Associated Press
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has died after being shot Wednesday at an event at Utah Valley University, President Donald Trump said.
The shooting comes amid a spike in political violence in the United States across all parts of the ideological spectrum.
Kirk was being treated and for a period in critical condition, a law enforcement official briefed on the shooting told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 at the age of 18, and soon became a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on then-President Trump.
The person who was taken into custody at Utah Valley University was not the suspect, according to a person familiar with the investigation and was not authorized to speak publicly. It was not clear if authorities were still searching the campus for a suspect.
But FBI Director Kash Patel later in the evening said another suspect had been apprehended.
“The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody. Thank you to the local and state authorities in Utah for your partnership with the FBI. We will provide updates when able,” Patel posted.
Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by TPUSA. The event at UVU 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.”
During college tours in 2021, Kirk seized on the political backlash toward critical race theory, the academic framework that includes the idea that racism is systemic in U.S. society and its legal system.
He also began offering a free alternative curriculum, aimed mainly at homeschooling parents that was described as “quality America-first education.”
At a November 2021 rally in Minnesota, Kirk called George Floyd a “scumbag.” Floyd’s death under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020 set off a global reckoning over racial injustice.
