Influential American activist Charlie Kirk (31) was the victim of an attempted assassination on Wednesday. The governor of Utah calls the bloody act a "political assassination": only one shot was fired. Police are said to have initially arrested the wrong man in the commotion and eventually announced that the perpetrator was in custody, before again saying they were still searching for the shooter.
Kirk was shot during a conference at Utah Valley University, about 20 minutes after the start of the event in Orem, which was attended by some 3,000 people. The 31-year-old was taken to the hospital by his own security guards, where he was pronounced dead. The opinion leader was one of Donald Trump's best-known allies. The US president ordered a mourning flag to be flown for several days, and the American flag at the White House is already flying at half-staff. "No one understood the youth of the United States better than Charlie" Trump had initially called on the public to pray for his confidant, but later had to confirm Kirk's death:
"The great, even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead," he wrote in Truth Social. "No one understood or had a better understanding of the youth of the United States of America than Charlie. He was loved and admired by EVERYONE, especially me, and now he is no longer with us. Melania and I express our deepest condolences to his beautiful wife Erika and his family. Charlie, we love you!" The scenes of the attack are disturbing: cellphone footage shows Kirk speaking to a large crowd on university grounds. After hearing a loud bang, Kirk's head snaps back, his hand briefly moves to his blood-covered neck, and then he falls out of his chair.
Confusion over arrests According to a university spokesperson, the shot was fired from a nearby building. A suspect was temporarily detained. However, according to the New York Times, officers quickly determined that the person they arrested, who can be seen in videos posted online, was not the shooter. However, he is charged with obstruction of justice. Shortly after noon local time, FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrest of the alleged perpetrator, before stating at a press conference that the arrested man was a "person of interest" who would be questioned about the attack, while the investigation continued to "find the killer," as the New York Times again wrote. The campus had been cleared after the attack and extensively cordoned off.
"The attack on Charlie Kirk is repulsive, vile, and reprehensible." Spencer Cox, governor of Utah, described the bloody act as a "political assassination." Gavin Newsom, governor of California and an outspoken Trump opponent, said in a statement: "The attack on Charlie Kirk is repulsive, vile, and reprehensible." In the United States of America, political violence in any form must be rejected, the Democrat wrote in X. Utah was the first stop on his tour. Kirk's event at the university was the first appearance on a 15-stop trip he called the "American Comeback Tour."
In recent years, Kirk, 31, has made appearances on college campuses a central part of his message. Utah Valley University is the largest public university in the state, with 47,000 students studying here. As part of his college tour, Kirk urged students and the general public to ask him questions directly in the form of debates. Videos of these question-and-answer sessions have become very popular on YouTube, some of which have garnered millions of views. At the time of the shooting, Kirk was sitting at a table he called the "Prove Me Wrong Table."
