Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot on Wednesday, September 10, at an event at a Utah college, Turning Point said.
Videos posted to social media show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogan, "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 gasp and scream, and some run away. The Associated Press was able to confirm that the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus, where Kirk was scheduled to speak on Wednesday.
Aubrey Laitsch at Turning Point USA confirmed that Kirk has been hospitalized. "He is in the hospital, and we are praying for him at this time," she stated.
The event at Utah Valley University had been met with divided opinions on campus. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its "commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry and constructive dialogue."
The college said a "single shot" had been fired at Kirk and that a suspect was in custody.
Gabby Giffords, a former US representative for Arizona who suffered a serious brain injury when she was shot in 2011, posted on X about the attack on Kirk. "I'm horrified to hear that Charlie Kirk was shot at an event in Utah," she wrote on Wednesday. "Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence."
President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, "We must all pray for Charlie Kirk": "A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!"
FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI is "closely monitoring reports of the tragic shooting involving Charlie Kirk." Vice President JD Vance also called for prayers, calling Kirk "a genuinely good guy and a young father." Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Attorney General Pam Bondi and House Speaker Mike Johnson joined the chorus of Trump officials offering their prayers to Kirk.
Support also came from across the aisle. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the shooting "disgusting, vile and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form." Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "Political violence has absolutely no place in our nation."