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(TJV NEWS/AP) Charlie Kirk is dead, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote. “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,” Trump added. “Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot dead during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The AP was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.
Kirk was discussing mass shootings at the moment he was shot.
Utah Valley University police had six officers working at Kirk’s campus event and more than 3,000 people were in attendance. That’s according to the university police chief, Jeff Long.
He said his officers coordinated their operations with Kirk’s security team, and plainclothes police officers were also present. While Long law enforcement tries to get “bases covered” for such events, “unfortunately today we didn’t, and because of that we have this tragic incident.”
At the time he was shot, Kirk was speaking in a low area surrounded by campus buildings. Afterward, officers used yellow crime scene tape to block off a corner of the roof of the university’s Losee Center, about 140 yards from where Kirk was shot. University spokeswoman Ellen Treanor said authorities believed the fatal shot was fired from the roof of that building.
The school had said earlier in an alert that police had detained a suspect, but this was a false alarm, and as of Wednesday evening, the suspect is still at large.
Supporters of Kirk have begun showing up at the Phoenix headquarters of the youth organization Turning Point USA, which the activist co-founded and where he served as CEO.
One man delivered flowers and wiped tears from his face as he left. He said he was too broken up to speak to reporters.
On the sidewalk outside, 14-year-old Samuel Monahan embraced his parents in prayer. Monahan said he admired Kirk for being a man of God who cared about people. The country is so polarized, the teen said, “but it didn’t have to be that way.”
Utah Governor Spencer Cox has called Kirk’s shooting “a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation.”
“I want to be very clear that this is political assassination,” he said of the fatal shooting earlier in the day at Utah Valley University.
Speaking at a media briefing, the governor said a “person of interest” is in custody. However, no charges were immediately announced.
Utah authorities said the shooter wore dark clothing and fired from a roof on campus some distance away.
Said Cox, “Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to young children. He was also very much politically involved. And that’s why he was here on campus.”
WARNING: Graphic upclose footage of shooting
The FBI’s Salt Lake City office has added an online form to its website where the public can report information about Kirk’s killing on a Utah college campus.
The form says the FBI is “seeking information regarding the shooting at Utah Valley University that took place on September 10, 2025.”
It asks the person submitting the form to include their name and contact information and then there’s a section for information about the incident.