Charlie Kirk dies after being shot at Utah university | full coverage

Charlie Kirk dies after being shot at Utah university | full coverage

him from prior events. We do not know the extent of Kirk’s injuries. The University Alert says a suspect is in custody and police are investigating. Let’s go to Justice correspondent Scott McFarland now. Scott, what are you learning? This was a publicly advertised event by this conservative media icon, Charlie Kirk. It began at 2 p.m. on the East Coast, 12:00 p.m. local time in Utah. a public remarks, a public speech in front of a large crowd at Utah Valley University, an enormous school in central Utah. The FBI director Cash Patel has issued a statement saying, “We’re closely monitoring reports of the tragic shooting involving Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.” And the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, says, “I’m being briefed by law enforcement following the violence directed at Charlie Kirk during his visit to Utah Valley University today.” The law enforcement presence there is likely to include the FBI and Utah Valley University has a police force. So does the community of Orin, Utah. But at this point, we’re going to lean on what the FBI and governor are saying that this is a violent act that involved Charlie Kirk. His remarks have ended um as the violence broke out there in Orin, Utah. stories. Scott, best you can tell at this point, obviously very early in the investigation and the situation, but it appears single gunman, single shot. Is that correct? Well, the videos that are coming in, which we are working with our CBS News team confirmed team to verify, have sounds in them consistent with gunshots, but we’re going to leave that until we get further confirmation on the videos coming in. This is a a rally of sorts. Everybody there seemingly would have some phone. There’s video, there’s audio. In fact, to get into this event today, you had to acknowledge that the videos of you would be usable for Charlie Kirk and his team. This is a heavily photographed event, but we’ll be cautious right now with the videos we see coming in uh voluminously from sources at the scene. Okay. Uh Scott McFarland, thank you. And it does not appear at this point that anyone else has been hurt. Again, as best we can tell, we do have video that has come into our newsroom. This is the event in Utah. Kirk speaking, a shot is heard. And then we stopped the video here before he is struck and he falls out of out of sight. And the people who took this video scrambled to get away to some kind of safety. Obviously, a lot of panic, a lot of fear, and people trying to just get out of there once this shooting went down. Our senior White House and political correspondent, Ed O’Keefee. Uh Ed, what are you learning this afternoon? And uh if not, what what do you know? We can put some context into Charlie Kirk’s status as a conservative political activist. Yeah, let’s do that first, Maurice, because I think there may be many people watching right now wondering why would we interrupt to share this information. Charlie Cook is a 31-year-old originally from the Chicago suburbs, an incredibly influential figure in conservative politics. Bottom line is for you to give you a sense of how influential he was meeting last fall during the presidential transition with President Trump to pick cabinet nominees. He’s a close friend of Donald Trump Jr. who was among those pushing the now president to pick JD Vance as his running mate. He flew with the vice president to Greenland when the administration was making that an issue earlier this year. And he’s someone who has helped rally tens of thousands, if not millions of younger conservative voters in this country to the Republican cause. this uh gathering that was being held here at the university in Utah uh includes what’s called a prove me wrong table where he sits there as you see in this video and in essence tries to debate issues with people who disagree with him. Uh it’s become a popular uh production or popular element of his social media work. Um, and part of what draws younger people to these events is to watch him sort of refute or push back on uh issues or topics that uh he may have a disagreement with the person, but all meant to spark conversation and make people think. This is video, as we understand it, that was shot earlier today at the beginning of this event, and this was the kickoff for it. Now, there was reporting in recent days in Utah about uh concern among students at this university about having Kirk hold this event on the campus uh for what he calls the American Comeback Tour. This was to be the first stop in that tour uh where reportedly thousands of students had signed a petition requesting that they bar Kirk from holding this event. and he spoke about it with the Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee uh on Kirk’s podcast last week where they said, you know, find it interesting that there’s such opposition, but Lee encouraged him to go. So, he’s a controversial figure to those not in the conservative movement who disagree strongly with his views and those of President Trump, but an incredibly popular and essential figure in the Trump movement in recent years and someone who virtually all Republican leaders would point to as someone who has brought uh new support, especially among younger male voters uh to the Trump campaign and continue to back that coalition. Maurice. Yeah. And and speaking of which, Charlie Kirk, 31 years old, President Trump, uh, responding and reacting on social media. Here are his words. We must all pray for Charlie Kirk who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. The president says, “God bless him.” Ed, when you go to a Charlie Kirk event, I don’t know if you have. Um, we’re talking about thousands of people. Like a rock star. Yes. And this was again the start of what he calls the American Comeback Tour was designed to draw thousands of young people to the event as you see here again in this footage that we understand is from earlier today as it was beginning. Uh he is very popular with with younger men in this country with college-aged voters, college age people uh because of the popularity of his podcast and his other social media work. Turning Point USA is considered the largest conservative youth movement in this country. holds conferences on a fairly regular basis that draw all the top names in Republican politics. Be it the president, the vice president on down, those that would like to be president one day understand they have to be cultivating this organization in order to expect future support. So, uh, there will be widespread concern and a claim for his work among Republican leadership up and down a ballot and grave concern across the country, um, among those who are supporters of the president, uh, and others in the conservative movement, uh, because they understand that he has been such a a rock star, a galvanizing force, someone who’s brought people together. Morris, we should also convey uh the president now speaking out here on True Social. Some of our colleagues were up uh in the West Wing when this news broke out across social media uh and White House officials learned of it just as we did in essence uh and headed into closed door meetings to sort out how exactly to respond. But all of those people to give you a sense of his influence know him, would have worked with him and very well may be in the jobs they’re in today. Maurice because Kirk at one point or another would have said to Donald Trump that’s someone worthy of continuing to work alongside you at the White House. Yeah, Ed, to call him hugely influential would be really understating the situation. Uh let’s take a look at the video here one more time. You saw Kirk there at beginning of the event, but here is the moment he’s actually shot. There he is sitting on a stage. This is at Utah Valley University just a short time ago this afternoon. Uh a single shot was fired. We’re freezing the video here because of the disturbing nature of it all, but he is shot once. The shirt ripples and he falls off to the right of our screen there. And then the people who took the video, they uh are obviously terrified and start running uh to get out of there. So again, Charlie Kirk, 31 years old, the conservative political activist shot there at UN Utah Valley University uh a short time ago. Uh this having a ripple effect throughout the political world as we speak. I want to bring in CBS News Chief Washington analyst Robert Costa. Bob, yet another political uh act of violence here in our country. This was not common for a long time and now it seemingly is. Good to be with you. A tragic incident today in Utah. I have covered Charlie Kirk for a long time. have spoken to him at so many political events over the years. This is someone who has galvanized conservatives across the country. He is seen as someone who is really able to gather the Trump movement, especially those under 30, and make them into a force. Now, there have been growing concerns on both right and left in recent years about this uh outbreak of political violence at so many events. Uh there is that spectre that hovers over so much. And what you’re seeing in this incident is such a sense still of shock and surprise among those there that Charlie Kirk could be shot in broad daylight at one of these events. What’s notable about Charlie Kirk and why this stuns so many is not just for the brazen act of violence we are witnessing here today, but that Charlie Kirk is someone who is very close to the president of the United States, Donald Trump. He is counted on as a confidant. Now, there is a huge generational gap between Charlie Kirk and President Trump. And some who might not follow politics incrementally might say, “How does someone so youthful, so young, who seems to be an activist, maybe with a media profile, how does he be become so close?” Well, Charlie Kirk, during President Trump’s political winter from 2021 through 2024, stood by him while Trump was facing criminal trials in New York, scrutiny from the Justice Department. He was there. He’s a key figure in American politics. Not just in the past decade where he’s become this youth leader, but he is a key figure right now in American politics. Close to Vice President Vance, close to President Trump. Someone who helped rebuild the Trump movement, the Trump political campaign when it was at its lowest moment in the wake of January 6, 2021, and President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. And if you’ve been with Charlie Kirk, and I have covered him at length. I’ve covered the conservative movement for nearly 20 years. He is popular for a lot of reasons, but in particular for the way he’s able to debate and articulate his points. He is seen as this major presence on campuses who can go after those who are center or left of center or further left and really counter them with conservative points that people find powerful and potent and not just usual political pabum. He’s also someone who in the media can be both a podcast force, a television force on cable, can have these huge events with thousands of people. And that this is why it’s a I’m just getting so many text messages right now. Maurice, it’s a shocking moment on in the country to have a political figure shot in this way. But really, for those who know him on the right, it it is taking their breath away as they wait for more details. It really is a shock to the system. from Robert Costa. Thank you so much for the insight. Now, in a statement, the university said a single shot was fired on campus toward Kirk and a suspect is now in custody. That is coming from Utah Valley University where Charlie Kirk was shot a short time ago. Joining us now is CBS News national security contributor Samantha Vinegrad. Now, Sam, what about security at an event like this? What would you know about the uh the setup there and the kind of security that would follow a Charlie Kirk around the country? Well, Maurice, it is entirely possible that Charlie Kirk has his own personal security based upon the level of his notoriety and the very public events that he holds all across the country. Because Charlie Kirk is not a an elected official, he does not have access to example uh secret service like politicians and uh White House officials may. At the same time, the campus security in place would have worked most likely with the event organizers to try to set up some sort of screening for participants as well as potentially some sort of secure perimeter. However, it doesn’t appear that individuals were screened pri for weapons prior to entering the event and so certainly there has to be scrutiny of what security measures were put in place by the university. Charlie Kirk is a very public figure. This event was well publicized, well planned. So from an operational security perspective, any bad actor who was looking to inflict harm knew where Charlie Kirk was going to be and likely knew that campus security was going to be in charge of the event overall, not the US Secret Service, not the US Marshalss and others. Okay, Sam. Uh, I missed it if you said it, but if you just wanted to clear it up for me here. Um, security at this event or an event like this, would it include screening? Would people be able to just walk in with the arms swinging with weapons on them or are they padded down? Are there metal detectors? What do you know about that? So when these kinds of events are held on college campuses on university campuses very often Maurice it is up to the campus itself to determine what kind of security measures are in place. So we actually don’t know yet whether this college campus did implement any kind of screening for participants whether there were metal detectors whether there were patowns and whether and where there was any kind of secure perimeter. It is possible that there was screening, but we just don’t know. It is often times specific to the campus itself. However, based on Charlie Kirk’s notoriety and again the fact that these events were very heavily publicized, one would have thought that there would have been some kind of screening for participants prior to the event unfolding. Most certainly and in this climate that we’re now living in, you would hope that it’s the case going forward. Sam Vinegrad, thank you. Want to bring in Ray Don Dasheen. She was at the event right now. She saw the attack. She’s on the phone. Ra, I hope I’m pronouncing your name right. If you could tell us where you were, what you saw, what happened. Yeah. So, I was clear up at the front. So, they had like um the tent set up for where Charlie was going to be. And then they had like the cattle grade set up and with a little walkway for the um for the people that were going to debate him. And then I was the great right behind it. So, I was right by the the walkway. So, I was right up front. And then what happened when when when the actual shot was fired? Where were you? What did you see or hear? So, I was um he was just talking to the second the second debater and ironically it was about the transgender shooter and um you know the they’re talking about uh you know not allowing them to purchase firearms and he was talking back and forth with the guy and then um all of a sudden I hear up top I see Charlie I think it’s got his karate. I just saw him grab it looked like his neck and there’s just blood pouring out everywhere and his eyes kind of rolled back and at that point I kind of looked up because it sound like it came up from behind me up the hill and it was just one pop. Um and then we all dropped to the ground and then they told us all to run so we all ran out. Yeah. I’m imagining pandemonium at that point. Did you see medical personnel uh attend to him and and what what happened after that? By time I looked Yeah. By the time I looked up, he was already off. He was already out. He was already out of the tent. There was some police officers up there. There was a security. Um there was no metal detectors or anything for us to go through. They didn’t even check our tickets. Yeah. Uh what about the gunman? Any any sense of what became of the person? I don’t know if it’s a man or woman. The person who fired the shot. I didn’t Nope. I didn’t see anything. I just dropped when everybody else dropped and then I ran when they told everybody to run. So you described it as a debate that was going on. So it was debating a debate between Charlie and someone else or just a sort of Yeah. So he does prove me wrong and um basically you know because he’s a right-winger and um you know very he’s very very very good in his debates and he invites mostly college kids to go up and um debate him and uh you know a lot of them were you know had a lot of the same views but there was something that may be a little bit off that they don’t quite agree with. Um so they’re they’re just trying to um you know de debate him back and forth on on their views versus his. So, it sounds like people from all points on the political spectrum. What about the atmosphere, the mood? What was it like leading up to that? Oh, man. We were all having fun. We were shouting, you know, USA and Charlie Kirk and listening to some um you know, 80s uh music like Queen and and that and just stuff to pump you up. Um we’re just all having a good time. Yeah. Like a festival kind of atmosphere. I want to ask you about security. What was that like as you entered this area? And what kind of area is this? There was none. It was like so when you walked in there, um it was like a kind of in the crevice of a couple buildings with a bridge across it and then behind it was like a grassy open area with a little bit of sitting that’s kind of in a stadium seating. Um but it it was like a little hill and this is on the campus of Utah Valley University. Yeah. Are you a student there or do you have an affiliation with the university? No, I’m I’m old. Um, you know, I’m in my 50s, so a lot of these people were college age students, but there was there was quite a few actually, I would say, that were around my age, too. Yeah. And where did you get out? You ran out of there. Where’d you go? And where what did everybody else do? Who was with you? Um, we all just ran to our vehicles and um I I don’t know where everybody scattered. I don’t know if you know, some of them were students that, you know, how to catch a bus or whatever, but the ones that have cars, we all ran to our cars. I mean, it was I parked a little ways away, so it was a little bit of a trek, but it was fine. But again, interesting as you point out, no security, open area right there at Utah Valley University. Radon Dashene, I really appreciate your um your insight and you’re telling us your story. We we uh thank you for that. Uh let’s let’s go back to Ed O’Keefe. Ed, what you’re hearing now is that there was no security at an event uh a political event uh here in the United States. Um it’s come to a point where it seems like that’s going to be necessary, mandatory going forward. Yeah. But I think as Raon so expertly described it, this is meant to be sort of a public gathering in a public square kind of event, right? That this kind of violence wouldn’t necessarily happen. And she and she described quite well also how the prove me wrong format works that people come up, they they raise an issue with him, they debate it for a few minutes, and the crowd watches and and enjoys the exchange as rockus or or policydriven as it may end up being in that moment. Maurice, we’re obviously given that Kirk is is a is a is a character and a and a leader and a and a creature of the digital space. It is no surprise that uh we’re seeing pretty swift reaction from all sides. We heard from the president of course asking for prayers, the vice president, the defense secretary Pete Hexth, whose nomination was buoied by support from Kirk and his movement. But we’re also hearing very quickly from from Democratic leaders, the governor of California, Gavin Newsome, who hosted Kirk on his own podcast earlier this year. very quickly uh moments after this happened on X said that the attack is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible in the United States of America, we must reject political violence in every form. Hakee Jeff, who of course is the House Democratic leader, very quickly saying, “Political violence is never acceptable.” My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie Cook and his family. And notably, Gabriel Gfords, the former Arizona Democratic Congresswoman herself, a survivor of an assassination attempt and a advocate for gun uh stricter gun laws in this country, said she’s horrified to hear that Charlie Cook was shot in an event in Utah. Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence, something she obviously would know very well. So, uh, the reaction will continue to pour in. Um, but again, I think the eyewitness there described very well what it is that Kirk uh has been doing for years now in person with like-minded conservatives and those that want to take him on. Um, and and how he uses those events uh to buoy what he does online. He also hosts a radio show uh and and is again a pretty frequent collaborator and ally of the president and those in his administration. Yeah, excellent points there, Ed O’Keefe. Thank you. I want to bring back Robert Costa. And Bob, you sit here and we’re talking about another political shooting in America. You just can’t help but wonder how did we get here? Uh what is going on? At at one hand, there’s an event where it’s debate me. They’re debating the issues in a civilized fashion back and forth and then you have this what what has happened here. Maurice, it’s hard to understand uh how and why any person would commit a horrific act of violence, especially in in this political setting. And we have we’re still trying to gather more information here at CBS News about what exactly took place. What I can speak to broadly as a reporter who has covered Charlie Kirk and his political movement is that he is someone who has carved out a space as someone who is a major ally for President Donald Trump. He is also someone who has espoused conservative views across the board and he is proud of those views. He uh does not in any way take a backseat to participating in the public debate. He welcomes debate. He goes to campus after campus, has event after event. I have covered some of his uh Turning Point USA events and they in many ways echo Trump rallies and they cover the full spectrum of issues that have become important to the Trump movement and to the conservative movement that Charlie Kirk has long counted himself a part of. And those include cultural issues that includes foreign policy. He has spoken out about what is going on in Europe with Russia’s war against Ukraine. He has spoken out about different cultural debates in this country. He has spoken out about President Trump and all of the challenges he has faced politically and legally. So when you if you don’t know Charlie Kirk, understand this is someone who is in the trenches and enjoys being in the trenches. Whether someone does not like Mr. Kirk and his views or loves Mr. Kirk and his views, I have seen Charlie Kirk up close so many times have fun with the process. uh he has called himself a a happy warrior who embraces the idea of a political fight. But a political fight in no way means violence. It means a healthy debate. And this is someone though who has been in the arena and some people in this day and age retreat from the arena worried about violence, criticism. Kirk is someone I have covered again and again. Go right into that arena, whether it be in an arena or a college campus and say, “Let’s have the debate. Let’s have the discussion.” And that’s why he has so many admirers on the right inside the Republican party. They see him as a rising star. And it’s notable to me that even within the past five or six months, I was having conversations with top Republicans who said Charlie Kirk down the line, among other names, is someone they considered a future presidential candidate. He was seen as someone who had a real political future, whether it was running for elective office or being a political activist, maybe working in the administration at some point. But he has always said to his allies and friends, he likes being on the outside. He likes being on these campuses, having the direct back and forth, and he was shot today doing what he loves the most, which is engage with people in a roaring debate in a rally setting. And some of those cultural issues, including a quote like this one from Charlie Kirk, what is going on with women and not wanting to prioritize family? And you know, a quick search will show you that uh he is seen as one who wants women to have babies uh and work less, things like that. He relished that kind of thing, being a provocator, getting people to think and debate. Um, and that’s probably what he was engaged in right there. Bob, I think about his family. I know many of Kirk’s friends in text message right now are talking about his family more than his political views. He has a young family. Uh he has spoken openly at recent public events about how much uh getting married and becoming a father has meant to him as a a man in in his in a younger part of his life. And uh this is something that has political uh seismic impact because of his high profile in his association with the president of the United States. But let it also not be for forgotten that even as he had all of these positions uh many of them seen as controversial on different issues he had a a huge galaxy of support on America’s right and center right he was seen as someone who was dynamic and uh has always been seen as someone who was dynamic and really out there uh willing to engage in political battle. Uh but you see today just across the American political spectrum shock and the president of the United States waning quickly. So many Republican politicians now on social media doing the same. It’s a a moment a crossroads where everyone’s not really sure what’s the next turn. Yeah, disturbing uh video right there, Bob, as we watched Charlie Kirk getting shot this afternoon at Utah Valley University there at an event where he was doing some give and take with uh people there on all aspects of the political spectrum. Let’s go to justice correspondent Scott McFarland. Scott, you learning anything new right now about the investigation? Yeah, let’s start off. The FBI is now on the ground. on their Salt Lake City field office has 17 resident agents around that area and they’re there helping lead this investigation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, as is customary, as is always the case in these types of shootings where there is a a a potential fatality or grievous injury. They respond to the scene as well. Um, the campus is closed. That’s no surprise. It’s a huge campus, a sweeping part of central Utah. Tens of thousands of students. They’ve closed that campus. And we know we’ve got reports of people seeing images of somebody being handcuffed on site um near the site of this shooting today. A person being handcuffed and there is a university alert to students that somebody is in custody, but we haven’t gotten that from police yet. You have so many images, including the ones you’re seeing right now, that have all these parallels. They have a type of sunny day, the red hats in the crowd. So many parallels to the images you saw last July from Butler, Pennsylvania. that same elevated view down to the stage. There’s obviously going to be some concern. We’re hearing it articulated already about the metastasizing violence against people who are in the political space, people who do political speeches, people who are in politics. It’s noteworthy, I think, Maurice, that today was jury selection for the man in Florida charged in the second alleged assassination attempt against President Trump last year. There were two. Um this is going to um raise concerns about more violence, more political threats in an already toxic moment. Concerns across the board, Scott, Vice President JD Vance uh posting on X uh just a short time ago. Dear God, protect Charlie in his darkest hour. Uh I believe we also have a statement from the university, the Utah Valley University. Here it is. Today at about 1210, a shot was fired at the visiting speaker Charlie Kirk. He was hit and taken from the location by his security. Campus police is investigating a suspect is in custody. Notably, there no word on Charlie Kirk’s condition. Uh Sam Vinegrad, we talked a little bit earlier about uh security and we had a witness who told us uh right here on the air that there was none. They simply had the place open at the university. People walked in as apparently they uh normally do and sat down for this event. Um, what are you hearing about security uh going forward or at least uh since then? Well, we did have a witness indicate that there was no screening for individuals prior to attending the event, which is surprising on the one hand because of Charlie Kirk’s not notoriety and the explosion political violence that we’ve seen in this country. At this time, we should anticipate that a range of law enforcement entities are investigating what happened and working to ensure that this is an isolated threat. Law enforcement and intelligence officials have been warning for years that the biggest threat terrorism related threat facing this country comes from what we call lone actors. Individuals who radicalize and mobilize to violence alone. We understand from various public statements that one suspect is in custody, which does does lead us to believe that a lone actor may have been the perpetrator, but at this time, state and local law enforcement will be working to ascertain that this threat is contained, that there’s no ongoing threat to the public. And then if it appears that there is some sort of terrorism related nexus or hate crime related nexus, the FBI will likely get involved to assist the investigation and to review whether federal charges are warranted. in addition to whatever other state and local charges may be reviewed. So, as best we can tell, Sam, uh, one shot was fired. Yes. As far as we know at this time, one shot was fired and one suspect is in custody. Uh, we do not know what Charlie’s condition is, and law enforcement has yet to brief the public on whether they believe that there is no ongoing threat to the public. So, I would anticipate that there will be a press briefing in the coming hours to articulate what we know about the suspect and what we know about Mr. Kirk after this tragic incident. For sure. Sam Vinegrad, thank you so much. So, again, there he is, the 31-year-old political activist on the conservative side, Charlie Kirk, speaking at 1210 this afternoon at Utah Valley University getting shot. Once there, it appears uh to the chest. A suspect is in custody. Kirk’s uh condition at this moment unclear. Now, reaction coming in all over the political spectrum, across it, far and wide, including the vice president, Ed O’Keefe has more on his reaction. He was very close uh with the administration. Ed, absolutely, Maurice. The vice president a little while ago posting a photo of himself with Charlie Cook uh Charlie Kirk, forgive me, and Donald Trump Jr. saying, “Dear God, protect Charlie in his darkest hour.” Uh again, Kirk was among those along with Donald Trump Jr. who pushed President Trump to select JD Vance as his running mate last year. So there’s the tweet uh a little while ago from the vice president. Uh and Charlie Kirk again quite close to both of those gentlemen, the vice president and the president’s uh son. The president himself a little while ago on his uh social media platform saying, “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. God bless him.” Um, and we’ve seen reaction from virtually every other senior Republican lawmaker, cabinet official, and other Republican and conservative leaders. And of course, denunciation of violence from Democrats as well, uh, as we await word on Kirk’s condition. Again, he was holding what he calls the American Comeback Tour on this campus. He was scheduled to hold today’s event and be back in Utah for another one later this month. Uh these events, as you see him there under that tent, started much more modestly where he would sit in a public space like a university campus or or a park and in essence hold what he called prove me prove me wrong sessions with uh people who had differing views on whatever it might be and they would have a conversation that ultimately ended up online uh or being used in Kirk’s podcasts and other productions. Uh he’s also the founder of Turning Point USA, a a a major and incredibly influential conservative youth movement in this country that helped elect President Trump, that helped elect others up and down the ballot. And and Kirk has used that power also to put pressure on fellow Republicans to stand by the president’s priorities, to support his cabinet nominees, and to ensure that things were going smoothly for the Trump agenda on Capitol Hill. So many on on Capitol Hill today also quite concerned about all of this. But uh Maurice, it comes um as Scott said, you know, as we’re seeking account as they’re seeking accountability in the second Trump assassination attempt against the president last year uh amid growing concerns generally about violence in this country. Um and and in this case in a perfectly open uh space which is a university campus as they should be um you know seeing this uh incredible shooting here occur in front of hundreds if not thousands of people stunning in so many ways at O’Keefe. Thank you for that. And we are hearing from an eyewitness who recalls what the alleged shooter actually said. Let’s listen. Yeah. the man who after they took him down, he yelled, “I’d do it again.” Wow. Okay, that’s what a witness said that the one shooter who is in custody, we are told the person said, “I would do it again.” Scott McFarland, as we try to make some sense of this thing here. This there is no sense really. Um, what are you learning uh about the investigation at this point? The two law enforcement officials speaking with CBS News confirmed there is a suspect in custody right now. The university had said that. Now we have law enforcement sources saying the same. There’s these images that are being shared of somebody being handcuffed on the ground on site near where the shooting was there at Utah Valley uh University. University is closed. There’s an emergency response there being flooded by law enforcement just as you’d expect. FBI, ATF, local police, campus security as well. Um there is this um this notation I made for myself to to to underscore a point. It this event was publicized. This was not one of those you had to have a a pass and you had to have a uh a a backdoor way of figuring out where the event was going to be held for security reasons. This was a publicized event location and time. It was to begin at noon local time, 2 p.m. on the East Coast in Utah. Utah is an open carry state, but there are restrictions on the carrying of firearms at schools, colleges, and universities. Maurice. Okay, Scott McFarland, thank you. Let’s go back to Sam Vinegrad. Um, as people try to get their heads around the idea that there’s been another political shooting in America, not new to this country, but there had been something of a break until the two attempts on Donald Trump. What is going on out there that we can put into some context here, Sam? Well, Maurice, we have actually seen an explosion in politically motivated violence for several years predating the assassination attempts against President Trump. For several years, lone actors and small groups of individuals motivated by political animists have been threatening to conduct and conducting violent incidents across this country. As you mentioned, political violence has always been a part of this country’s history. But what has there are many factors that have really spurred this explosion of political violence. Certainly easy access to weapons. Certainly access to social media and the internet that will allow individuals to carefully and easily plan their attacks and get access to tactics and techniques for how to conduct these attacks and to connect with like-minded individuals. Certainly the perceived glorification of individuals who perpetuate these kinds of attacks can also serve to inspire others in the aftermath of this kind of incident. A key concern for law enforcement officials is always whether there will be copycat attacks or some s kind of retaliatory attack by individuals who feel impacted by this tragic incident. So we’re in a heightened threat environment generally speaking and certainly after this attack law enforcement is on high alert. All true, Sam Vinegrad. Thank you. We are also told that on social media uh social media video, we can hear the audio where an audience member asked Kirk about mass shooters in America uh right before the gunshot. Audience member says, “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” Kirk says, “Counting or not counting gang violence.” And that is when that single shot was fired. I want to bring back Bob Costa here. Kirk has a massive following, Robert, and he is on the radar of a lot of people in politics. He is, and we saw in in recent minutes the California governor, a Democrat, Gavin Newsome, widely considered a a major possible candidate for the presidency in 2028, uh writing on social media that he extends his prayers and his thoughts uh to the family and that he called this disgusting, vile, and reprehensible to happen in the United States of America. He said we must reject political violence in every form. That’s from California Governor Gavin Newsome. What’s what’s notable here is that C Governor Nuome is someone who Charlie Kirk has engaged with in a podcast conversation. And Kirk is on the front lines of not only having these rallies like he did today in Utah, but he is someone who is going uh toe-to-toe with people of different views like Governor Nuomo in a podcast setting. And if you watch Kirk, he can be a fiery presence on stage, but often in the podcast or the more conversational format, he’s quite muted in and almost low-key trying to banter back and forth to make his points calmly uh really going into his own argument. And so you see in that statement from Newsome, not just a statement from a Democratic politician decrying violence, but he has engaged and interacted with Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk has these relationships as we’ve talked about on the right. He has the relationships with his friends. He has his wife Erica, a son and a daughter. He’s a father, an activist. He’s a Republican and a conservative. He’s also someone who Democrats have talked to in different settings in recent years. It’s and it shows a respect for Kirk from the left. Nuome doesn’t just give his time to anyone. He is a a very powerful, influential figure in the Democratic party. He took time to talk to Kirk because he knew that Kirk, I’m told, had influence on the right, had influence in the country. And that more than a lot really speaks to Kirk’s Kirk’s power in this country. He’s a politically powerful person. Not only because President Donald Trump has put his hand on Kirk’s shoulder and said, “This is one of my guys. This is one of my key allies.” But Democrats have recognized Kirk as someone who’s rising and someone who has to be engaged with if they too want to be major figures. Bob, we’re talking about a guy who is 31 years old and it was in 2012, so 13 years ago that he founded Turning Point USA, his political organization that has grown to by leaps and bounds. And we’re getting from their chief marketing officer uh this statement. He was shot in the neck. He’s at the hospital and it doesn’t look good. That’s the update we’re getting right now on Charlie Kirk’s condition that it does not look good. Uh Ed O’Keefe, millions of people follow this man and love him. And now this. Yeah, this this is a really distressing development obviously for for his fathers and really for anyone who’s concerned about how political discourse is being carried out in this country now. Um and and as Sam said earlier, political violence has always been part of our history, but that doesn’t make it acceptable in any way. And you know, again, if you’re somebody who’s learning about this and is not familiar with Charlie Kirk’s work, uh, again, an incredibly young guy, someone is, and I appreciate Bob bringing this up, that has shown great personal joy and excitement in being engaged in the process. That’s what we should hope all young people are are doing as they engage in the American political process and system, right? Is to have joy and hope and aspirations, whether you agree or disagree with them at all. Um but much like labor leaders in this country, religious figures, civil rights leaders uh through the through the decades, this is someone who’s been able to galvanize people on behalf of certain political figures or certain parties and to get them to turn out. And that’s what makes him so influential. And what has made him so intriguing is that he’s done it at such a young age and in the digital space when those of us in the media and in elected politics are trying to sort out how do we reach people? How do we get them to turn out for our events? How do we get them to donate? How do we get them to vote? Kirk has done that. And he’s done it across radio. He’s done it across television appearances, through podcasting, and through personally engaging uh leaders uh in the Republican party uh who he’s come to meet uh and who he’s come to influence. And again, for those that have joined us later in this coverage, to reiterate the influence that Kirk has had over the Trump movement, but particularly the second Trump administration, we know this was somebody who met frequently with the president-elect last year after the election to go through potential cabinet selections and say, “Yes, that person, not that person. Send that person to a different department. Put this person up for that job.” someone who rallied skeptical Republicans to the side of, for example, the Secretary of War, Pete Hgsth, and encouraged or put pressure on them to support him earlier this year when there were questions about his qualifications. Someone with incredible influence at the White House, someone who’s visited the White House hundreds of times and who today is very much in the thoughts of those that work in the West Wing. and so strikingly young, Ed, 31 years old. He’s been at this uh for at least 13 years, founding Turning Point USA uh back in 2012. Uh again, from his marketing people this statement. He was shot in the neck. He’s at the hospital. It does not look good at this point. So, we will continue to monitor his condition uh as best we can as we move forward here. We want to bring you the words of another eyewitness on the phone right now, Taylor Dur. He was at the event with his wife. Taylor, uh, what did you see? What did you hear? And where are you now? Um, I’m in our vehicle. We’re still in the parking lot. We can’t get out now. Um, we were about 30 feet to the side of him. Actually, almost directly in line of the shot is what it looks like from looking at videos. Um, uh, everything was great. Um, conversation was not heated or anything. And uh then yeah, next thing you know, just we heard one shot fired and um everybody just dropped down and kind of going, you know, started to go into panic mode. So my first thought was get my wife to the ground and lay on top of her and um help those around us if they needed. I can imagine just pandemonium, panic, and so forth. Did you see what happened to Charlie as he got shot and went down? Um, I actually didn’t see it actually happen, but I did look over as he was still in his chair falling. Um, I could see a lot of blood coming out of his neck. EMS rushing to the scene. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the the police um, everybody, you know, that works in that industry, they were they were great. They got right to work and we appreciate all those. What What was what was going through your mind? You said one second they were debating politics in a civilized way and then this what what were you thinking as this was happening. Um you know we actually you know me and my wife have talked about that it’s um it’s such a great group of people that come together to listen to him. Um the joy and the happiness he brings to people and the things that he talks about. Um, and on the way there we were talking about how cool it is that he doesn’t have to live in the fear of having u, you know, having bulletproof proof glass around him and everything because the people are so great that surround those um events. How how you feeling right now? What’s what’s what’s your main thought? Um, I’m actually upset. I’m sad um that anybody could hate someone this bad. Um, and that’s such a great uh, you know, people coming together regardless of political views. It’s uh, we’re all coming together to build America up, make America a better place, and then we have this like how somebody could hate somebody so bad. It um, it sucks. Yeah. I let that be the last women and children here in the crowd that were just devastated and running scared, you know, and we were just And you can’t help everyone. is is scary. Yeah, I don’t think anybody’s going to disagree with that. Mr. Defer, thank you for your observations, your insight, and uh talking with us. We really appreciate that. Once again, the conservative political activist Charlie Kirk has been shot during an event at Utah Valley University. 31 years old, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA. In a statement, the university said a single shot was fired on campus toward Kirk and a suspect is in custody. Turning Point’s chief marketing officer is telling CBS News that Kirk was shot in the neck and is at the hospital. She also said it does not look good. His condition at this point has not been made public, but that’s all we know at this moment. CBS News has confirmed uh there have been threats against Kirk, who had his own security detail. Today’s shooting comes amid a spike in political violence across the country. Motive for the shooting today still not known. If and when we get further updates on Charlie Kirk’s condition, we will bring that to you. Our coverage will continue on CBS News 247, your local news and tonight on the CBS Evening News. This has been a CBS News special report. I’m Maurice Duba. And we do continue to follow that breaking news out of Utah about conservative political activist Charlie Kirkshot. This was during an event at Utah Valley University. As we just heard there, Turning Point USA, the organization that Kirk co-founded and leads as executive director. Uh now telling CBS News that Kirk was shot in the neck and that he’s at the hospital. In their words, “It does not look good.” a suspect, we understand, is also now in custody. Kirk, of course, one of the most prominent proTrump activists and conservative media personalities in the United States. Also a big uh member leader of the youth conservative mo movement. Uh the FBI now on site there at Utah Valley University. The campus has also been closed as the investigation continues. Uh just to give you a little bit of geographic context here, that university is located in Oram, Utah, close to Provo uh in Salt Lake City. And Kirk was there to kick off his American comeback tour uh visiting various campuses and talking to students galvanizing uh many of these youth uh conservatives as well as others. A spokesperson for the university has told CBS News it is aware of this shooting and that police are investigating. Uh we understand that FBI is also on site now and uh a single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker. That was the original uh first initial statement there from the university. We have a team of people here at CB CBS News uh covering all this including Chanel call and also uh CBS News senior coordinating uh producer for crime and public safety Anna Shakar. Anna, I know you’ve been following this very closely. Uh what are your initial thoughts as you saw some of that footage come in of what happened? Sure. Well, he was in a very vulnerable position. that type of a position very difficult to secure. It’s at a university where he doesn’t necessarily have snipers on the roofs. This this type of event generally leans on campus security uh police who work there uh on campus. We heard from an eyewitness that there was no metal detector. Um but when I analyzed that video, looking at that shot, it looks like it that shot was fired from a little bit higher up. uh lots of vulnerable places because he was lower down. It was easier for the suspect to take that single shot that we saw. Uh so very very challenging uh place to secure. Um and you know we heard that he was bleeding from the neck, was rushed to the hospital, but now FBI ATF, they’re on scene. Suspect is in custody. There’s video of that circulating online. Um, and I think we should be very careful about uh motivation for this because there was so much notoriety. There was uh publicity around this probably locally. Uh they were advertising trying to draw a a crowd. Uh so we don’t know if it was Charlie Kirk, sort of an anti-conservative who took this shot. We just know that it was somebody who potentially wanted notoriety because it was in that community a high-profile event. And that’s an important point. But given that notoriety and given the publicity surrounding this tour in his visit, does it surprise you that there wasn’t more stringent security that it was in this open air uh area with thousands of students around him? Well, of course, hindsight is 2020. It is surprising given who he is, given the fact that he does draw these crowds. If you look at his social media, some of our viewers might not really realize what a huge following that he does have. Um, however, often times at these universities, there’s sort of a comfort level where you think, okay, I’m in a friendly crowd. I’ve been invited here. People might get a little bit relaxed about that. He does have a personal security team that was with him, but that is that level of security is generally with within a small periphery. And you had an open air area, incredibly difficult to secure. you had uh the victim there on lower down the terrain then went uphill much easier to take a shot from a position like that. It’s essentially creating an elevation which would be easier for a sniper type type shot to be taken from. Um so extremely uh vulnerable position there. I think they’re going to rethink any kind of um event like that particularly with such a big crowd. I you saw hundreds and hundreds of people there out in that open air area. Uh so really anybody can come in. I want to hit one point in in the state of uh there. Um you can open carry but you cannot open carry on a campus but we don’t know if the shot came from just outside the periphery. There are a lot of unknowns right now but we wanted to hit that point. Um generally pretty lax gun laws there. I mean, it’s a gunfriendly culture, but they do have some laws uh pulling guns away from domestic abusers, that sort of thing. So, kind of a mixed wrap sheet according to Every Town and other gun control groups. Absolutely. Anna Shakar, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate your insight. And CBS News political analyst and Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez joins us now on the phone. Uh Leslie, what are you hearing from the people that you know? I’m speaking to folks on the ground. I mean, they cannot reiterate enough. One person there said, “This is a safe haven uh environment for for Kirk.” Um, Utah Valley University is extremely conservative and the community came out in large numbers to support not only his mission, but this conservative movement. He is the next generation of conservatism. He has unapologetically um really been a voice for many people who wanted to to challenge these cultural battlegrounds and challenge those lines. But as one person there just reminded me, democracy needs voices and dialogue, not fear of these bullets. And so it’s it’s so gut-wrenching all of this. And I and I think it’s been reiterated by my colleagues and what in listening to the broadcast is the the response at the highest levels um at the White House, the president across party lines has been very swift because he is such a strong advocate who has been in the trenches uh in the communities with the college students and that voice is part of our democracy that must be protected. It really speaks to the sk the scale and the scope of his reach that he does have uh this kind of reaction that is pouring out as you mentioned Leslie at the highest levels. Uh and you also talk about uh one of the main stays essentially of of what his movement is uh this prove me wrong tour was about at least this portion of it having someone sit in front of him and debate him. Uh can you tell us a little bit about uh just his influence in youth conservative politics? It was an it’ss influence for a digital age. Um it’s not new to have a conservative movement that talks about ideas and wants to challenge it. It used to be a white glove kind of, you know, battleground of ideas and you’d read about it in National Review from George Will or some of the big thought leaders, uh, Milton Friedman, you know, that in a different generation. And what Charlie has been able to do is turn that into a digital approach that can reach so many more uh in their homes, on their phones, and get them engaged in in democracy, get them engaged in in taking control in their local communities and vote. and he is a m has been through his career and continues to be a force multiplier for the for certainly the Republican party but for the conservative movement which has uh really needed and you’ve seen through history these powerful voices to to go in and and it and he enjoys the banter. I mean he enjoys the debate. That’s what makes him so appealing. Um he’s ready to take the negative comments and the negative hits. wants to talk about those ideas and and that bravery is what lods him so much support. Uh well Leslie St. Jazz, we really appreciate your insight on all of this. And speaking of that support, I want to bring in now Chanel call, CBS News correspondent who’s been following uh some of the reaction that has been pouring in already. What have you been seeing out there? Yeah, let’s start there with that tweet we were just showing our audience. I think that was from the president. Um he you know he is responding to this today and and you know Ed O’Keefe had talked about the relationship that Charlie Kirk has with the Trump administration. Here it is the president saying we must all pray for Charlie Kirk who’s been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. God bless him. I mean this is somebody who had a very close relationship with the president. Ed O’Keefe was reporting that he actually helped make some cabinet picks for this administration as well. Um we’re also seeing you know bipartisan support for for Kirk today. um as as we’re still waiting to find out what his condition is. Donald Trump Jr. um okay, let’s go with this. Gavin Newsome um sending out this post saying, “The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible in the United States of America. We must reject political violence in every form.” Um and again, this is important to mention as well because um Kirk actually sat down with Newsome for his podcast about six months ago. Uh, we’re also seeing Kla Harris just sent out um a social media post saying, “I am deeply disturbed by the shooting in Utah. Doug and I send our prayers to Charlie Kirk and his family. Let me be clear, political violence has no place in America. I condemn this act and we must all work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.” Um, so again, we’re seeing, you know, Democrats as well commenting on the situation today really condemning this act of political violence. We are still waiting to find out what Charlie Kirk’s condition is at this point in time. Um I’m not sure if control room we have Vice President JD Vance’s post, but he also included a photo that he had with Kirk and Don Jr. Uh and the caption of that said, “Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father.” Quite a bit of feedback coming in from all corners of the political uh spectrum, we should say. Uh, and you’ve been watching live coverage of this story that does continue to develop from Utah as just in case you are joining us, conservative political activist Charlie Kirk shot during a event at a campus uh, Utah Valley University in Orm, Utah. Our coverage continues now with CBS News 247’s Julia Goodrich. Welcome in to CBS News 247. Breaking news out of Utah. We continue this developing story at this hour. Turning Point USA founder and CEO and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has been shot during an event at Utah Valley University. Now Kirk was at the university as part of Turning Points the American Comeback Tour. So for background, Charlie Kirk, he’s a conservative political activist and podcast host. He co-founded Turning Point USA. It’s an organization that advocates for conservative politics in high schools and colleges. He has more than 5 million followers on X and more than 7 million on Tik Tok. He is an ally of President Trump who spoke at a Turning Point USA conference in Arizona. Now, two women who were in the crowd at the time of the shooting described what they saw when the shooting occurred. One said she heard a man shout, “I do it again. I saw him uh just go over to the side. So everybody then dispersed and and ran into the buildings or all over. But um so I wanted I went toward Charlie and then uh pretty soon they got somebody. The police arrested someone. They were dragging him all the way down. Uh older man, white hair, blue shirt, you know. So I hope I hope that was him. I hope they got him. And you all are physically okay? I mean, I know what you experienced was certainly very traumatic, but you’re physically unharmed. Yeah. The man who after they took him down, he yelled, “I’d do it again.” New information coming into CBS News 247. I want to turn now to Anna Shear, senior producer for the CBS News Crime and Public Safety Unit. Anna, what have we learned now? Well, we know as you just heard those eyewitnesses say that a man is in custody. Uh Charlie Kirk was taken to a hospital. Uh eyewitnesses said he was bleeding from the neck. A representative from Turning Points USA says it does not look good uh for his survival. And law enforcement tell me that this was a very vulnerable position there. Generally at these types of events, they lean on campus security. Uh but eyewitnesses who have spoken to CBS News have said they didn’t even have a metal detector. They were barely checking tickets. This was a large open area, hundreds of people. Um uh Kirk was at a lower position and the uh spectators were on sort of a grassy area with a higher elevation. So actually very difficult location to secure. Uh so I think people are going to be um you know after this taking a look at security for an event like this um letting people come in in in the hundreds of people without uh having people uh go through a metal detector or at least check their bags. Um but still a lot of chaos, a lot of unanswered questions. I think we should be very careful about speculating about a motive. We do not have one at this time. The person who was in custody is certainly being interviewed, I am sure, at this time. Uh, a series of events will kick in. The in-person interview will occur. Uh, reaching out to people uh, family members, associates, co-workers of this individual. They want to make sure that there is no other threat. And they also want to make sure that they know of any red flags that might have le led up to this. Uh they want to know about any weapons that are stockpiled. ATF is also on the scene as are FBI agents uh from the local field office. Um more than more than a dozen almost two dozen of them at this time. So lot big law enforcement presence uh casing this whole area. They are trying to clear that. They have asked students to leave campus immediately. Uh this is a very active scene and an ongoing investigation at this time. Anna, we know that Utah is an open carry state, but the campus is not open carry. Do we know where the suspect, if in fact he is, the gunman was standing, where he was in relation to Kirk? Well, from video that we’ve reviewed, it looks like the gunshot came from a slightly elevated from an elevated position. Um, a little bit off center. That’s what it appears to be. We have not gotten word from law enforcement giving us exact details about the position and how far away from Kirk the shooter was. Uh, with I if a long gun was used, you know, that that shot can be taken from from far away. um hundreds of feet away and still have uh an accurate shot like that. Um but we just don’t know. It might have been closer. It might have been somebody right there in the crowd. We just heard from these eyewitnesses who saw an older man being taken into custody and they heard him say, “I would do it again.” Uh, so police are going to be investigating eyewitnesses to see if anyone else heard or saw anything in the immediate moments, minutes, and the hour leading up to the shooting. As we know, Kirk is a conservative political activist, a podcast host. Given that environment, are you surprised there wasn’t more security? And what kind of security was in the immediate area around him? Do we know? Well, his own personal security team was there with him, but we don’t know what kind of a periphery they had secured. Eyewitnesses told us there were no metal detectors, that they just walked onto the field essentially to uh watch and watch somebody come up and debate Kirk, which is was the point of the event. So, very minimal security. Now campus that campus does have a security team uh in place but it’s unclear if they did a security check a week and and a day a week before and then another one a day before to sort of clear it case it make a security plan. From my review of the videos that are out there at this time I don’t see any security on any roofs rooftops of surrounding and nearby buildings. Uh so I think in hindsight they’re going to be looking at this somebody with such a big following who would draw such a big crowd uh they they they’re going to re-evaluate the level of security. Uh in in this instance we saw people uh students able to just come right in to this open area which is very difficult to secure. I’ll just remind our viewers an event like this is poses a huge challenge and if you if a law enforcement agency and security teams are underresourced uh they don’t really have much chance to keep somebody like Kirk in that position uh at a lower elevation safe Anna Shakar Anna we’ll let you gather more information we’ll circle back with you appreciate that latest information our station in Salt Lake City CB BBS 2 KUTV has been on this story since it broke. Here’s some of their breaking news coverage. Let’s take a listen. Uh UVU sent out uh an alert not long after this happened. It said Utah Valley University sent a report to the students and uh this is what it said. Quote, “A single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker who was Charlie Kirk. Police are investigating now and a suspect is in custody. There were thousands in the arena for this uh this rally. Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk. It was his American comeback tour where he challenges students to debate him. Prove me wrong. It says it right there on the banner on the tent he was under. Prove me wrong. And they get in line to come up and challenge him. and he’s known for being an incredible debater and proving his points and arguing with people who might have different views and a very powerful voice with the conservative uh political uh scene these days and uh in fact he is considered maybe a candidate for vice president down the road. They were talking about that. But more importantly right now uh the president has been briefed on that. He did send out a tweet on social media a little while ago saying, “God bless him. He is a great man from head to toe and uh everyone needs to pray for him.” Yeah. Utah Senator Mike Lee also posted on X that quote, “I am tracking the situation at Utah Valley University closely. Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there.” And we also heard uh CBS coverage was talking to someone who was there who said it looked like they heard one pop and it looked like he grabbed towards his neck and that blood was pouring out and fell off his chair. He was rushed to the hospital. As far as our coverage goes, we do have Lesie Dwarte at the hospital. We’ll be hearing from her in just a few moments. Brian Mlehey is in route. And that was our breaking news coverage from our partners in Salt Lake City. I want to bring in now Brian Higgins. He is New Jerseyy’s former Bergen County police chief and lecturer at John J. College. Brian, thanks for joining us. First of all, I want to get your thoughts on this and more specifically the detail of security here. It really seems like this was a hard one to contain and have that security detail to protect. Kirk, large crowd events in the open are extremely difficult. Probably one of the most difficult events to to secure. We’ve seen this in multiple uh shootings like this from President Trump to presidents of other countries, elected officials, um celebrities. When they’re attacked, it’s usually an open air crowded events. So, in a situation like this, things are happening so quickly. So, how do medical professionals and law enforcement react in those initial seconds when it’s so crucial to make sure that Kirk is okay and that the crowd is under control? There are three major categories that are addressed uh at the outset. First is getting treatment to the inj injured injured individual. Secondly is stopping the threat, finding out where that threat came from and making sure that no one else can be injured and then dealing with the crowd. you’re going to have a a a complete flood of different types of actions and emotions. Some people will be frozen, some may have panic attacks, and some may flee. So, you have to address all of those areas at the same time. What does it tell you that a suspect is in custody? And at this point, we don’t know if that in fact is the alleged shooter or not, but that happened pretty quickly as well. But we’ve seen this in again these events where uh we have these these targeted attacks where the individual knows that they’re in a crowd, knows it’ll be very difficult to run away and they take it upon themselves to just stand. Uh even if this individual did attempt to flee, the crowd is so tight, people are so panicked. Uh it would be difficult to get away. Was this a risky situation? I mean obviously we can look at it now and say of course it was. But given the context of what uh his conservative platform was, the crowd that was there, are you surprised that there wasn’t more security detail, I don’t know the security measures that were in place, but usually in an outdoor event and we’ve seen in multiple instances on college campuses where we have events, particularly uh conservative speakers that have caused riots, protests, quite a few have been cancelled over the last few here. So, if an event occurs outside, what we’re going to need is or what we should see is perimeter control. You can’t get into the the event unless you’ve been screened. Types of levels of screening, whether it’s just opening a bag or going through a metal detector, is typical of these events. Now, Charlie Kirk, he hasn’t garnered a lot of threat issues. In other words, out people carrying out threats. But in today’s current environment, I think this is going to change uh the planning for these events going forward. Absolutely. Brian Higgins, thank you so much for your perspective. Appreciate that. Kirk had deep ties to the Trump administration, even speaking at the presidential inauguration in January. Within minutes of the first report of the shooting, both the president and vice president issued statements of support. CBS News White House reporter Aaron Navaro joining me now to kind of give us a sense of how close Kirk was to the administration and what the White House is saying today. Hi Aaron. Hi. I’ll just start with some of the reaction we got. As you mentioned, President Trump shortly after the news of the shooting broke. He posted on Truth Social, quote, “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. God bless him.” Vice President JD Vance posted twice on X. won a picture of himself, Donald Trump Jr. and Kirk, and he wrote, quote, “Dear God, protect Charlie in his darkest hour.” In a separate post, he said, “Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father.” And one last post from FBI director Cash Patel mentioning that they are closely monitoring uh this shooting. Uh he said that his thoughts are with Charlie, his loved ones, and everyone affected. agents uh will be on the scene quickly and the FBI stands in full support of the ongoing response and investigation. Uh what we’re we know about Charlie Kirk is that he was heavily involved uh and his organization Turning Point USA in helping President Trump uh and his campaign in 2024, but also just uh gathering young conservatives in the past decade or so. We know that he has appeared with President Trump in 2024 on the campaign show at least five times according to my colleague Olivia Raldi who covered that campaign closely. In addition to that, he was holding these campus tours where he would invite students to come debate him uh and and moments of that really got viral uh and became viral on both sides of the political spectrum aside from the events that he was doing with President Trump. And we also know that Turning Point USA, his organization and Turning Point uh USA action uh were heavily involved in the ground game in battleground states for the Trump campaign and states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin where they worked with the super PAC led by Elon Musk who was also supporting the Trump campaign. But this is someone who is a figurehead for conservative millennials and those younger and was about to embark on a lengthy tour of college campuses uh beginning in Utah. All right, Aaron Navaro. Aaron, thank you. All right, I want to go to our breaking news correspondent Chanel Call in the CBS newsroom in New York with more on what we’re learning about this developing story. Chanel and Jules, certainly moments of tension, of panic on campus at Utah Valley University earlier this afternoon. We’ve been talking about what happened. We now know uh conservative commentator and influencer Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck this afternoon. Uh this is somebody who is very close to the Trump administration, right? We were talking about his relationship to the president, just how close he is. Well, he was part of picking the cabinet for this administration as we’ve now learned. Um I do want to mention though the event that he was there on campus for was meant to be this prove me wrong table, right? So, the idea here was folks would be able to come up. They would be able to talk about a political issue. They’d be able to debate him. And the idea was for this to be entertaining. As you saw in these images that we’ve been sharing with you all afternoon, there was a massive crowd there. But I also want to mention, Jules, there was some um controversy and concern about holding this event on campus. In fact, as of this morning, over 6,700 people had actually signed a petition asking the university to cancel the event um and bar Charlie Kirk from campus. Obviously, that didn’t happen. The event went ahead as scheduled. Uh there was a really big turnout there and then of course Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck this afternoon. Now, we are still waiting for word on his condition. Uh, in the meantime though, we’re seeing reaction not just from top Republicans like the president, we’re also seeing Democrats condemning this act of political violence. So, I want to share a few posts with you. This one from Democratic um governor of California, Gavin Newsome. He wrote this, “The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in every form.” This is notable uh because Kirk actually sat down with Gavin Newsome for his podcast about six months ago. So these folks had met um and I think a lot of people are talking about just how big Charlie Kirk was and how the Democrats saw him as this rising star in the party. Um Kla Harris also sending out a note saying, “I am deeply disturbed by the shooting in Utah. Doug and I sent our prayers to Charlie Kirk and his family. Let me be clear. Political violence has no place in America. I condemn this act and we must all work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence. Um again, Charlie Kirk shot in the neck on Utah Valley University campus during this event that he was holding um called the American Comeback Tour. He had this prove me wrong table that folks were able to join him at uh debate about a political issue and the idea was for this to be entertaining. Obviously, it ended uh with this act of political violence and at this hour we are still waiting for an update on Charlie Kirk’s condition. Juel, yeah, we’re standing by for that Chanel call. Thank you so much. We’ll circle back with you uh for the latest updates on 247. CBS affiliate KU TV, which is based in Salt Lake City, is watching the university’s campus and reporter Leslie Dwarte is outside of the hospital where authorities are gathering. Let’s take a look. Mary Ron, this information is still developing. I’m getting that information just as the newsroom is getting it as well. We can confirm Charlie Kirk is in critical condition at Tempenogus Regional Hospital where he is being treated. I’ll describe the scene as a step away from the area so you can take a closer look as to what is happening. This is where I’m at in front of the hospital, the emergency room straight ahead. There’s the entrance has been taped off. There’s several police cars. Moments ago, I saw people being escorted under that tape into the emergency room. Um, but other than that, this scene is pretty much very tight with security as we know that Charlie is being treated in that area. I’ve reached out to media relations in the hospital to get more information as to what’s happening. We don’t have that yet, but throughout my time here, I’ve also seen people arriving almost knowing uh something was happening. whether they knew who Charlie was or had heard of him. Even on the road, some people commenting um supporting and hoping well for Charlie. Um this is a still a very active scene. Charlie is a very uh popular uh political figure and certainly is catching the attention of a lot of people as they are concerned for his well-being. Right now, this is all we know that he is in critical condition and as soon as we get more information, I will bring that to you. Mary Ron back. All right. Information coming in just by the second here. And we have new information into our CBS News 247 newsroom. An interview with a man who was at the event and spoke to Charlie Kirk just before the shooting. Let’s take a listen. But um after I got done uh talking to him, I really couldn’t exit because there’s such a big crowd. And I so I turned around and like 10 to 20 seconds later after uh I got done talking to Charlie, he was I saw that he was shot in the neck and that he was squirting blood everywhere. But I I was piecing things together and it was really weird because the second guest that I talked to when before I went and asked him the question what I what I was going to ask him, he was talking to him about how he was going to ask about transgenderism or something like that. But not and nothing about shootings. And this is the irony that came to me which was like right when he asked that not like 5 10 seconds later he was shot. And not not only that, right after that, someone confessed to it who had no weapon, which makes me think that it was clearly a setup and that multiple people were involved. So, but prior to that, that’s all I saw because everyone was squirming. Didn’t see anybody fire a shot. I didn’t see anyone fire a shot. I think it had to come from an elevated position for sure. Uh, and I think it had to have been a long rifle based off of how because Charlie was like 10 yards in front of me from where my microphone was. So, even if I was if you have a pistol, someone was talking about a pistol and all this stuff. And all right, that was an interview from an eyewitness there who had just spoken to Kirk right before he had been shot. So, obviously, new information coming in. I want to go now to Anna Shear, senior producer for the CBS News Crime and Public Safety Unit. She’s been following the latest information. Anna, what have we learned right now? Well, we’ve just learned that police did take uh a man into custody, but actually he’s been released at this point. So, very fluid situation. Unclear at this time uh if they have caught the person who fired that shot. Uh if that suspect is potentially still at large. The campus has is essentially uh trying to clear itself out. They have police going uh room to room to try to clear people away from the area. But we reported earlier uh we had multiple sources who told us a man was in custody. There is video of that that our own confirmed team uh uh has cleared and that individual has now been released. Uh so still very fluid situation. uh unclear exactly uh who the suspect is and the motive. We still do not have either of those uh at this time, but the latest information is that the person who was taken into custody has now been released. Yeah, let’s touch on that, Anna, because we were saying let’s not be quick to talk about what a motive may be and obviously let’s not be quick to talk about who the gunman may be. And so, in this particular case, they did make an arrest. Um, was this person armed and do we know why they jumped to that conclusion to arrest that person and now release them? I know information is coming in quickly. It’s coming in and we do have some information about the specific individual uh who was arrested. Uh, but we’re not ready to to report that. But uh there are people in the community who are known to law enforcement who um show up at various political events. It appears that that might have been the case um with respect to this initial arrest. Uh we do not have any information at this time from law enforcement, local or federal, about uh pinpointing the suspect and letting us know that the person who fired that shot is in fact in custody right right now as we’re talking. Yeah. Obviously, they have a list of people who um are potential suspects in a crowd and and notes of interest type thing. So then what does that mean for the crowd now in terms of clearing the area, securing a crime scene, and now looking for a potential active shooter? That’s right. They are going to be analyzing that video to try to determine exactly the point from where the shot was fired. this video that we’re looking at right now, you see um you can see and investigators can take a look at the angle and do an analysis. There are people who are highly trained and have a lot of experience doing this and they’re going to try to case uh the location where they believe that shot was fired from. Um there’s a forensic team that is already on that. Um you know, now we’re a couple of hours after Um after so there’s been some time for law enforcement to get on scene. Of course, initially the first order of business was to uh try to clear the area, get everyone to safety. Campus is closed. Classes are cancelled. uh security and law enforcement are going to various um classrooms and um and other places where students gather to try to safely get them away from the area. At this time, we have not been alerted that it is all clear. Uh we have not gotten any information um that you know the threat is neutralized at this point. All right, Anna Shakar. Anna, thank you so much. We’ll come back to you for more information on CBS News 247 as we monitor this. Let’s get to our breaking news correspondent Chanel call and the CBS newsroom in New York. Chanel, what are you learning right now? Well, we’re just tracking some social media reaction to the shooting that took place at UT Utah Valley uh campus earlier today. Want to start with Senator Amy Clolobashar uh Democratic uh senator writing this saying, “I’m praying for Charlie Kirk and his family. There is no place for political violence in our country. It needs to be condemned and it needs to stop now. I’m also seeing New York City mayoral candidate Zuran Mandani tweeting this saying, “I’m horrified by the shooting of Charlie Kirk at a college event in Utah. Political violence has no place in our country.” Mitt Romney is saying this. The shooting of Charlie Kirk has shocked and sickened me and my family. We extend our prayers and profound sorrow to Charlie and his family. many friends and followers. Another senseless act of violence appalls us. Nancy Pelosi saying, “The horrific shooting today at Utah Valley University is reprehensible. Political violence has absolutely no place in our nation. All Americans should pray for Charlie Kirk’s recovery and hold the entire UVU community in our hearts as they endure the trauma of this gun violence.” And finally, one more I’ll share with you. Elon Musk writing, “The shot looked real bad, but I sure hope Charlie makes it somehow.” So again, uh we are hearing that Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck while at that uh campus event earlier this afternoon. Still Jules waiting for an update on his condition. Absolutely. So many people commenting and as we’re getting new information, Janelle, we’re hearing at one point there was a suspect in custody and then Anna Shakar telling us that that person was released. So I understand it’s an active crime scene and obviously we’re awaiting word on Kirk’s condition as well. Do you have any new information on any of those? Yeah, obviously an extensive investigation underway with both federal and local law enforcement. We know FBI is part of this investigation. Jules, uh, last we heard, um, there was a suspect in custody. Two law enforcement sources did confirm to CBS News a suspect was in custody. And again, the university also confirming the same. All right, we’ll continue to follow this. Chanel, we’ll circle back with you on CBS News 247. Thank you so much. Obviously, a flurry of social media posts from political leaders following the news of the shooting. Chanel read a few. President Donald Trump posting to Truth Social, writing, quote, “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom, God bless him.” Vice President J. D. Vance posted this photo with Charlie Kirk writing, quote, “Dear God, protect Charlie in his darkest hour.” FBI director Kash Patel writes, quote, “We are closely monitoring reports of the tragic shooting involving Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. Our thoughts are with Charlie, his loved ones, and everyone affected. Agents will be on the scene quickly, and the FBI stands in full support on the ongoing response and investigation.” Also, Speaker Mike Johnson posted, quote, “Please join us in praying for our good friend Charlie Kirk.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hexath posted, quote, “An incredible Christian American and human being. May the healing hand of Jesus Christ be upon him.” Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox posted a message writing, quote, “I’m being briefed by law enforcement following the violence directed at Charlie Kirk during his visit to Utah Valley University today. We will continue to share updates. Those responsible will be held fully accountable. Violence has no place in our public life. Americans of every political persuasion must unite in condemning this act. Our prayers are with Charlie, his family, and all of those affected. And California Governor Gavin Newsome writes, quote, “The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible in the US of America. We must reject political violence in every form.” I want to go back to Anna Shear now for new information that she can share. Anna, what do you know? Uh well, as we were just discussing, this is a very fluid situation. Lots of confusion even amongst local law enforcement that our teams are talking to trying to figure out what happened there with uh an initial uh purported suspect taken into or person of interest taken into custody who was then released. Uh so very chaotic, fluid situation. As I mentioned before, those open air uh crowded event spaces like the one where this occurred were that’s incredibly difficult not only to secure ahead of time and during the event, but then afterwards, you can imagine hundreds of people running to safety, dropping items, and law enforcement and investigators are trying to come in there and find a weapon, find the suspect. very very challenging situation. At this point, we have no information about a weapon identified or potentially dropped by a a suspect who fled uh or whether or not a suspect is even in custody. Uh according to our latest reporting, it appears it’s possible that police are now chasing down leads. Remember, there’s a lot of surveillance footage. There’s a lot of open-source video that investigators can go through, but that takes a lot of time. So, we’re really early early in this investigative process, which presents a tremendous challenge uh in a situation like this where you had so many people in an open air space, lots of chaos, right? as as soon as that shot was fired, people running every which way, dropping items. Very difficult to figure out uh where exactly that shot came from and where the shooter um might have fled to. Of course, there are people, highly trained investigators who would have done an immediate analysis, uh, guesswork as to exactly where that shot was fired from, and they want to case that area, uh, looking for any clues, um, and also secure it as a crime scene. Um, it hearkens back to just over a year ago to Butler, Pennsylvania at that Trump rally, a large, well-attended open air rally. And as soon as shots were fired from a top that adjacent building, it was complete chaos. Now, in that case, there were snipers, Secret Service snipers relatively nearby who took out the shooter uh within seconds. This is a very different situation, it appears, at this time. You can see on your screen uh those look like federal law enforcement agents uh potentially um well SWAT team there coming out and they’re trying to figure out exactly what is their game plan where teams are going to be deployed. Um so as I mentioned very fluid situation at this point. Yeah. And Anna, I can’t help but think that this has been more than an hour since the shooting happened. So, this window is certainly closing into potential suspects in the immediate area. And so, when we first reported that there was a suspect in custody, uh, whether it was the shooter or not, that led us to think maybe that window was closed and maybe they found someone. But this is now a wideopen investigation. Can you talk to that? And now just how wide. That’s a great point because the farther out we are from the initial event that then widens the uh the periphery of places that law enforcement needs to search. Uh so this is potentially getting uh more and more difficult. We should remember in this day and age you generally do have a lot of surveillance cameras around but that does take time to review. So certainly all of that is going to be recovered, but a more questions than answers at this point for sure. Uh you see there that members of that um police SWAT team there. Um it seems like they’ve got they’ve been given their marching orders. They’re going to a specific location. Uh that looks like a Humvey that they’re riding on. Uh they have their bulletproof vests on, long guns. So, um, there are the gentlemen in the front pointing. So, we just have to wait and see, uh, in terms of how they’re going to apprehend the suspect. Absolutely. And as we look at this investigation to finding the suspect, we’re certainly waiting for more information on Kirk’s condition as well. We’ll certainly report that just as soon as we have it. Anna, thank you for your thorough reporting there. I want to now go to our coverage from our affiliate in Salt Lake City, um, KU TV. Their reporter just spoke with a witness. Let’s take a listen. Connection to this. Can you record this? Yeah, I’m here with Andrew who said she was about 20 feet away from the booth when all this happened. So, Andrew, just walk me through what you saw, what you heard. For sure. Um, so basically, um, I just heard a shot. Charlie Kirk hit, got hit, looked like it was on the right neck and fell towards the left. Security took him immediately and we all crouched down for a good 5 seconds and and in my head I was thinking wait what are we doing? We got to get out of here. So I basically started yelling guys we got to go. We got to go. And we just all started leaving. I I left all my friends. We we just lost all each other and then I just came and found my host family’s um dad office. Yeah. So I’m here right now outside of the campus. But it was insane. How have you been? I mean it’s been a little while since this all happened. Are you still kind of adrenaline’s going shaking up? Basically, my heart’s beating pretty fast. Julian’s there. Um, it’s really traumatizing. Definitely something that I’ve never witnessed before. I think a lot of the college students were there, even some teenagers and some kids with families. I think everybody’s probably feeling about the same of how I feel right now. Yeah. I mean, just what are your whole thoughts on this? I mean, this event comes and people come out and show out not expecting this. Um, I’ll be honest with you. I’m neutral, moderate, but you can you can you can debate, argue, disagree with whoever, but I think it’s totally wrong to shoot an individual. Yeah. So, um I’m I’m just trying to digest everything right now, but that’s that’s my thought at least. Uh-huh. So, how long would you say it like took for everyone to get out of the area? Probably for a little bit. I think maybe like up to 3 minutes, 4 minutes. Yeah. Everybody was packed and there were only two entrances basically. What of of what I’ve seen on the right side and the left side. So it it took for a while and there was a big chunk of people gathered together and they were trying to leave throughout the door. So yeah, um it was there for a while. Some people were actually trying to find who was a shooter there and they were screaming and yelling and yeah, but I was just trying to get out of the scene super quick. So have you been able to make contact with anyone you were with? I I have I have um everybody’s safe with their families and friends. Yeah. And I called them and they asked me if I was okay and I’m fine and everybody’s doing okay. So yeah. One shot. One shot. Yeah. All right. That was an eyewitness. a student there that was at the event. Let’s bring in Jordan last, a witness who was at the event when the shooting occurred. Joining us now, right now, thanks so much. Can you talk about what you saw, what you heard right after noon today? Sure. Yeah, I went to the event uh basically first, you know, political event I’ve decided to go and engage in. Had a couple questions for Charlie. We were only about 10 or 15 minutes into the event and um I I was kind of near the line where people were asking questions. I couldn’t actually see Charlie, but I heard just a loud pop and in my mind I was like, “Okay, could be a firework, could be something, but uh I had a cement kind of pillar or barrier behind me.” And you know, just to be cautious, I kind of went behind it. The people with me were like, “What was that?” And then um that’s when people started saying to us, “Hey, Charlie’s been shot.” Um like I saw him fall and then I knew, “Okay, this is a an active shooter situation.” I crouched down. A lot of us crouched down. We really didn’t know what to do. I was just kind of waiting for, I guess, other shots to go off. Maybe 30 seconds after the shot, uh we people started to yelling run. Uh there was a door maybe 10 feet from us and people started filing through that and so we said all right let’s go. I crouched down went to the door and I just took off running and you know I guess ran as as far as I could until I felt safe to the parking lot and then eventually to my truck and was with a couple other people and we all kind of stuck together and we didn’t know each other beforehand but stuck together. We’re just talking about it afterwards. So that’s basically uh what happened to me. I was maybe 50 to 100 ft directly to the right of Charlie Kirk when this happened. Leading up to that, I’m curious about your thoughts on security. There was a lot of people there. It was an open crowd. It’s an open carry state, not an open carry campus, but talk about kind of the the optics of security before this happened. Yeah. So, when I came in, I I noticed his security team. I actually walked right by them. they were checking things out, but I did notice um I mean, no one’s checking for weapons. No one checked me whatsoever. And honestly, my I did think during the event before it happened, like you know, anybody could have a weapon here. So, um yeah, UVU I do believe is an is a concealed carry campus, I believe. I just checked that out this morning or last night. Um but yeah, I don’t know. Those are my observations. Yeah. And now after the fact and knowing that potentially the suspect is at large, they’re still looking for possibly an active shooter. Um Kirk in the hospital right now or waiting his condition. What are thoughts going through your mind right now as all of this unfolded? My thoughts are please pray for Charlie Kirk. He’s a young man. He has a family. Um I I believe he’s a good man. Obviously we we don’t have to agree with everything he says. Uh please pray for him. I hope he’s okay. I’m not I mean I guess I’m just hearing rumors. Maybe he’s not okay. So, we’ll find out. And then the active shooter situation, I I did not know that. Um that makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable. So, I’ll probably maybe leave the media area. I’m a little bit close still. So, well, Jordan last, I appreciate your uh your perspective and what happened and you talking with us and taking the time. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. We have new video. captures the moment the crowd heard a gunshot and everyone started running. So, you can see the crowd react to the sound of the gunshot and mobs of people rushing to find safety. Take a look. So, you can see the mayhem unfold. You can hear it right there on the camera and then the fear that those people were experiencing at that very moment. I want to go back to our breaking news correspondent Chanel call in the CBS newsroom in New York. She’s been tracking the latest information. Chanel, what do you have now? Well, still a lot more questions than answers, but we are getting some clarity on the shooting suspect. At this point, Jules, we can confirm he is not or they are not in custody. Um, three sources familiar with the investigation say that the shooting suspect is apparently still at large. Uh, and that search is still underway. Uh, we know that this happened around 12:20 this afternoon on campus. You just showed our viewers that video and you can just imagine how tense and how scary it would have been to be there. It did appear as though hundreds of people were there gathered for this event. Um, and we also know, Jules, that this was a singleshot, singlettarget situation. We heard there from a number of different witnesses this afternoon saying they heard that really one loud pop. Um, in the moments after, obviously, there was a lot of chaos. We’ve seen the videos now of all of those people trying to run away from the scene. We also know that there was some um controversy and some backlash to this event in the first place. Um, I can tell you that as of this morning over this is a CBS News special report. I’m Maurice Dubois. The conservative political activist Charlie Kirk has died after being shot in the neck during an event at Utah Valley University earlier this afternoon. The 31-year-old was the CEO and the co-founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization. CBS News confirmed there had been threats against Kirk. A Utah Valley uh spokesperson says a suspect is not in custody. A motive is not known at this time. President Trump just posted on Truth Social the following. 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 uh go out to his beautiful wife Erica and family. Charlie, we love you. The statement there from President Trump as Charlie Kirk, we are told now has died. Scott McFarland, our justice correspondent, uh, with me now from Washington. Scott, um, when it comes to the investigation, we were told earlier that there was a suspect and now we are told that person has been let go. Yeah. A university statement given shortly after the shooting, it said a suspect was in custody and that the campus is closed. The university then changed the statement to reflect that a suspect is not in custody or they took that part away from their statement which gives the indication that there is either a manhunt underway or a suspect about which we don’t know the condition or the location. The FBI and the ATF are among the investigators on the scene along with local police. But let’s take a look at that Utah Valley University statement. It says on September 10th, 2025, 12:20, that’s mountain time. A single shot rang out in the quad near the food court on the Utah Valley University ORM campus. That’s as Mr. Charlie Kirk Kirk began speaking at his planned rally. We can confirm that Mr. Kirk was shot. We don’t know his condition. The suspect is not in custody. Police are still investigating. Campus is closed for the rest of the day. So, you have federal law enforcement on scene. You have university police and local police. The FBI’s Salt Lake City field office is there as well in responding. But there is no information now as to if there’s a suspect that’s known to law enforcement, where that suspect is, if a suspect is wounded, in custody, or otherwise. So, we’ll wait to see what law enforcement has to tell us. But that’s obviously an enormous variable right now as the campus remains closed, and as the country um reacts to this tragedy. Okay, Scott McFarland, thank you so much. Certainly a shock to the system. Reaction pouring in from across the political spectrum this afternoon as Charlie Kirk people trying to process his death here. Senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefe joins us as we watch this video. Ed, uh this is the moment that he was shot. Blood was then seen pouring from the side of his head, from his neck. And now this. That’s right. This is we’re now more than an hour since this happened and and the uh concern and the prayers expressed by Republican leadership especially came quickly. We’ve seen several Democratic party leaders as well condemn political violence in this country. This is yet another high-profile example of it. And I think Maurice, it’s important that we acknowledge that there are probably many people watching right now who don’t necessarily know who Charlie Kirk is. uh are not familiar with the work he’s been doing for the last several years because in our increasingly digital and divided world uh he may not have been served up to them in their algorithm and in their feeds. And he is a 31-year-old from the Chicago suburbs as you said founded this group Turning Point USA back in 2012 inspired by the Tea Party movement. and he very quickly became a really influential conservative leader especially among younger conservatives galvanizing them to vote for various Republican candidates and became very close with the Trump family the President Donald Trump Jr. especially he was among those that pushed now President Trump to select JD Vance as his running mate believing that Vance reflected the future of the make America great great again movement and was able to convince him to do that and then last year during the presidential transition was in Palm Beach at Mara Lago on a regular basis meeting with the president directly handpicking potential leaders for the new Trump administration cabinet secretaries and other senior government officials weighing in saying that they were uh key to to the new government. Um, and he was hosting, in this case, as you can see there on the 10th, the American Comeback Tour. This was the opening of this tour that was set to go to other campuses across the country. They regularly draw thousands of people, mostly students, mostly men. And as you see there on the tent, it says, “Prove me wrong.” He had this popular segment where he would essentially sit at a table and in this case under a tent, and invite people who disagree with him on issues to quote, “Prove me wrong.” and they would have an exchange of ideas that was generally respectful and it could be on anything from issues in the constitution to something in the cultural zeitgeist at the moment. And the goal was to just have those free flow of exchanges between them. But he was most especially an influential and key figure in the Trump movement again close with the president uh and many in the White House who this afternoon are quite stricken by this news. Our colleagues who are over at the White House say when this news broke as they learned about it as we did uh many of them rushed into closed door meetings uh and have been seen to be quite upset by this understandably because this is somebody who worked with them to get Donald Trump reelected uh and in many cases probably weighed in on whether or not they should be holding the jobs they do u and would have campaigned alongside him back in the day. Okay, Ed O’Keefe, thank you for that. Vice President JD Vance weighing in saying eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord. sending out a prayer for Charlie Kirk. 31 years old, a major figure on the right. Even if you don’t know him, he was known and loved by many people across the country. Let’s go to our CBS News chief Washington analyst, Robert Costa. You can’t overstate his impact on the right. Bob, a tragic moment with many developments at this time. The governor of Utah has just posted on social media uh Governor Cox that he spoke with President Trump and said that quote, “We will bring to justice the individual responsible for this tragedy.” So, President Trump talking to many people involved on the phone. CBS News has also just learned that the House of Representatives led by Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, just is called for a moment of silence to recognize the death of Charlie Kirk and to offer prayers for his family. Uh this is a seismic political moment in American politics. While he is so young, as Ed O’Keefe said, he is someone with enormous influence and power. And this comes at a politically charged moment in this country where so many people feel on edge. You feel it when you cover events, when you cover the president of the United States. But this is someone I have been covering conservative politics for nearly 20 years. He is such a star because of the way he articulated his views and was able to sit down with people not only on the right and in the center but to sit down with figures like Governor Gavin Newsome of California and many Democrats. This is the death of someone with influence but also the death of a rising political star. So many Republicans on Capitol Hill are heartbroken because they saw him as a friend. They also saw him as a real leader of conservative politics in this country. And for the president to make the statement about his death tells you a lot about how President Trump, who has been the Republican nominee for the past three presidential cycles, how he feels about this man. And it’s hard to quantify and characterize the amount of anger, frustration, pain that is being felt in so many corners of American politics right now, especially those who knew Charlie Kirk and Bob. uh he had no small part in helping Donald Trump uh get reelected, right? I mean, Trump gives him a lot of credit for getting out there and getting the youth votes. President Trump certainly does over the years. I’ve talked to President Trump and he believes he’s always at the center of his political movement and he’s the one who drives it forward. But even he has acknowledged in recent years that it it was people like Charlie Kirk who in the wake of his defeat in 2020 stood by him through legal challenges, through other issues. Charlie Kirk helped President Trump on the outside rebuild a political movement that ultimately lifted him to the White House in 2024. And you see these crowds, it’s reminiscent of a Trump rally, but with a younger audience. And he was someone who connected President Trump to younger people who felt displaced in the culture or in the political system. And in the way others on the left and center have rallied youth, Charlie Kirk was someone who rallied youth on the right. And he became a force on college campuses, a force inside the Republican party. I’ve spoken to Republican politicians in recent years who said speaking at a Turning Point USA rally was just as powerful sometimes for their own constituencies as speaking at a Trump rally. And this is going to already it is based on our reporting here convulsing so much of the political conversation in this country. The agitation, the anger, I it is coursing through so many of the text messages, the phone calls I’ve had within the past hour. outrage that this uh violence is having uh such an impact on a major American political figure like Charlie Kirk who was as high-profile as almost anyone else on the right uh competing with those on television in elective office. He was seen as someone with political capital, not just famous but influential. Yeah, Bob and I think a word you used there connect. He really knew how to connect with the people, with the voters and help Donald Trump uh get reelected. the reaction pouring in from across the political spectrum. As we keep telling you, Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader, Minority Leader, I should say, saying, “Political violence has no place in America. The shooting is horrifying, and I’m praying for Charlie Kirk and his family.” Want to bring in Jordan last as we look at these images now, haunting images. Uh Jordan was at today’s event at Utah Valley University and he saw what happened there. Sir, um, thanks for joining us. Can you take us through where you were, what you saw, and your reaction? Sure. Uh, the event started about 12:00 p.m. I had got there right in time, walked past their security detail and everything. Tried to find a line to ask him a question. I actually was looking forward to challenging him on a couple things. I I really respect him. I wanted to talk to him and uh made my way over to where the line where I thought the line was, which is maybe directly I would say 50 to 100 ft to the right of Charlie Kirk. Um I guess yeah at his 3:00. Um it was only a few minutes like the the first question had just finished. It was kind of a longer question. They had maybe done that for 10 or so minutes and they had just gotten into the second question I believe and that’s when I heard like a huge pop. Whenever I hear sounds like that, uh, you know, first I think, okay, maybe it’s just fireworks, but after a few seconds, you know, all of us kind of standing together, it’s a it’s a very suspicious sound to hear with tons of people. There were so many people there. And um there was a I guess like a cement pillar or wall kind of right behind me. So as this suspicious sound has just gone off, I kind of put myself behind the wall. It was very very good cover in case anything was happening. And then my brain was processing um you know it’s a very loud sound. It seemed to me to come in my mind it came directly from the center of the crowd. Um, I don’t know where it came from, but that’s just what my mind uh I guess was was thinking. And then that’s when after a few seconds, people started saying like, “Oh my goodness, Charlie was shot. He I saw him fall to the ground.” And that’s when I realized this this is a serious situation. We all crouch down. We have great cover, but I was then just listening for more shots because obviously this could become a much worse tragedy than it already was. And there were no more shots coming. We are maybe at maybe 30 seconds uh passes and that’s when people start yelling run. There was a door maybe 10 ft away from me. I had to lose my cover to get to the door, but it seemed like the best uh option. So, crouched down and just go with the people. Yeah. As soon as I got through the door, I I ran as as fast as I could, I guess, and and uh as far as I could. Now, Jordan, I’m glad you’re all right to tell us about this. Um from all accounts, the atmosphere was, you know, pretty pleasant, right? Pretty chill. People were into it. Um they were listening to their um to their speaker. Um, I’m wondering, you said security detail. You passed a security detail. Others have told us there was no security. So, describe us for us what it was like to get into this. I guess it’s a quad there at the school. Yeah, it’s like a courtyard. Um, there was definitely security. I mean, I’m I’m not an expert on security, but you know, they had the guys with the little curly wire coming out, so I assume that those were a security detail. Um, it was definitely there, but no metal detectors, did they? No, there were no metal detectors. There was no checking anything. And in fact, uh I mean I uh I’ve been in not a shooting situation, but other dangerous situations before. And so I’m often thinking about these things. I was I did think um you know, anyone in here could have a gun. No one checked me. So I was, you know, just a thought that came through my head. It’s very tragic. Kind of a haunting image there. All right. Well, Jordan, Lass, thank you for uh sharing with us what you saw and what you did in those terrifying moments. I want to bring in senior White Water House correspondent Ouija Jang. We Ouija, a lot of reaction coming in from the White House where he was very close with so many people there. That’s right, Maurice. I was actually meeting with a White House official today when the news broke and then several staffers were in and out of the area and they were all visibly shaken, deeply saddened and throughout the day have seen that from um officials here at the White House. uh including tears and people consoling each other because Maurice this wasn’t just a trusted advisor to President Trump. This was a friend to so many people here at the White House. They worked closely with Charlie Kirk during the first administration, during the president’s re-election campaigns, and of course now as he uh is in office for the second time. This is somebody who has a direct line uh to President Trump and his inner circle. And so it is a very solemn day here at the White House, including for President Trump. Charlie Kirk has been here to the White House several times. I remember one of the last times he was here, we shook hands and he was always so excited and proud uh to have this relationship with President Trump. Most recently, Maurice, he was here at the end of May for an event and the president was asked a question about the youth vote. And he pointed right to Charlie and said, you know, Tik Tok was a big reason why I won the young vote. And Charlie was the first person who told me to engage on Tik Tok. So, he credits uh Charlie with so much of his victory, so much of his successes politically. And again, we are hearing reaction from the president and from so many other officials here at the White House today. Maurice. Okay, Ouija Jen, thank you so much for that. Uh, our correspondent Chris Van Cleave right now is outside the Turning Point USA’s headquarters. That is in Phoenix. That is Charlie Kirk’s organization. Again, Charlie Kirk was 31, founded that, co-founded that 12 years ago or when he was about 18. Uh, Chris, what are you hearing there? What are you seeing now? Well, the the office behind us here, you can see, is now blocked off. There is security here. We understand uh employees were sent home after the shooting. We just watched uh one woman come up with two bouquets of flowers that were taken inside the building here. Uh you know, Charlie Kirk was an Arizona resident. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs just put out a statement, Maurice, uh saying that she is deeply saddened by this news. um adding that this tragedy is not about who Charlie Kirk supported politically. It is about the devastating loss of a father, a neighbor, and an Arizonan who called this state home and whose life was cut short by senseless violence. It’s not the first time uh an Arizona political figure has been impacted by political violence. Of course, Gabby Gfords was shot and nearly killed at an event in Tucson here. So, it it does sort of echo of that. Um, and I can tell you in talking to people who do work on events uh with with several of the MAGA influencers today, they are very rattled. One of them is saying this is literally his worst nightmare playing out, something that they thought about when they were doing big events. And now a rethinking of what that security footprint will look like. Uh Ben Shapiro, we understand, has canled an event he had tomorrow in California. uh his team certainly rethinking how they move forward with big public events. Okay, Chris Van Cleave outside Turning Point USA’s headquarters there in Phoenix. It is just after 5:00 p.m. here on the East Coast. We’re on the air with a special reporter as Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist, has died after being shot during an event at Utah Valley University. 31 years old, he was the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, known for mobilizing young Republican voters. Kirk was shot in the neck earlier this afternoon. The suspect is still at large. Police say a search is underway. Utah Valley University police say they are going building to building right now to try to evacuate people who were still there. President Trump posted about Kirk on Truth Social. 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. Those words from President Trump. Let’s go now to our CBS News national security contributor, uh, Samantha Vinegrad. And Sam, uh, the talk about the security detailed, he had some people around him, but no metal detectors, nothing like that. Um, that’s something that’s most certainly going to be looked at going forward. Well, Maurice, this is just a devastating development and certainly there will be an afteraction of what security protocols could have been in place to try to prevent this horrific horrific incident. But right now, there’s certainly a heavy focus on how to apprehend whomever was responsible for this terrible incident. We don’t yet know if law enforcement authorities have actually identified a suspect, if they’ve been able to ascertain whom in the crowd was responsible for shooting Charlie Kirk. So, the first order of business is certainly to identify a suspect. They can do that through witness eyewitness accounts, through social media, through videos from the scene, and other uses of advanced technology. Once they do identify who was responsible for this incident, they will certainly be working to locate the individuals through warrants at the individual’s property, reviewing their social media, talking to friends and family, and then if necessary, employing a range of federal, state, and local law enforcement assets to try to track the individual if that individual is at large. What we don’t yet know is whether there still is an ongoing threat to the public. If a suspect has not been identified and has not been apprehended, Maurice, that may in fact be the case. Sam, anything from the video we have seen, anything tell you or give you any clue as to the distance of the shooter? Because initially the the local authorities there thought they had him or whoever it was uh from some 200 feet away, I believe it was. Um I looked at it, you know, untrained eye, I thought it was maybe from close range. What do you make of it? I think it’s a little hard to tell. It certainly doesn’t look like the individual was in the first few rows in the crowd that you’re seeing on your monitor right now. And various witnesses have indicated that it sounded like it was more of a rifle rather than a pistol. But I would imagine that law enforcement, federal, state, and local, again, the FBI and other parts of the federal government are likely involved at this point, are likely reviewing video from the event itself and trying to ascertain where the shot came from. There’s advanced technology that they can use to trace the path of the bullet that fatally struck Mr. Kirk and then from there to try to capture footage to identify the suspect. Okay, Sam Vinegrant, thank you for that. Our senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefee joins us now. Reaction is pouring in from across the spectrum. Ed, it is Maurice and importantly, it’s it’s pouring in from across uh both political parties. Uh obviously the president, the vice president, others in the Trump administration from the moment the reports first surfaced asking for prayers and now recalling their late friend u and fellow conservative activist and leader. Uh but we’ve also notably seen Democrats uh we heard Chris Van Cleave there mention the governor of Arizona Katie Hobbs. Uh California Governor Gavin Newsome was one of the first uh notable Democrats to weigh in on this saying that the attack on Charlie Cook is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible. in the United States of America, we must reject political violence in every form. And what’s notable about Nome weighing in is the fact that earlier this year as he launched his own podcast, the governor invited Kirk on to discuss essentially how Kirk had successfully done it for years for Republicans and and what it was perhaps that Democrats could learn in their engagement digitally um and in events like this uh to to reach younger voters. Uh, as as anyone may recall from last year, the big takeaway was that the Republican party, the the Trump campaign quite effectively engaged and galvanized younger, more digitally focused voters uh to their side. And the Democratic party ever since has been trying to sort out how to do it. Well, Kirk was one of those that had been doing it for several years and and Newsome in that case at least wanted to get to know him. They had a rather meaty and and respectful dialogue about their differences, which is what Kirk was trying to do today here in Utah. We also heard from the um House Democratic leader Hakee Jeff. Political violence is never acceptable. My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie Kirk and his family. And then Gabby Gfords, of course, the congresswoman who survived an assassination attempted said she was horrified and political disagreements are always allowed, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence. There was a short time ago, Maurice, uh, a moment of silence held on the floor of the House of Representatives. Speaker Johnson asked colleagues to rise and do so. Um, sounds like there may have been some in the chamber, unclear who and where, uh, who tried to interrupt that silence. I don’t know if we can play this prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family. So that was earlier in the House chamber. Speaker Johnson uh very quickly ran there to uh draw attention to it and and have members of both parties uh stand there at least momentarily uh in in honor of Kirk. This was before word officially came uh that he had died. So it shows you very quickly how how quickly he galvanized people on both sides of the aisle uh to uh to speak out not only to denounce the violence but to acknowledge the influence that Charlie Kirk had. Okay, Ed O’Keefee, thank you so much. Let’s go to justice correspondent Scott McFarland. Now Scott, first we were told they have a suspect and now they told or we’re told they had the wrong guy. Yeah, we’ve been uh blanketing our FBI contacts with questions about this over the last few minutes because there is a lack of clarity over what is the status of any manhunt for whoever pulled the trigger today. The Utah Valley University statement issued midafter afternoon was that a suspect was in custody. About 20 minutes later, they walked that back and the FBI we know is on the ground at the site of this shooting. They have given no updates on whether they are pursuing somebody, have somebody or if somebody is even alive who’s involved with this shooting. The um Utah Valley University police are helping to respond to this. The local police and we know according to folks at the university who’ve spoken with CBS News. They’re going doortodoor now on campus to help evacuate anybody who’s there. They want everybody off this campus. And if you are doing a door-to-door evacuation, if you are offering to come get people and walk them off the campus, that’s indicative of a kinetic threat of something that is not fully settled at this point. But we’re going to keep tapping into FBI sources here to get some set a sense of what’s going on. But I’ll tell you, it is unorthodox. Now, we are 2 hours and about 20 minutes since this shooting, and we do not have an update from law enforcement. if they have somebody either in their sights or in handcuffs. Doortodoor, Scott, that suggests a dicey situation there at Utah Valley University. We’ll keep an eye on that for sure. Right now, former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Wattley joins us. Mr. Watley, you knew Charlie Kirk. Um, our condolences for sure. What What can you tell us about him and what are your thoughts right now? Well, my my thoughts are with his family. Um, and obviously, you know, want to offer our prayers for for me and Suzanne both. Um, you know, Charlie was a friend. Uh, Charlie was a father. Charlie was a husband. You know, Charlie, uh, every time that I met him, he had a very intense smile on his face. Uh, he was a happy warrior. Uh, and he’s a guy who fought uh, for what he believed in. And he believed in America. Uh, and he believed in his family. And uh I think this is going to leave a big hole uh in in America really uh that that when we see this kind of a senseless tragedy um you know we we cannot allow this uh to to take place in America anymore. Um we really need to do everything we can to to kind of prevent uh these political fights uh from from escalating to violence like this. Can we talk about that a little bit sir? Because I mean everybody’s wondering now what what happened? How do we get to this point where now this is almost um I don’t want to say not surprising but but and not expected but people are still sort of reacting like I I knew something like this would happen. How do we get here? Well, I I mean it’s it’s it’s absolutely tragic is what it is. You know, I think that when we think about, you know, President shot uh President Trump uh being shot earlier this summer, uh two different attempts on his life, uh you know, and and it’s real easy, you know, in the moment to kind of to say it’s the other side, but the fact is uh that that there is no place in America for this type of of political violence whatsoever. Uh the fact is that that a husband and a father uh has been taken from us way too early in his life. a little more about what type of father and husband and man Charlie Kirk was. Hard to believe we’re talking about him in the past tense right now, but you know, someone who was a provocator who did it um with a certain amount of joy, right? Well, look, I think that he approached every day with a certain amount of joy and it was it was great to be able to work with him uh to do events with him uh to spend time with him. Uh you know, he was he was a very intense uh very loyal uh person. He was very demanding um but but in a good way. And I think that you know he uh he brought a passion uh to politics. He brought a passion to what he did uh with Turning Point. Um I think that’s that’s unbelievably commendable. Uh and and like I said, it will be a a big hole uh in in in certainly uh my world and everybody else’s world uh that had a chance to know uh Charlie. Okay. Thank you so much, former RNC Chair Michael Whitley. We appreciate your remembrances there. Um, reaction coming in from Governor Wes Moore, uh, Democrat of Maryland. I condemn in strongest possible terms the attack. Um, you know, you you see this kind of reaction from Republicans as well. Tom Tillis, a senator, praying for Charlie Kirk. Political violence has no place in our society. As I bring in our chief Washington analyst, Robert Costa, you’re hearing the condemnations far and wide. Yet, here we are once again. Here we are once again the spectre of violence continuing to hover over the United States and our political culture. You see leaders in both parties expressing horror at what is unfolding here on a college campus today. A time when so many students are going back to school, starting their classes in September. It’s the carnage of violence uh at a political leader. And this country has seen it many times before. You think about President Lincoln. You think about the shots fired on President Reagan. Of course, President Kennedy being gunned down in 1963. And other political figures have been shot. You think about George Wallace running for president being shot. He survived. Charlie Kirk at such a young age being gunned down, assassinated at a political event. Uh this is something that is bracing for so many of the people we cover. Yes, there is a political debate that’s often very testy in this country, but so often be behind the scenes, most people I cover see the dignity in the other person across the way. Violence is not part of the American system. It’s something that has scarred America’s history, but it’s not part of how we have dialogue. And Charlie Kirk, whether you are a defender of his, an advocate, an ally, a friend, or a critic, he is someone who is in the arena. And so many people, whether they’re activists like Charlie Kirk, who are media figures, or they’re political figures and leaders who are in elected office, they believe that by going in the arena, they may be bruised ideologically. They may be bruised when it comes to their rhetoric, but they won’t necessarily have to face this sort of violence. But we’ve seen the attempted assassination of lawmakers like like Steve Scaliz within the past decade or so. Of course, President Trump facing his own assassination attempts. Gabby Gfords, the former member of Congress. Both parties have dealt with this. And now today, a real rising star dead at such a young age. Yeah, for sure, Bob. And what it means for our politics going forward, uh, that will be chewed over as we move forward here. To recap for you, the conservative activist Charlie Kirk has died after being shot in the neck during an event at Utah Valley University. A search for the suspect is underway and a motive is still unknown. Our coverage will continue on CBS News 247, your local news and tonight on the CBS Evening News. This has been a CBS News special report. I’m Maurice Dubois. Hello everyone, I’m Major Garrett in Washington. This is a special edition of the Takeout. Charlie Kirk, one of the most important voices and voter mobilization forces in the MAGA movement, was shot and killed in full public view today at the start of one of his signature prove me wrong events on the campus of Utah Valley University in Oram, Utah. Videos circulating online reveal a single gunshot and a wound that eyewitnesses said struck Kirk’s neck and resulted in considerable bleeding. Just moments ago, President Trump posted on social media that Kirk had perished, writing, quote, “No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.” This show will focus entirely on this developing story, which is harrowing. for a show that is devoted to conversation about politics and civility within the public space. We will explore the consequences for a country that is wrestling with deep political divisions and more frequent spasms of politically motivated violence with victims we should note on both sides of the ideological spectrum. Kirk, 31, was the married father of two young children, a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Wattley knew and worked closely with Kirk and will join us tonight. And one of the most influential writers in conservative circles, Matthew Continenti, will also join us to talk about Kirk’s influence, how it rose, and his close connection with many people in the Trump White House. We begin with Anna Shakar and the latest available information not only on what happened, but what authorities are doing in pursuit of the asalent. Anna. Well, Major, so many unanswered questions and really confusion right now, even a couple of hours after the event. There is no word that a suspect is in custody. Uh, our teams have been analyzing the video that showed the moment that Kirk was shot. Uh, it did appear that the shot came from some elevated position. He was in a vulnerable position because there were elevated buildings around a large open grassy area that you’re seeing there. You see students running in the immediate aftermath. Uh here is the video that we’re talking about that appears to show the the shot that was fired. We’re told a single shot. Uh this is a very challenging crime scene and if law enforcement is still looking for that suspect, every minute that goes by widens the periphery of places that they need to search. There was especially uh confusion because we got early reports that a suspect was in custody. In fact, police did arrest a man, but they said that this was not the shooter and that individual was released. So at this time major still a lot of questions and this was an amphitheater setting hundreds upon hundreds there enthusiastic very very up for this encounter and Charlie Kirk does these things as sort of an open mic event to have a full dialogue with those who are either supportive of his points of view or highly critical of his points of view and as I’ve come to understand Anna there was no particular security checkpoints at all no weapons checks, no magnetometers, nothing like this. A real free speech atmosphere. And as I understand it, the university has said that the single gunshot came from some considerable distance. And as I understand it, Anna, there is a building by building search going on on that campus currently. That’s exactly right. As we’re talking right now, police are going building to building, room to room to safely evacuate uh students, faculty, and staff. Uh that the students were told to hunker down and wait for police to uh find them and uh securely evacuate them. That of course was immediately following the sort of race to leave that initial area that grassy uh open field that we were just looking at. Uh so while there was chaos then police stepped in to go building to building. Uh that also suggests that there is not necessarily a neutralized threat. We don’t know. Uh but it appears that there could be a suspect still at large as we are speaking right now and that is uh very startling news indeed Anna but it’s important to convey the to the audience that this is an evolving ongoing law enforcement situation in that community and we will keep you updated and Anna if you get anything else on that front you let us know and we’ll come back to you straight away. Anna Shakar as always thank you so very much. Christian Overton joins me now. He was a witness to the shooting. Christian, I’m very, very sorry. You saw what you saw. You experienced what you experienced. I am appreciative that you’re willing to discuss it. Can you tell me what happened? Certainly. Yes. I attended the event uh with my 17-year-old son, Ryder Overton, uh this afternoon. We got there about an hour early um and had found some what we thought were good seats. It wasn’t short until shortly after that we moved down to the fence and were allowed to sit just off from the stage where where he presented. Um everything went as planned. He actually even came out and and handed my son, you know, a couple of hats. So it was a wonderful wonderful gesture and we were excited. And uh after about the second question that was asked is about the time we heard the shot um I diverted to look up just for a second to see what what you know where the sound had come from and then seconds later uh witnessed uh Charlie with a hole in his neck and bleeding. Uh it was at that time we laid down on the ground uh not knowing what you know or how many shots may follow. At that point it was just a matter of uh trying to get out of the gates and u find and uh go to a safe place. How does this land on your heart Mr. Overton? Very heavily. Um I I as well as Ryder, my son, uh were both big uh Charlie Kirk supporters. It hits home uh having it happen here where I actually graduated from college many many years ago and uh it’s just a sad day. It’s a sad day. Um and uh it’ll it’ll weigh heavy on our hearts for some time to come. What was the preparation for you and your son? Was there any I I just summarized with Anna Shakar. You might have heard that that my understanding but you were there so I want to confirm it with you sir. Was there any kind of security there at all that you felt or experienced? Uh, none. None whatsoever. Uh, I there were people in with backpacks, school bags. Um, there was no metal detectors. There was just no no one checking any anyone coming in. So, and based on what you saw, were you immediately fearful for Charlie and his health? Uh, I by all accounts when I saw the amount of damage done wasn’t sure that he was going to make it. I was hopeful. Um, his staff did a great job by taking him off the stage immediately, but it wasn’t uh it was it was too it happened so quickly and and we were all just at that point concerned about our safety and getting to a safe place. And how did you go about that, Mr. Overton? I imagine that was a pretty chaotic circumstance. It was because of uh the number of people trying to get out the same area that we were. Uh we actually had fallen down and and uh it could have turned a lot lot more ugly, but we actually found a break in one of the the the guard rails or one of the fences there that we were able to to get through and then kept our heads down and ran for as long as we could. Mr. Overton, I’m lucky enough in this world to be a parent to three children. Every parent sometimes gets very difficult questions from their children. Hard to answer. I imagine that’s a particularly heavy burden on your shoulders this afternoon. Yeah. What have you talked with your son about in the aftermath? Well, we had a discussion about um uh how difficult it is to stand up for your rights to um you know you know listen it there’s been we we spent most of the time going back in silence to be honest with you. It was just a really trying to wrap our heads around what we had just witnessed. It was difficult. um he’s dealing with it in his own um space right now and then we will come together when when uh some of the some of this is lifted a little later. For what it might be worth, Mr. Overton, I wish you and your son and all in your community the very best as you work through that process, which I guarantee you I know will be difficult. Thank you very much. Christian Overton, I appreciate it, sir. Thank you. Michael Watley joins me now. formerly served as the chairman of the Republican National Committee and is running to represent the state of North Carolina in the United States Senate. We’ll get to that in a second. Michael, Mr. Chairman, uh thank you for coming in. Well, thank you, Major. Uh I just saw you on the special report. Uh you knew Charlie very well. He was a dynamic force in American politics. This has to be a heartbreaking moment for you. It is. It is an absolute tragedy. Um, and I think, you know, as as as big as his role was in politics, and there’s going to be a lot of discussion about that, and I think, frankly, there should be. Um, but, uh, you know, his passion for politics pald in comparison to his passion for America and and especially his family. Um, you know, to to have a a beautiful wife and two beautiful kids. Um, you know, that was everything to him. and uh you you you knew it every time you had a conversation with him. I want to underscore the dynamic that was present there at Utah Valley University because it’s very similar to other things that Charlie Kirk has done. And Charlie goes to all sorts of campuses and he sits in full public view, welcomes questions from critics and tries to answer them and enjoys enjoyed, forgive me, the give and take, the back and forth of it. And that created a kind of energy around these events which was clearly evident before it started. Lots of people were there very happy and excited to see it. That’s something that was not typical in Republican party politics even five or 10 years ago. No, it absolutely wasn’t. And and and the passion that he brought to every conversation, you you could tell, you know, this is a guy who woke up every single day and and he was a happy warrior. uh and and he was ready to go out there and and help change this conversation. I’ve got two sons, twin boys. Uh both of them were very active in in Turning Point uh at NC State and and in Clemson. Um you know, and I think that that when you think about the outreach that Charlie brought uh to the the conservative movement is is absolutely fundamental. Um but I don’t think he he brought it because of he wanted Republicans to win or because he wanted Democrats to lose. I think he brought it because he wanted America better and he wanted it better for his family and his kids. Is there a Trump second term without Turning Point USA? No. I mean, he was a very influential part of of of all of the campaign that we put together. I mean, he was involved. I mean, he started this thing when he was 18 years old. I mean just absolutely stunning the the the number of events uh that that I participated in that the president participated in other members of the cabinet you know have have been involved with uh you know not just in in 24 but but over the course of of really since 16 um you know he has been a a very uh important part of of our coalition of of you know the the Trump movement. Um and I think really it’s it’s bigger than Trump. I think it is an America first movement and and Charlie was a huge factor. There’s going to be a tremendous hole in that movement in our community going forward. I mentioned at the opening of the show that our country is struggling with a reality in which there is not only very intense political rhetoric, but there has been violence and victims on both sides of the aisle. Maurice Dubois, my colleague, asked you, how did we get here? That’s an impossible question to answer. equally impossible is how do we get out of it? Do you have anything to say about that? Well, look, I I think that right now in America, we need to be focused on keeping our families and our communities safe. Uh at the end of the day, that is the biggest fundamental piece of what the government needs to be focused on. Uh certainly as a father of three, that’s what I am focused on every single day. Um, and I think that, you know, when we talk about, you know, the escalating conversation in politics, uh, there have been dozens and dozens and dozens of calls saying we need to lower the temperature in politics. Um, you know, I think that that that’s real, right? um you know that every time that that we see allegations or we see charges that are going out there that this person is a Nazi or that this person hates America or that this person needs to be stopped at any cost, then then that is something that is problematic. You know, when we see President Trump get shot and then a number of weeks later we see a second assassination attempt, you know, that that is not right in American politics. and and and what we saw with Charlie today, I think just kind of compounds that conversation. Um that we do need to step back and understand what is it that we’re fighting for? What is it that we’re so passionate about, you know, and and reflect truly on where are we going? you know, President Trump made it very clear uh after he survived uh being shot uh that that he felt like he had, you know, survived for a reason, you know, and and I think that that’s very important. Um and I and I really do think that we all need to reflect on what it is that that we’re trying to accomplish here through these political means and that violence is not acceptable. It is not at all and that your political opponent is not your enemy. Correct. You fundamentally believe that? I do absolutely believe that. I think that that that when we talk about in any political campaign, you know, what what are people ultimately running for? Politics is about helping people. Politics is about lifting up communities. Politics is about making sure that families and that the American experiment, as we’ve come to know, it continues. Absolutely. Continues. Yes. Not runs off the rails in some sort of torrent of violence and bloodshed. Yes. Do you feel as a candidate for the United States Senate different about your personal safety this afternoon as we speak than you did when you woke up this morning? No. You know, and and one of the things about being the RNC chair is that that that when I was was elected by the RNC to be the the chair that that changed my life, right? And so I have had to have security systems, you know, put into my home that were advanced and I had to have security details when I was the RNC chair and that I had to move around with staff and and always, you know, pay attention to these things. Um, you know, as as a candidate right now, you know, I’m going to have events in all 100 counties of North Carolina. I’m going to be out and I’m going to be meeting with people. Um, and you always want to be very careful about that. I think that uh you know it is it is a anybody in this space has to be very mindful uh from a security perspective because you you don’t know necessarily what to expect uh in in any given situation right but on the same part of that ledger as a candidate you have to meet the people you do you have to see them where they are as the phrase goes and that might be at a shopping center it might be at a school it might be outside a factory it might be at a farm but you have to see them exactly where they are and you can’t bring a failance of security personnel to get in their face and do all that sort of stuff. How do you balance that? Well, I I think that we have to trust in the goodness of the people of North Carolina in my particular uh race and and I think hopefully uh across the country, you know, but it is it is a a a real uh crushing uh you know, story that that we’re dealing with here today. It is. And and I think, you know, I want to make sure that we we continue to go back to the fact, you know, that this man was a husband and this man was a father. Uh ultimately, that has been what’s taken away from us today. Michael Watley, it’s a hard day. I appreciate you being here. Thank you, Major. And be safe. Yes, sir. Ed O’Keefe joins me now. Ed, you got some interesting uh developments to convey to the audience. Please do. Major, as as we wait word on whether the suspect has been apprehended in Utah or wherever they may be, uh our colleague Jennifer Jacobs uh conveys that there have been discussions internally at the White House and across the administration today about whether other Trump administration officials who don’t currently receive some kind of security protection should in fact get more protection from either the Secret Service or other agencies. But there are um and while there were several internal discussions about this this afternoon uh you know those agencies don’t have unlimited staff. So to the point you were raising there with chairman Watley about his protection and as a candidate you know his concerns for it there are also those that work across the administration this afternoon here in Washington who are quite concerned. They’re all equally uh you know uh well they’re they’re equally young compared to Charlie Kirk. They’re equally high-profile in many cases. And if it can happen to Charlie Kirk at a college campus in Utah, obviously there’s going to be grave concern that it could happen to others uh as they go about their business, unfortunately. So, uh that’s an early sign of the reaction. The other thing we should convey, Major, if you didn’t forgive me if you did, at the top, the president has ordered uh flags across the country to fly at Hags half staff until 6 PM Sunday in honor of his friend Charlie Kirk. They have lowered them, at least one of them so far at the White House. Um, and you will see that uh across the country here in the coming hours as it happens. I think you see them there now lowered at half staff. So that’s another thing that has happened and we’ve seen the political reaction continue to pour in uh from Republicans of course, but Democrats as well. uh just a little while ago, former President Joe Biden um and and his um conveying thoughts of his own and then of the former first lady saying there’s no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones. But I think Major, one of the things that guys like you and I who do this for a living and our staffs need to remember is there are going to be a lot of people who see this news this afternoon and have no idea who Charlie Kirk is. Mhm. And that’s not their fault. No. And it speaks to the incredibly digital and algorithmic world that we now live in that their scroll on a daily basis is not serving them. Turning Point USA or Charlie Kirk adjacent content. They have no idea what he’s done for the Trump movement, for the Make America Great Again movement, for the Republican National Committee, for GOP candidates up and down the ballot across the country. and the influence he had in putting together the Trump government, the second Trump government, being at Mara Lago last fall during the transition, literally sitting there with the president and a handful of other aids going that guy, not that guy for this job, that woman, not her for this other gig and making sure that they could get confirmed and that the Senate delivered the votes necessary. was also the guy that was putting pressure on people like Senator Joanie Ernst earlier this year when she raised concerns about Pete Heget’s nomination to run the Pentagon. He was the one that threatened potential primaries and other political uh retribution should they not follow through with the president’s wishes. He was that kind of an influential figure. And in the world we live in, you know, you may not listen to his satellite radio channel, but a lot of your relatives and friends and co-workers probably did. they’ll know who he is and you should talk to them about who he was and and what he did and the fact that as the chairman said and others who said he was a happy warrior. We should be looking for happy warriors on all sides of the aisle uh and celebrating them and and letting them be happy warriors whether you like them or not whether you agree with them or not. Exquisitly well said, Ed, and I think it’s worth diving just a bit deeper in that because for some Americans in the Trump movement, especially young conservatives, this afternoon will be a where were you when you heard the news moment. Y deeply traumatizing, profoundly meaningful. And to your point, there’ll be those Americans who say, who? Charlie Kirk. And that’s what you’re driving at. This great cavernous algorithmic divide in information, awareness, and appreciation of those involved in our political life. Where one set of Americans this afternoon is as emotionally rocked as they could possibly be about someone they might not have known personally but was meaningful to them in politics. and another set of Americans utterly unaware of who this person was or that person’s involvement or role and the very governing structure influencing their life. And that divide is part and parcel of what we are and we will continue to wrestle with and I’m so deeply grateful that you brought that up at O’Keefe. Thank you very very much. Samantha Vinegrad joins me here at the table. She is a a relied upon and well-versed expert in the field of domestic security, domestic terrorism, international and the like. Begin to walk us through what’s going on on the ground. And as Shakar just told us, they’re still searching the campus of Utah Valley University. That means this is an evolving and still potentially dangerous situation and that whatever happened escaped the immediate ability of authorities to put a drag net around that particular individual. Well, Major, based upon the fact that a suspect has not been identified or located as far as we know, it is entirely possible that there is still an ongoing threat to the public. So, right now, law enforcement officials are incredibly focused on trying to ascertain who fired the gun that killed Charlie Kirk. They’ll do that from eyewitness accounts by using video taken by individuals at the event and other advanced technology to just try to figure out who the suspect is. And from there, whether it’s searching uh buildings on the campus and or looking through the individual social media and tracing his or her movements, try to ascertain where this person is so that they can be apprehended and try to mitigate any threats to the public. And part of that analysis will be the wound itself and the directional relationship because Charlie Cook was under this tent. You can see it came to the somewhere around here. We are from eyewitness accounts and the available video that suggests a sort of area. Law enforcement officials have a range of different technologies to literally trace where the bullet came from, what kind of rifle or other weapon was used and then from there to just try to figure out exactly where this individual was standing when the shot was fired so that they can really narrow their search to try to locate the individual’s face in video or otherwise. At the same time, there will be an afteraction major of how an individual like Charlie Kirk, his death is absolutely devastating. He was such a well-known figure, mass following, how he was speaking at an event that was widely publicized. Everyone knew where he was going to be with some level of personal security, but without any kind of screening for individuals who really just walked up to this event. And it is a sad reality in our country today that individuals with this kind of profile are a target. And there was not a security perimeter. There were were not metal detectors as far as we know. So some sort of afteraction by campus police and others will likely be undertaken. I don’t want to over dramatize this Sam, but I have to believe that those who were there on scene, university, local authorities, federal authorities, state authorities are looking at this and saying this person may well have had intent, some capabilities, and some means to try to get away. And that heightens I would would assume for them a sense of urgency. Well certainly and every single counterterrorism official that you can encounter will say that the biggest terrorism related threat facing this country comes from lone actors. Individuals who radicalize and mobilize on their own. But again there was no perimeter here. This was an open air event. an individual was able to relatively easily carry a weapon onto the premises, essentially able to climb to some sort of elevated position and fire a shot and then disappear. So, there were law enforcement resources and emergency resources available on site, but they were not able to prevent the suspect from firing the shot and ostensibly from leaving the scene. Sam Vinegrad, valuable perspective as always. Thanks for Rhode Island Democratic Senator Jack Reid joins me now from Capitol Hill. Senator Reid, I appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, ma’am. There you are. Um, this is a very hard day in America. Um, I’d like to get your assessment. Well, the attack was reprehensible. Uh, one of our fundamental principles of the American way of life is the freedom to speak out uh, and to do so without fear of not only intimidation but violence. Uh, and it’s a tragic moment for the family and for many Americans. We all should stop and pause for a moment and reflect on uh, where we have come from and where we are going. This is absolutely reprehensible. Reed, I know and you know better than I do because you’re in the cloak room in the United States Senate. There are conversations almost daily now about what the risk profile is for members of the House, members of the Senate. And these are bipartisan conversations by necessity because as I mentioned at the top of this show, in these spasms of violence, there are victims on both sides of the ideological spectrum of one kind or another. Charlie Kirk is a grievous victim, the most grievous victim we can think of in modern history. But you have these conversations. What are they like and how are they likely to change? Well, uh you’re exactly right, Major. uh the the concern is accelerated particularly after a tragic moment like this where someone as we do consistently speaking to a group of uh fellow Americans is suddenly cut down. So uh it is something that we’re concerned about. If there are palpable threats to an individual member of Congress, then the Capitol Police will provide protection. But again in this world where this uh violent activity is unpredictable and uh many times the result of an individual who has uh not only mental issues but also many other issues and has a weapon and that’s hard to hard to anticipate but we are concerned about it. Uh, Senator Reid, um, I imagine this is going to influence the dialogue for the remainder of this week, probably the remainder of this month. And there are a lot of hard issues for Senate Democrats, House Democrats, the Trump White House to resolve, not the least of which is continuing to fund our federal government and avoid a government shutdown. Those can be contentious conversations. There can be lots of sharp elbows thrown. How do you anticipate that playing out? And is your advice to all concerned to lessen the intensity and that’s putting it mildly of their rhetoric in these skirmishes? Well, I think that’s exactly right, Major. I think what we’ve seen uh over the course of the last several years is a deterioration of the sense of community and a sense of uh common purpose and dialogue. Uh a lot has been reduced to simply uh political rhetoric on both sides and we are not going to get to a solution on our major problems both domestically and internationally until we come together and communicate and uh I think we should be an example of that to the American people and I must say many times over the last several years we’ve let the American people down by being vitriolic by being uh uh a Serbic in our comments and that goes not just for the Congress, it’s also for the White House. Senator Jack Reid, Rhode Island Democrat, ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Sir, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Measure. Matthew Continetti is the director of domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He joins us now. He’s also author of the book The Right, the 100red-year war for American Conservatism. Matthew, it’s good to have you with us. There you are. Thank you. Uh, this is the shocking and devastating and deplorable day in American political history. I imagine you have a lot to say about Charlie Kirk’s influence, but before the influential part, the human part, uh, the floor is yours, sir. Well, it’s shocking on many levels. Uh it’s not just shocking because the attack occurred on a college campus, a place of learning in broad daylight and on video, a video that was uh circulated algorithmically on social media. It was shocking because of Charlie Kirk’s youth. He was 31 years old. He was the father of two children. He was married. His whole life was ahead of him. And it was stopped uh needlessly by the assassin’s bullet. And it was uh shocking as well because it happened at a time where we we we’re becoming inure to this violence major. So this trend of political violence has been going on for some time. Whether it was the two assassination attempts on Donald Trump, the assassination attempt on Brett Kavanaaugh, the uh shooting at the congressional baseball game in the first Trump administration and then there are the kind of the less uh political acts of violence or rather the political violence directed at private citizens such as the gunning down of the United Healthcare Executive last year by Luigi Mani. this kind of um propaganda of the deed as the 19th century anarchists call it is is returning uh to America’s uh campuses and college streets. And so it’s it’s a very disturbing moment uh not just a sad moment for the family and for the conservative movement but I think for the country as a whole. And Matthew, I know you are familiar with the fire that was set at Governor Josh Shapiro’s home. Uh the attacks that left one member of the Minnesota legislature dead, another wounded, Gabby Gfords. So this has happened, as I said when I opened this show, there are victims of the spasms of political violence, which you suggest we have become inert to on both sides of the aisle. And it seems to me that there has to be a a conversation about that fact number one and a kind of reconciling to a deeper conversation about how to find a different direction. Right. Well, I think what what’s taking place, Major, is a polarization uh that’s going far beyond what we were used to past 20 years or so. We were talking about red and blue America and we’re talking about cultural differences between Republicans and Democrats. Uh you know NASCAR versus soccer moms and so forth. Uh but what instead uh seems to be happening is we’re breaking apart uh into two different societies. um two different cultures. And as this process takes place, individuals are feeling that no loyalty not just to the other side of the political debate, but to the rule of law. Uh and I have to say, you know, you mentioned the attack on Governor Shapiro, of course, uh that was also because of his Jewish identity. And so the the these political attacks are a part of the general trend um uh to uh to attack and harass uh Jewish Americans and supporters of Israel. It’s it’s multifaceted is what I’m saying. And this particular incident is I think most shocking and lands most impactfully because here we have an attack on the very roots of a free society. Right? What was he what was Charlie Kirk doing? He was speaking to students. He was on a college campus. He was trying to engage in civil debate. He was as if you’ve been saying on this program and as everybody knows a happy warrior. He would listen to the other side at these events. I’ve seen him do it in the past. And he would engage and now whoever killed him and didn’t just mean to kill him that the killer meant to kill that whole structure uh that allows us to to speak and to deliberate over uh public uh policy, public affairs. That’s what I think we really have to fight against here. uh not just the rule of not just enforce the law and uh deter these assassins but also to preserve the uh the mechanisms that has kept have kept this country free for 250 years and Matthew I want to ask you uh before I let you go about that dynamic of Charlie Kirk because it wasn’t just on that campus obviously there are associated turning point USA groups at I believe more than 800 college campuses and some high schools. You can be a provocator, an influencer in America and you could have a limited audience. Charlie did not have a limited audience. He had a large and growing audience which means he was finding something that people were in need of and wanted to be closer to. That seemed to be a very important political dynamic not only to the Trump White House but to the Republican movement generally. But I’d like your thoughts on what it meant more broadly in terms of communication, culture, and youth in America. Well, we often don’t think of it, but conservatism in the United States has often been a youth movement. The conservative movement of Ronald Reagan, say, really started on college campuses in the 1950s. And the great Young Americans for Freedom. Yaff. Young Americans for Freedom. and the great leader of American conservatism for the second half of the 20th century, William F. Buckley, first appeared on the scene as a 26-year-old dynamo from Yale. So, in that sense, Charlie Kirk was very much following in the footsteps of an earlier generation of conservatives. He appeared on the scene at age 18 and he was a builder. He built TurningPoint USA into an extraordinarily powerful and influential organization as you’ve been saying on the program in in terms of turnout in terms of influence within the conservative movement and Republican party and Trump administration. So he I think represents well the energies behind uh the Trump movement today. It’s been caricatured as a movement of old people, of rural Americans, but what gives it its dynamism is the young people that Charlie Kirk has brought to the movement. And that I think ma showed itself in the election results last year where Donald Trump performed much better than expected among collegeaged Americans and the type of party that Donald Trump has brought into being, a Republican party that includes people of all ethnicities, uh, all races, is again, I think a a result of the sort of activist work that Charlie Kirk performs. so well but so tragically in such a brief span of time. Matthew Ketti, I appreciate you coming on the program very very much. Thank you. Thank you. Want to bring in our panel, Molly Ball, longtime political reporter and Olivier Knox, senior national correspondent for US News and World Report. And also at the desk, Robert Costa, senior political analyst. Um Molly, let me start with you. Uh I’m just gonna give you the floor. Well, I’ve been thinking about the last couple of times that I spent time with Charlie Kirk and uh you know, I I uh spent the better part of a day with him at the Republican convention where he was taping his his radio show and there was a parade of important guests, you know, members of Congress and other uh and and and other luminaries in the party. They all wanted to be on his show. He was walking on air because uh he had been a top advocate for JD Vance to be named to the ticket. He really believed in this this populist nationalist transformation of the Republican party that he saw Trump as leading and he was overjoyed to see that continue in the form of JD Vance and we talked about that at the time and then I later last year I saw him uh in Arizona where he was uh helping Carrie Lakes campaign uh her unsuccessful campaign for the Senate. There were volunteers for that campaign who had flown in from all over the country and it was because he was talking about his turnout efforts on his radio show. Charlie Kirk was he had the power to give people ways to act and mobilize them to contribute. He was an organizer and I really think that he was he was testament to the idea that that a single person can change the country if they if they work at it. and uh and and he became incredibly powerful really on the strength of his voice and that was it. And Olivia, he spoke about politics in a sort of larger than-l life way. This was a civilizational struggle and he believed that Trump and Trumpism was part of the way America could save itself. And that found a resonance that I think at times even surprised Charlie, but it caught on college campuses and elsewhere. extraordinary resonance through his his various uh old media and new media uh mechanisms for getting his message across. Um you know, we’re no strangers to political violence in America. We’ve had a bevy of presidents uh assassinated in office, but the system has been really blinking red in the last few years with escalations of threats against members of Congress. I I don’t want to insult anyone, but random members of Congress. Uh we’ve seen federal judges, federal judges. And so it feels like we’ve entered a different era when it comes to political violence where it’s it’s much more broad-based. And I wonder to what degree it comes out of a out of a concern that uh politics has now become all or nothing. As you said earlier, sort of an existential problem and that people are losing faith in politics, traditional politics, as a way of of working out our griev our grievances and our disagreements. Robert Costa, the floor is yours. covered Charlie Kirk for a long time and this was a major force in American politics though he was very young and this will be deeply felt within the Trump White House clearly already is the president I mean so many people within that building knew and worked very closely with Charlie held him in very high regard this be a personal moment a political moment a national moment for all them close to Vice President Vance close to Donald Trump Jr. close to President Trump. And to Olivier’s point about this idea that all or nothingism creeping in or maybe very widespread in American political life, that seems to be a reality that has taken a horrific turn this afternoon in Oram, Utah on a college campus. Violence, the spectre of violence is everywhere in American politics right now. Unfortunately, it’s part of our history. Think about President Lincoln, President Kennedy, shots fired at President Reagan, political candidates like George Wallace, lawmakers like Gabby Gford, Steve Scaliz, survived shootings. Charlie Kirk was someone who was so happy to be in the arena. I was just listening the other day to his conversation with Governor Gavin Newsome of California, podcast conversation, and Kirk could be a rally presence. Sure. hand in the air, provocator, but he was really at ease in the college setting or the podcast setting having a dialogue and that’s where he found so much of a following. People listened to him and found that he was articulate in raising new kinds of conservative arguments that generated such an audience and Molly very quickly about a minute maybe less Charlie made himself relevant. That is to say, he became a force that others a noticed and then felt like you witnessed they needed to be around him and they needed to be in his sphere that he created. Absolutely. And he did it with the just the power of the simple power of his perspective. And I think as as as Matthew Kinetti was saying earlier, really refusing to accept as a a a state of nature that young people were just going to be liberal. He really believed he could go out and he could convince people to believe the things that he believed. And that was incredibly powerful. Olivier, I was just informed in my ear that we’re going to continue our conversation. So, you had more than time than I than I suggested you might. So, Olivier, you can go on as long as you want. Um there is already as we speak each and every second we’re here there is a raging social media absorption reabsorption recontextualizing and angry and increasingly angry conversation about what this is what this isn’t what it represents what it doesn’t represent. That’s another factor that we have to absolutely absorb and try to weigh. We’re deep into the politics of of the algorithm that rewards the most shocking, the most outrageous, and especially the most uh uh angering, infuriating kind of content. I don’t know how you teach civics to a generation that is coming up right now that will only ever have known social media algorithms and algorithmic news where you’re not being exposed to a num a large number of topics. You’re only really getting deep into a few of them. um social media right now for all of the wonderful sentiments, sad but wonderful sentiments, bipartisan uh condemnations of Charlie Kirk’s assassination from uh prominent Democrats, uh Barack Obama, Joe Biden, uh Josh Shapiro, just everyone coming out. There’s a a darker side on social media right now. Some folks celebrating the death and of course people sharing for clicks and clout the the actual video of Charlie Kirk being assassinated. Olivia Knox, Robert Costa, Molly Ball. It’s been a very hard day. I thank you all for joining us. We will continue to bring you updates on the shooting and death of Charlie Kirk. Please stick with CBS News 247 for the latest on all of that, plus many other news items. Daily Report picks up our coverage right now. I’m Chen. You are watching the Daily Report here on Wednesday, September 10th. A conservative political activist is shot and killed while speaking at a university in Utah. Everything we know right now about the death of Charlie Kirk. I heard what I thought was a gunshot and I heard him took cover. Um, and then I saw the students running out and I thought, “No, that that nobody’s shooting firecrackers, right? This is the middle of the day.” Everyone dropped and I was like, “Where’s the gunman? I don’t see any gunmen.” And then I dropped. Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk has died after being shot in the neck during an event at Utah Valley University. Eyewitnesses who have spoken to CBS News have said they didn’t even have a metal detector. They were barely checking tickets. This was a large open area, hundreds of people. Perk was at a lower position and the spectators were on sort of a grassy area with a higher elevation. So actually very difficult location to secure. Heard a loud shot, loud bang. And then I saw his body actually in slow motion kind of fall over. And it was I mean it was just sheer panic. Sheer panic. Kirk, a rising star in conservative politics and a fierce ally of President Trump. He is a co-founder of Turning Point USA, which advocates for conservative politics on university campuses. Please rise for a moment of prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family. And the uh concern and the prayers expressed by Republican leadership especially came quickly. We’ve seen several Democratic party leaders as well condemn political violence in this country. You have federal law enforcement on scene. You have university police and local police. The FBI’s Salt Lake City field office is there as well. And we do begin this hour with that breaking news out of Utah following the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the ongoing manhunt for the shooter. Kirk, the CEO and founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA was on the first stop of his American Comeback Tour. He was speaking at the time to an audience at the campus of Utah Valley University. The school says that at about 1210 local time, a shot, a single shot was fired at the speaker in Kirk. Uh it says that he was hit and then taken from that location by his security. An eyewitness described what that scene was like following the shooting. All of a sudden, I hear a pop. I just saw him grab it looked like his neck and there’s just blood pouring out everywhere and his eyes kind of rolled back. President Trump, who Kirk was a fierce ally of, wrote on True Social, “The great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead.” “No one understood or had the heart of the youth in of the United States better than Charlie.” He went on to pass along his and First Lady Melania Trump’s sympathies to the Kirk family. And in honor of Kirk, the president has ordered all American flags in the country to be lowered to half staff until Sunday evening. We have CBS News team coverage on this story. We’re we’re going to begin though with Anna Shear, senior coordinating producer for the Crime and Public Safety Unit. Anna, I know you’ve been following this since this news first broke. What are law enforcement officials saying right now? Well, right now they’re not saying a lot and so we actually don’t know um exactly where the suspect is, where the shooter is, uh if the shooter is in custody. We haven’t got a lot of information. Now, university officials have told CBS News that they believe that they know uh where that shot was fired from, and we’ve also been reviewing unconfirmed videos. I’ve seen video of someone running on a rooftop, but we don’t know if that is the individual. I’m sure that investigators are looking at that if they have not yet apprehended uh that suspect. A lot has been made and a lot will be made of the security that was surrounding all this. One witness there uh spoke to CBS News about the scene, including the security apparatus that was at play and uh here’s what he had to say. Yeah, it’s like a courtyard. Um there was definitely security. I mean, I’m I’m not an expert on security, but you know, they had the guys with the little curly wire coming out, so I assume that those were a security detail. Um it was definitely there, but no metal detectors. No, there were no metal detectors. There was no checking anything. So you hear that. What do you make of that? The fact that there were no metal detectors and apparently people were just able to walk around at will. Uh very unsecure location already. They’re starting from a point of weakness. It is very challenging to secure an open air location like that. So that’s the starting point. Now they could have erected a security uh checkpoint uh put up a metal detector and required people to stand in line. that would have delayed people from entering that area, but might have helped. However, we don’t know if the shooter was perhaps outside of that perimeter, shooting from another building a distance away. If a long gun was used, uh it’s relatively easy with a little bit of practice to hit a target uh a couple hundred meters away. So, we don’t know if that would have prevented it, but it certainly would have been a visible deterrent. It would have let people know that security was present. Now, we know that Kirk has his own security team, but this is not going to be a massive amount of people, resources, uh snipers on the roofs, for example, like we had we did have a sniper team. Unfortunately, it was too late. So, uh a year ago in Butler, the shooter fired off a shot. Um a man was killed, two others injured. Um but within seconds that sniper that that shooter was taken down by snipers. In this case it appears that the shooter was able to flee. Um and we still don’t know uh if that person has been apprehended. Is there anything to read into this that that it was reportedly one single shot and at a distance that was the bullet that killed Charlie Kirk? That appears to be a targeted attack, premeditation targeted attack, but I hesitate to read into any motive at this time. We just don’t know. Without the identity of the suspect, without information ganed from an interview, uh a sweep of that person’s social media, interviews with co-workers, associates, other people that know the suspect. Uh we can’t say for sure. Now, we do know that this event was publicized, put out on uh social media, online and garnered some backlash, too. That’s right. So, it was a controversial um event. Uh what Kirk has been doing going to campuses across the country is inviting people to come up and debate him. Um he enjoyed that kind of debate. Um and some of the things that he would say were very controversial. Now he saw himself as um sort of the voice of reason in the conservative party. He he tried he says he tried to dispel conspiracy theories but the things that he was saying was also very controversial and would stir up a lot of response. He enjoyed being a provocator on the platform X for example. um he didn’t mind um attracting a lot of um dissent and he invited that kind of debate. Um he also talked about the second amendment and he talked about sort of the give and take. We have the second amend amendment and in his words we have to sort of accept that people are going to be shot and killed. It’s this this cruel irony in this tragic situation where he himself was the victim of a apparently a targeted attack. A tragic situation indeed. Anna Shakar, thank you very much for joining us with your insight. Under Biden, our young people own nothing and they are miserable. Donald Trump refuses to accept this fake, pathetic, mutilated version of the American dream. When he was president, young people were richer than ever before, and he will do it again. And that was Charlie Kirk there speaking at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last July. The Trump Allet also spoke at the RNC back in 2020 during the president’s first term in the White House. Joining us now with more on Charlie Kirk is CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefe. Ed, thanks for being with us uh on this day. Help us take a step back and and give us some perspective on Kirk’s role in today’s conservative movement. It is hard to understate the scope of his influence. Yeah. Especially among younger conservatives or younger Republican voters or those at least that spend a lot of time online. Uh Kirk began his Turning Point USA organization uh about 12 years ago when he was only about 18 and inspired by the Tea Party movement built it from there. It it now includes uh Turning Point USA, which is a more of a political arm, and then um even Turning Point Faith, which is designed to uh organize, uh among those that are more uh religiously conservative. And so uh you know then there’s a radio show and there was podcasting and there was a pretty voseiferous social media feed that included highlights from the event like the one he was holding today uh where you you hold these sorry prove me wrong exchanges with people who may disagree with you like Anna said one of the issues he talked a lot about in this country guns in America there would have been conversation about that could have been something that was going on in the news or with sports uh certainly issues of um of faith and and society in general and then defending the Trump administration from those that disagreed with it. But the idea was that he would sit there, engage the person, try to have a, you know, uh healthy and breezy back and forth. Maybe the other person uh walked away from it convinced, maybe the other person walked away slightly angry. Uh but the idea was he was trying to show his followers you can have these kinds of healthy conversations and here’s how you can defend your viewpoint uh from the conservative perspective. And again there are a lot of people in this country today Nancy who are learning about who he is for the first time. A and that’s because the way your social media feed works may not serve you that kind of content. Uh that’s to the detriment of of everyone that you’re not seeing the other side necessarily. And so this will be an opportunity for people to learn about uh maybe what he what he stood for and what he stood against and whether you agree with it or not uh that that’s what he was out there doing and that it ended so violently and so unexpectedly is really going to be a profound marker on the conservative movement. You’ve seen the reaction from the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense, other senior White House officials like Steven Miller, for example, uh others who work in the West Wing who were close with Charlie uh who were inspired by the activism uh that he led and in many cases may very well be in the jobs they’re in because Charlie Cook told the president, “Yeah, that guy should should have that job or she should be working in that part of the administration.” Because we know that during the transition last year, given what he had done to help mobilize the conservative vote for the president, given how close he’d become with the president and his son Donald Trump Jr. especially he was at Mara Lago in transition meetings cherry-picking people for senior government roles, urged them to put Cash Patel at the FBI, uh would have steered them towards certain people to put in the cabinet and then went out and used his movement to make sure that these people got the votes needed from fellow Republicans who may have been skeptical about their qualifications and made sure they got their jobs. and others thinking ahead to the future of the party and the future of the MAGA movement knew that they had to be cultivating him and those that followed him because they are the foot soldiers in the conservative movement today. And guys like Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro um and plenty of others are the ones that the party leans on now uh to help draw attention to issues or to certain candidates who may need some money and manpower uh and to make sure that they understand why it is the president is doing what he’s doing. And Ed, the thing is it’s an incredible impact for someone who was just 31 years old and yet he has been part of this conservative scene uh for quite some time. He started quite early on the grassroots level. Can you talk a little bit about that impact that not only he has had as a political figure in his own right, but also the movement he has helped spawn through turning point itself? Well, yeah. And and and that’s is we heard some on our air earlier today saying how attending and speaking at a Turning Point event could be just as effective as speaking at a Trump rally in terms of the mileage you could get out of doing so. That clips of it would spread, that the word of mouth would spread, that the donations might come in, that the volunteers willing to show up to help you because they like something you talked about uh would, you know, would would suddenly materialize. that there was real equity um or you could get results in essence for for being associated with them. There were conferences held by Turning Point and its various entities earlier this year that drew several senior Trump administration officials because before their government work and during it, they understood they were there in part because he made it happen. He helped find the voters necessary in the swing states. He helped draw the support needed to make sure Republican senators voted for them, maybe even some Democrats. Um and he was sustaining that support by talking about them, having them on as guests, uh and making sure that his followers knew about him. Um but again, you know, we we talked Nancy in this country about making sure that young voters are engaged and that they participated in the process. That is what he was doing. Whether you agree with him or not, whether you find what he said u you know acceptable or vile, he was a voice in the system and he was shaping the country to his liking through the work he was doing. And we’ve seen it on the left, we’ve seen it on the right, we’ve seen it among labor leaders, religious leaders, civil rights leaders through American history. He will rank as one of those kinds of activists that drew people to the streets, drew people to causes and events and and was gunned down way too soon. Uh an incredible legacy. I’m also I also find it noteworthy ed to see the reaction that has been pouring out not only from leaders on the right but also on the left and notable names like Kla Harris, former President Obama, former President Biden. I mean it is rare to have le the leaders on on both sides be able to speak uh so movingly about one figure at this point. Well, and and mostly most especially to to denounce violence of all sorts um as they should. Uh but also because you know there there are Democrats who were trying to take cues from him, try to figure out how it is that you were convincing people to to to you know to to to rally to your cause. I think the most notable example that’s why I’m pulling it up here was the California governor Gavin Newsome who himself launched a podcast earlier this year. We’ve now seen the Kentucky governor Andy Andy Basher go out and do the same thing cuz they understand the voters I need to reach young male um and either you know right or centeright are out there and they’re out there listening the podcast and they’re out there in the digital space and they may be watching us right now on their phone or or or at home on their flat screen or their laptop and Nuome specifically went to see him. Uh they had an interview for Newsome’s podcast. The governor was denounced for doing so. But at the same time, he said, “Look, this guy figured out how to tap the political marketplace successfully. We as a Democratic party have to do so as well.” And that’s why I want to talk to him. And today, he was among the first national Democratic leaders to call the attack on Kirk disgusting, vile, and and reprehensible in the United States of America. We must reject political violence in every form. And um you know, we we’ll continue to see how the country reacts to this in the coming hours. And again, uh, a lot of people who knew him and a lot of people have no idea what he did. And may this perhaps be an opportunity for people to try to get beyond what their algorithm serves them and learn a little bit about the other side if they if whether they like him and agree with him or not. A very fair point there. Uh, Ed O’Keefe, thank you very much for joining us with your insight. Okay, and we are following more breaking news. We’re going to turn things now over to Wua Jen who is joining us uh from the White House uh lawn. Ouija, when we talk about the the scale and the scope of of something like this, a tragedy like this, can you talk to us a little bit about how the White House is reacting? Well, a lot of the officials inside the White House have known Charlie Kirk for years since the first time President Trump served in office during his uh re-election campaigns. they closely worked with Charlie Kirk and of course now they or I should say they did work with him u because he is a close uh was a close trusted advisor of President Trump’s and somebody who many staffers knew incredibly well. So I can tell you Nancy that it has been a very somber day here at the White House with many officials and other staff members visibly shaken even crying. um because this is such a huge loss for them because they not only considered Charlie Kirk to be a colleague, but many of them were friends with him. Um and so it is a a dark day here. Of course, as you’ve been reporting, President Trump himself has weighed in. He canled a dinner that he was going to host here at the White House tonight, and he ordered that all American flags, including those here at the White House, be lowered to half mass. So, um, you know, we will continue to hear reaction from senior administration officials, I’m sure, throughout the coming days. Um, but today is a tough one here, Nancy. Absolutely. Uh, Leica, and also to see this outpouring of from from so many different leaders. It’s it’s striking to me because it’s not only um to hear to see all of this. It’s not for an elected leader, right? It’s for someone who is not elected and yet has this huge influence. Given that, what do you think we can expect from the White House in the coming days? Well, certainly I expect a lot of um officials from the White House and probably President Trump himself to attend uh Charlie Kirk’s funeral and to continue uh talking about his legacy and the mark that he left on American politics. Charlie Kirk has been here to the White House several times. I’ve seen him here many times. And the last time he was here um at the end of May, uh the president had him in the Oval Office. And as he was talking about the youth vote and young people in America, he um pointed to Charlie and spoke about how critical he was uh during his re-election campaign. The president often talks about how he won in part because of social media platforms, especially Tik Tok. And during that visit, he said Charlie was the first person to tell him, “You need to engage on Tik Tok.” And of course, he did and went on to win um huge numbers when it came to young voters. And so, you know, the president really credits Charlie Kirk uh for much of his political success, as do other Republicans who acknowledge and recognize that he wasn’t just a uh you know, a public figure and that he was out there talking. He was obviously on the airwaves and made his own content, but he really understood uh young people and young Americans and resonated with them in a way that most people, Nancy, cannot. M a very sad day uh for this country. Wua Jen, thank you very much for joining us. Sure. And as we mentioned, we are waiting right now for officials to give an official update on today’s shooting in Utah. It is set to happen shortly and when that does happen, we will bring it to you as soon as it comes on the air. For now, a quick break. You’re watching the Daily Report. What happens when you get conversation over conflict? Anyone that doesn’t agree women should be in the submarine force has to ask themselves why they would think about that. I think they’ve taught me to have grace and compassion. When we follow the human side of the headline, life is a little bit different now. It’s going to take a while to get used to. And I say it to myself that I can’t make this about me. 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What I’ve seen, it’s like chaos. This is the pager that Hezbollah was using. How was this possible? Come on. Wow. Ask me the hard-hitting questions. I’m open to all of it. 60 minutes. Is this what you want? 60 Minutes. 60 minutes. It’s time for the CBS News original, 60 Minutes, Sundays on CBS. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has died after being shot earlier today at an event at Utah Valley University with President Trump confirming that news in a truth social post. and Jordan last as someone who was at today’s event saw this shooting happened. Here’s what he told Julia Goodrich earlier about what he witnessed. We were only about 10 or 15 minutes into the event and um I I was kind of near the line where people were asking questions. I couldn’t actually see Charlie, but I heard just a loud pop and in my mind I was like, “Okay, could be a firework, could be something.” But uh I had a cement kind of pillar or barrier behind me and you know just to be cautious I kind of went behind it. The people with me were like what was that? And then um that’s when people started saying to us hey Charlie’s been shot. Um like I saw him fall and then I knew okay this is a an active shooter situation. I crouched down. A lot of us crouched down. We really didn’t know what to do. I was just kind of waiting for I guess other shots to go off. Maybe 30 seconds after the shot. Uh we people started to yelling run. Uh there was a door maybe 10 ft from us and people started filing through that and so we said all right let’s go. I crouched down, went to the door, and I just took off running and, you know, I guess ran as as far as I could until I felt safe to the parking lot and then eventually to my truck and was with a couple other people and we all kind of stuck together and we didn’t know each other beforehand, but stuck together. We’re just talking about it afterwards. So, that’s basically uh what happened to me. I was maybe 50 to 100 ft directly to the right of Charlie Kirk when this happened. Leading up to that, I’m curious about your thoughts on security. There was a lot of people there. It was an open crowd. It’s an open carry state, not an open carry campus, but talk about kind of the the optics of security before this happened. Yeah. So, when I came in, I I noticed his security team. I actually walked right by them. They were checking things out. But I did notice um I mean no one’s checking for weapons. No one checked me whatsoever. And honestly my I did think during the event before it happened like you know anybody could have a weapon here. So um yeah UVU I do believe is an is a concealed carry campus I believe. I just checked that out this morning or last night. Um but yeah I don’t know. Those are my observations. All right, some breaking news just coming into our newsroom. We understand that the suspect or a suspect in this shooting is now in custody according to the FBI. And Anna Shakar uh is still on set here with us, senior coordinating producer for the crime and public safety unit. Uh Anna, how does a suspect being in custody now change this investigation? What happens from here? Well, uh, law enforcement has somebody that Oh, actually, Anna, I’m so sorry to interrupt you. We understand that authorities are now giving an update in Utah, so we’ll check back in with you and listen to them now. Along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, we are working in unison with the county sheriff’s office, the local police department, and the university police department, all of which have been very cooperative and fully engaged in this process. Shortly after the shooting, we did have a suspect in custody, George Zim, but he was released from custody after we identified that he did not match the shooting suspect um and was not an accurate person of interest. However, he has been booked into the uh county jail by Utah Valley University Police Department for obstruction of justice. We do still have an active investigation for the person of interest. This incident occurred with a large crowd around. There was one shot fired and one one victim. While the suspect is at large, we believe this was a targeted attack towards one individual. This is a tragic moment in our state and in our country. As we heal, we encourage everyone who is struggling with news of the incident to call 988, our state mental health crisis line. In addition to that, our partners with the FBI will also be discussing other ways we can communicate through the public for tips and other information. Thank you. Good afternoon. On behalf of the FBI, we extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. Our thoughts are also with the people who witnessed this traumatic event. We know that you what you experienced was very difficult. Our thoughts are with you as well. As soon as we heard about the shooting, special agents and personnel from the Salt Lake field office responded immediately. We have full resources devoted to this investigation, including tactical, operational, investigative, and intelligence. To be clear, the FBI will fully support and co-lead this investigation alongside with our partners. We are working on setting up a digital media tip line, and as soon as it’s established, we’ll get that information out to everyone. I know there’s a lot of questions. This is very much an active case, and this investigation is in its early stages. We are following all the leads and all the evidence. If anyone has any information, please report it to the FBI or local law enforcement. Thank you. On behalf of President Tumz, who we’ve been communicating with, and she’s on her way back right now, I um say that on behalf of Utah Valley University, we are shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Charlie Kirk. We express our sincere condolences to the Kirk family. We grieve with our students, faculty, and staff who bore witness to this unspeakable tragedy. He was invited by the student group Turning Point USA to speak on our campus. We firmly believe that UVU is a place to share ideas and to debate openly and respectfully. Any attempt to infringe on those rights has no place here. We do not condone any form of violence at UVU and seek to make our campus a safe place for all. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on this uh on this dark and and tragic occasion. I want to thank our law enforcement officers who are leading this investigation, starting with Chief Long uh and and his uh his response here with the UVU Police Department. Um, we’re grateful for your leadership and uh and your team and again to the the speakers that you’ve just heard from who are are co-leading this investigation. I also want to recognize Sheriff Mike Smith who has been an invaluable partner as this investigation moves forward. I’ve been in touch with uh with with President Trump, with FBI Director Cash Patel. um we are completely aligned with our state and federal partners as uh as we work through this case. Now, this is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation. And I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination. We are celebrating 250 years of the founding of this great nation. That founding document, the Declaration of Independence, that this this great experiment on which we embarked together 250 years ago, that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. The first one of those is life. And today, a life was taken. Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to two young children. He was also very much politically involved and that’s why he was here on campus. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people. Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated. And that’s what he does. He comes on college campuses and he debates. That is foundational to the formation of our country, to our most basic constitutional rights. And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened. Now, we have a person of interest in custody. The investigation is ongoing, but 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 furthest extent of the law. And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah. Our nation is broken. We’ve had political assassinations recently in Minnesota. We had an attempted assassination on the governor of Pennsylvania and we had an attempted assassination on a presidential candidate and former president of the United States and now current president of the United States. Nothing I say can unite us as a country. Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken. Nothing I can say can bring back Charlie Kirk. Our hearts are broken. We mourn with his wife, his children, his family, his friends. We mourn as a nation. If anyone in the sound of my voice celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror and to 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. We desperately need our country. We desperately need leaders in our country. But more than the leaders, we just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be. To ask ourselves, is this is this it? Is this what 250 years has wrought on us? I pray that that’s not the case. I pray that those who hated what Charlie Cook stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family and that all of us all of us will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans. With that, we’re happy to take a few questions. The FBI director is posting that a social that a suspect is in custody. I would just like clarification. Do you or do you not have a suspected shooter in custody? We have a person of interest in custody that is being interviewed right now. We do. That is not George Zim. That is not George Zim. That is correct. Are you still searching for looking for another shooter or anybody else related to this? Yes, we are actively looking for anyone and everyone who has any any possible information relating to this shooting. Can you tell us details about the suspect being taken into custody? Where, you know, how long ago? We we cannot at this point, but we will get you that information when when we can. Is there believed to be a second individual involved in the shooting? At at this point there is no information that would lead us to believe that there is a second person involved. Can you guys tell the possible shooting? Um we do you want to talk about what we know there? Yeah. The only information we have on on the suspect uh the possible shooter is taken from closed circuit TV here on campus. Um we do have that. We’re we’re analyzing it. Um, but it is security camera footage, so you can you can u kind of guess what the what the quality of that is. Um, but we do know uh dressed in in all all dark clothing. Uh, but we don’t have much better description other than that. Came from the shot came from here on campus um from a a location um at a roof uh potentially from a roof. Yes. At longer distance shot from a roof. So to clarify, with the security camera footage you have and the person of interest that’s in custody, do those does that match up? That’s what we’re trying to decipher right now. Did FBI or DHS have anything on the threat board this morning? I can’t speak to that. I’ll just say that the investigation is ongoing and as soon as we have further information, we will be sure to release it. Any indications of foreign intelligence involvement? As of now, I can’t comment on any of that. Thank you. Can you talk a little about the security of the event itself? who was there securitywise and and what happens on these kind of events. Chief Long. So, my name is Jeff Long. I’m the police chief here at UVU. And I’ll tell you right now, we are devastated. We’re a small uh small police department. Uh we have a very large campus. We have over 40,000 students and we love our students. We love our visitors. And we’re devastated by what happened today. This is the police chief’s nightmare. Um I’m I’m very saddened for the Kirk family. Um, I know his uh his wife and parents uh found out about this. You know, obviously he’s away from home. He’s here in Utah. They find out uh by police officer uh that visits their home. That’s tragic. Nobody wants that. But I can tell you about our venue today. This was an open venue. This was outside. Uh we did have um six officers working that event. Um we had probably over 3,000 people that were in attendance. Um it is sat down in kind of a bowl area here on the central campus. We have a waterfall area and so he was kind of in a a lower area uh surrounded by uh by buildings. Um you know we we had um uh some plain closed police officers that were in the crowd as well. You know we train for these things and and you think you you you have things covered and um you know these things um you unfortunately they happen. you try to get you try to get your bases covered and unfortunately today we didn’t and because of that we had this tragic incident. So we did have officers there. We had Charlie Kirk’s team. Um he has a security team that travels with him and they were here with him when when he was shot. Was the gun recovered? I’m sorry. See, was the weapon recovered? Um I at this point I I can’t disclose that. There was a question being asked about mass shooting. Was that person apprehended? And do you know who asked that question? Say the question again. I don’t know if I understand what you’re saying. When Charlie Kirk was shot, he was answering a question about mass shootings specifically. Was that person apprehended? And do you know who asked that question? Uh I do not we do not have that at this moment. Ladies and gentlemen, we have time for just one more question. So thank you. Yeah. Um a question for the chief as well. Um, was it your team or Kirk’s team or a combination of both that kind of set the security protocol for the event? So, we worked together. You know, he has his team and and they do this all over the country. We all know that this is not uncommon for them. Uh, they’re very comfortable on campuses and I was coordinating with his lead security guy and um, uh, so yeah, we were working together. Was this a shooter type shot? Was this? Ladies and gentlemen, that’s that’s um, those are all the questions that will be answered today. Um, again, thank you for for covering this. Uh, we will be uh we’ll be updating you as soon as we have additional information through uh through normal channels, working with law enforcement. Again, our our deepest uh condolences uh to the uh to the Kirk family and uh and to the students who were who were there today. Um and uh I would I would just ask everyone everywhere to please pray for their family and uh and to pray for our country. Um we need it now more than ever. Thank you. And we’ve been listening there to federal, state, and local officials give an update on the shooting of Charlie Kirk today in Utah. The conservative political activist was killed there. Uh they are saying now a person of interest is in custody. They’re still looking for anyone with any information uh to this incident. A Utah official there saying the shot potentially came from a roof on can uh on campus. And as we mentioned, they are saying a person of interest is in custody, but their investigation does uh continue. Nothing to lead them to believe that a second person is involved. Uh but also as they scour through uh plenty of information both online and on the ground, they’re also, they say, looking at security camera footage uh that was taken from campus. Um, as this investigation does continue, we will also note that uh that tributes and condolences are pouring in from across the country and Republican Congressman from Utah Mike Kennedy joins us now. Congressman Kennedy, thank you for being with us on this day. What are your thoughts? Nancy, I’m really sad that we have to be together to talk about this tragic event, but I’ll just say to you, violence will not silence Charlie Kirk or nor his message, and will not silence the mighty people of the United States of America. And we will rise up and continue to do the vital work that needs to be done. And God bless Charlie Kirk’s family, his wife Erica, his children, and there are a number of of young people at this event. God bless them as well in this tragic time. Congressman Kennedy, um, what did Charlie Kirk mean to the conservative movement? Charlie Kirk continued to push forward in spite of threats. He was a a a seasoned veteran at debating, vigorously debating in a civil fashion the issues of the day. And that’s why we will not stand down. myself. I I take inspiration from the fact that he continued in spite of threats to his life that have occurred over time that he continued to push his message forward. The United States of America and the Constitution promote free speech and the opportunity for all people, especially with political speech to be able to speak their mind on the issues of the day. Charlie Kirk did that and his voice will continue to be heard. This tragic episode by this filthy assassin who committed this event will not silence his voice and it will not silence the good people of the United States of America. And I stand with my Democrat and Republican colleagues with Speaker Johnson, Leader Thun and President Trump. We will continue to move forward to do the work of the American people in spite of these violent efforts to shut down the opportunities for our citizens to speak freely on the issues of the day. And Congressman Kennedy, I can imagine this hits particularly close to home given that it did happen in your state. Uh what goes on in your mind when when when you first heard that news come in? It’s in my state and it’s in my district. This this place is just a few minutes from my house and I I know people that were there at that event and I know that this does not represent Utah nor its citizens. Uh and this institution is an outstanding institution full of great professors as well as students. And it’s a tragic event that they had to witness. But I know we can all learn from this event as far as this will not intimidate us. That I’ve had my as a state senator, I’ve had my house vandalized. I’ve had death threats against me. I know my congressional colleagues, some of them have had death threats as well against them. But we continue to do the work here in Washington DC. And I know my friends, my colleagues, the neighbors, they will continue to do their work to promote the opportunities that we have here in the United States. American violence will not intimidate us and violence will not silence the voices of our good people. Congressman Mike Kennedy, thank you very much for being with us tonight. Thanks for having me. And Anna Shakar, senior coordinating producer for the crime and public safety unit joins us here on set once again. Uh quite a few updates coming from that press conference from those federal, state, and local leaders and officials with a person of interest in custody. Where does the investigation go from here? And I know it’s in early days, but uh it’s all boots on the ground right now. That’s right. Well, they’re still analyzing surveillance video. They want to match this individual with um everything that they’re seeing from multiple cameras. So, that’s happening right now. They’re also uh likely interviewing this individual. Then from there, they want to get associates, uh close family members, friends, um uh colleagues that this person might have worked with because they want to find out if anybody else might have known uh about this attack. uh plans for this attack who might have aided it. So, that’s very important part of this investigation that’s underway right now. They’re also going to get a search warrant uh for all of the electronic devices, cell phones, laptops, anything else where this individual might have communicated with others, and they’re going to pull all of that in, review all of that. So, the clock starts ticking now on that part of the investigation. While they’re doing that, they’re building a timeline of everything that this individual did leading up to the moment of pulling that trigger. And and I know we’re looking ahead, but also a look back at what happened this afternoon. Uh, one thing that stood out to both of us during that press conference is hearing how many officers from the University Campus Police were actually on the ground out there. Uh, he was saying six officers, possibly more that were uh, also in planes closed. He said that planes closed officers were also there. When you hear that some 3,000 people were in attendance, what goes in your in your head then? Not a secure location. Uh wide open. Uh no cover, no checkpoints, no metal detectors. Um already just the fact that they held the event at that location. Law enforcement is at a disadvantage to keep it safe. But there are things that they could have done. Uh and there you you heard the police earlier acknowledge that, you know, they might have been able to prevent this, but to have somebody on a roof in an open air university like that, very difficult uh to prevent. But had they had more eyes, more resources, maybe somebody would have seen something, said something, and apprehended that person before they took that shot. And we’re already hearing about events being postponed or cancelled, uh, political ones because of what happened with security plans perhaps being re-examined. Uh, do you think that other colleges or other venues could change the way they approach security given what happened here today? Absolutely. At least in the short term, there is going to be a message that goes out wide to campus law enforcement uh, regionally uh, and wider across the country. Everybody’s going to be on high alert given that already law enforcement in the big cities were on high alert because tomorrow is September 11th. We are in a heightened threat environment, but looking out and finding that lone wolf before they attack, that is the hardest thing for law enforcement to do. Everybody’s going to be ramping up security uh right now essentially um at campuses but other institutions around the country. I know hindsight is 2020, especially in cases like this, but when you do recognize that there was outcry and that people were not happy with Charlie Kirk’s appearance on that campus and that this was the first stop on a widely uh publicized tour that he was kicking off on, what what should have been different? Well, first of all, you should have had other law enforcement partners there because one law small campus security police um and even uh Provo police, they might not have had the resources to adequately secure this location. Even for even for crowd control, if nothing else, when you have 3,000 people in one space like that, that’s right. and you know people get sick, you usually if it’s a highly publicized event, you’ll have um you know EMS teams, you might have a couple of ambulances just to make sure if somebody gets sick um or needs help that there are first responders there. So the fact that they were so lightly resourced uh that that was not ideal obviously. Um hindsight is 2020. I think there was a certain level of comfortability if uh he might have felt well you know I bring this healthy debate and and thought largely we’re in sort of a friendly crowd and I think that’s where uh law enforcement can make the mistakes where they think that they’re in a friendly crowd environment. They say yes let’s go with an open air venue where anybody can walk in. Um, and we heard that was part of the appeal also for Kurt to have people come in and be able to have anyone sit down in front of him and and talk to him. That’s right. Now, he did have a security team, so he was aware of a certain threat level, but he didn’t seem to be, you know, he was out there speaking confidently. I mean, we watch all of uh all our politicians doing the same thing every day. It is impossible to have a 100% secure environment, particularly if you’re choosing to hold an event outside like this one. I know you’ve been urging caution in how we approach motive from the very very start as soon as we heard this uh news come down. At the same time, uh it is hard uh to ignore the fact that he is such a prominent conservative uh figure. And this is all happening, of course, in the backdrop of of quite a few um targeted shootings that we have seen just in the past year or so that have played out. Luigi Manion of course uh also behind one of those with United Healthcare. I what does that say to you about about where we are and in this you know the the landscape in which this is all happening? Well, we’ve had quite a number of very highprofile targeted um assassinations and assassination attempts over the last uh 18 months. Um so really a very uh heightened threat environment. But what I will say about the motive is there have been perpetrators also at school shootings, at other high-profile uh targeted attacks where it was sort of a free-for-all. Any motive, a person with a documented mental health history who was grabbing at whatever was in the zeitgeist, using that as motivation. So that’s why in the immediate aftermath of these kinds of shootings, we want to be very careful because we don’t know what kind of writings um this person might have had, what kind of online spaces they might have been frequenting. We don’t know. We can suspect, and you just heard the governor of the state of Utah say this was a targeted political assassination. Uh he might have information that we don’t have, but at this point we don’t have information that supports that. Which is why we always appreciate your context uh through all of this. Anna Shakar, thank you very much for today. And Brandon Russen joins us now. Uh Brandon was there and saw all this happen. Uh Brandon, I’m so sorry for what you’ve experienced today. Can you walk us through what you saw? Yeah, thank you so much. I uh I was just standing there about maybe 15 feet in front of Charlie. uh probably in the it was in the standing area, the standing crowd, maybe three people back behind the guard rail and um we were just in enjoying listening to him answering questions and and uh before I continue, I don’t think this is is being uh covered. I don’t know if any witnesses have come out and said that one of the last things that Charlie uh declared um before the shot rang out was that Christ is Lord and that he defeated death. And uh I just find that very poetic um despite this tragedy. Um uh after that uh declaration, he moved on to the next question, which during that time was when the shot rang out and and it it just seemed like everything went in slow motion. it it uh didn’t seem real for that split second and then and and I saw very up close the the graphic detail of what of what happened and uh at that point me and and uh the friend that I was with and the crowd around us ducked uh down and and and quickly got on the ground. It sounds like an incredibly harrowing experience that you had to go through. Brandon, when you when you did uh see this unfold so close to you, uh you said that you got on the ground. Can you talk a little bit about that immediate reaction of the crowd that was around you? I know there were so many students that were there. Yeah, I I think it it took probably one second for everyone to process it what had just happened and all of a sudden we were all piling on the ground. I just remember instinctively shouting, “No, no, no, no.” I reached for my phone to text my wife and to tell her that there that there was a shooter and uh and that I loved her um in case anything happened to me. Um and at that point, we were on the ground for about a minute. Um, and not hearing I think that not hearing any more shots ring out uh gave everyone the um the confidence to just start running and start running to the buildings. Uh, and so that’s what we did. Brandon, a lot has also been made today about what kind of safety measures were in place. Can you tell us about what what you saw when you were there? What kind of safety uh apparatus that you had to go through, if any, and and what your thoughts are on that now? I’m going to be completely honest. When I walked into this this courtyard, I I the first thing that I thought with everything that’s that’s happened in in uh the past decade or few years, the first thing I thought was I hope they have good security here because this does not like a safe place uh for Charlie to be uh giving his message. um in terms of the uh the layout of the the courtyard, not in terms of the people. Um which you know it like like she was saying earlier that it was a it was a mostly friendly crowd. Um and so uh just just the layout of the courtyard that that was my initial thought is this does not seem very safe. What drew you to go there to begin with? I I love hearing debates. I I I’m not totally engaged in in politics, but I I I think the dialogue in this country is is extremely important. And uh I think Charlie was a very very intelligent man and and uh I I appreciate hearing his his his evidence uh for his claims and hearing the debate on the other side too and and hearing that dialogue. Uh that’s is that’s initially what drew me. An important dialogue to have. Brandon Russen, thank you very much for being with us tonight. Thank you. And we are going to have continuing coverage of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. But first, we are going to take a quick break. You’re watching the Daily Report. What happens when you get conversation over conflict? Anyone that doesn’t agree women should be in the submarine force has to ask themselves why they would think about that. I think they’ve taught me to have grace and compassion. When we follow the human side of the headline, life is a little bit different now. It’s going to take a while to get used to and I say it to myself that I can’t make this about me. When we put people before politics, what would happen if it was harder for Mexican residents to come over to work in Prescidio? I think we’d be in serious trouble. Are you okay, ma’am? What happens when you experience the story? 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It’s time for the CBS News original 60 Minutes, Sundays on CBS. I’m Major Garrett in Washington, inviting you to The Takeout. Politics, Policy, People, and Pop Culture streaming right here on CBS News 247. Good evening. I’m Nancy Chen. You are watching the Daily Report. And we do begin this hour with that breaking news out of Utah following the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Utah’s governor says a person of interest is now in custody. Kirk, the CEO and founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was on the first stop of his American Comeback tour. The 31-year-old was speaking to an audience at the time at the campus of Utah Valley University. And the school says that at about 12:10 local time just afternoon there in Utah. A shot was fired at the speaker Kirk and it says that he was hit and taken from the location by his security. Uh pouring outpouring of support right now from across the country. President Trump though who Kirk was a fierce ally of wrote on True Social, “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 went on to pass along his condolences from both him and first lady Melania Trump to Kirk’s family. Now, in honor of Kirk, the president has ordered all American flags in the country to be lowered to half staff until Sunday evening. For more on this, let’s bring in Anna Shakar. She is the senior coordinating producer for the crime and public safety unit. Uh, Anna, I know we’ve been talking about this all afternoon as this news has been uh been coming into our newsroom, but what are law enforcement officials now saying about the person in custody? Well, they say that there is surveillance video that shows a person wearing dark clothing uh potentially on a roof, taking the shot from that roof, and they are still pinning down if the person of interested that they have in custody is definitively that individual uh that they’re seeing in those videos. And so they’re still piecing this together, but it appears that they do have the shooter in custody. Uh but it seems like they’re needing to take their time to pin that down. There was a lot of confusion here. Earlier in the day, an individual was arrested. Then we learned that person was released. We just heard that person had been arrested for obstruction of justice. Um, authorities there clarified that the person of interest currently in custody is another person, so a second person that they believe is most likely the shooter. So, we are still waiting for details. We do not have that person’s identification. Uh, we don’t have very many details at all except for the fact that they believe that the shot it was likely taken from a roof. The university told me they believe they know which uh building. Uh we actually our confirmed team has created a map. So we see it’s a few hundred feet away from the location of uh Charlie Kirk who is down there in that sort of almost like um an a small amphitheater area on low ground making it an easier target for somebody with a gun in an elevated uh location. Yeah, absolutely. When I hear you say all that, it just checks so many boxes when you talk about a vulnerable perspective and to have essentially uh that amphitheater style setting uh to have so many buildings close by. I mean, this seems like something that would have raised the level of concern for anyone who’s looking at the security apparatus behind this. That’s that’s right. But, you know, it seems that Kirk’s team, who was there, he does have a security team, that they were sort of checking the immediate area and they felt confident that there wasn’t a threat. Now, in hindsight, looking back, given the resources, we learned about six police officers were there for about 3,000 people. Uh, I think, you know, anyone in security would say that is not enough to secure a vulnerable like location like that one. uh you know even hearing from of course so many witnesses who were there when you when you consider how many students had to experience this and so many young students also uh I do want to play some some of an interview that we had earlier today. Yeah, it’s like a courtyard. Um there was definitely security. I mean I’m I’m not an expert on security but you know they had the guys with the little curly wire coming out so I assume that those were a security detail. Um it was definitely there but no metal detectors did no there were no metal detectors. There was no checking anything. Yeah. So, you hear him say right there, no metal detectors, no checking of anything. Uh, some people saying that there weren’t really even tickets. It could just be something that anyone could walk up to. Anyone could walk in. Exactly. With bags. No bags were being checked. Guns could have been concealed. So, it seemed like a very upbeat environment. Uh, everybody seemed excited to be there. Uh there’s video of Charlie Kirk himself, you know, throwing like a baseball cap, souvenirs out to the crowd and he was sitting there um under like a little covered tent area taking questions, inviting this debate. Uh he seemed very relaxed in the video right before the shot was fired. You know, we we also understand as part of the material that investigators will be parsing through in the coming days and weeks that they are looking at security uh closed circuit television cameras and what they captured on campus from this. But you also when you have that many students, there are also a lot of phone cameras that are recording what’s going on. How do you start to go through and sift through all a lot of this eyewitness video that might be out there? It’s a great question and even in just the last few hours, the most interesting videos have been surfacing on social media. So, I’ve been reviewing videos of uh an individual appearing to be running on top of a roof, unconfirmed. We don’t know if that was the shooter, but that has been circulating online. And guess what? Law enforcement, they’re seeing all of those videos, too. So, they’re monitoring social media and then they’re doing their own investigation. Um, so it’s really interesting, you know, now in this day and age with everybody having cell phones, a lot of us are seeing the very uh nuts and bolts of the investigative material that those uh that those police um those FBI agents themselves are looking at. Where does the investigation I know uh that there are so many different branches that it could go from at this point especially when you have federal, state, and local authorities involved in all those different jurisdictions, but where does it really go from here that you’re going to be looking out for in the coming days? Well, this individual who is in custody has already been asked why did you do it? Um, this individual has already been asked to give a list of people that they were in contact with. those search warrants are like they’re going to hustle and try to get a hold of the that um technology, the phones, the laptops as soon as possible and scrub those. Um so all of that is underway, but like let’s pull back the aperture and take a look at what’s going on in this country. A little more than a year ago, there was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Uh we just saw Charlie Kirk get shot on video a few hours ago. We are right off of that Minneapolis school shooting where those children were shot. Uh, two of them killed. It’s just um an unbelievable environment that we’re living in right now. And we keep saying it, but it does feel like it is even more of a heightened uh tense environment in this country as it as it does continue to seem to ratchet up to a new level every single week, every single month. Do you see security changing when it comes to these kinds of mass events, whether or not they’re political and involving a figure like Charlie Kirk or people gathering together? Well, they might be cancelled if they’re outside. When you hold an event um indoors, there are just more opportunities to be checking. Now, uh the bad thing about that is it’s harder for people to escape if they’re inside of a venue. So there are pros and cons as security as these teams are planning out these kinds of events, but we’re a democratic country. So politics happens out in the open. Politicians or activists like Charlie Kirk, they go out and they try to talk to people, draw crowds, and convince them of their way of thinking. So I don’t know if there’s going to be a full pullback. We just heard from a local um member of Congress who’s saying we won’t be deterred. We are not going to be intimidated. So, remains to be seen. All right, Anna Shakar, thank you very much. This attack in Utah does come though nearly a year after a man attempted to gun down President Trump on his Florida golf course and CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman joins us now with more on that. Uh Katrina, thank you for for being with us today. Uh, so 59-year-old Ryan Ruth has pleaded not guilty now to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, also assaulting a federal officer, and several, uh, firearm charges. So, uh, opening statements in that trial are expected tomorrow. What do these attacks being nearly a year apart say about the rise in political violence that we’re seeing play out in this country? I mean, Nancy, we are seeing an increase in threats of violence related to political disagreements, to political aims. As Anna said, we don’t yet know the motivations of this shooter, but these threats are escalating. There were Minnesota legislators who were Democrats who were attacked. There’s also an increased threat to judges. I recently interviewed Judge Esther Solace, whose son was actually killed by someone who was trying to go after her. And now there are judges around the country receiving pizzas in her son’s name. And what that means is they’re saying that we know where you live and what happens to her son could happen to you. We’re now seeing this shooting of Charlie Kirk. And it’s almost a year to the day of that attempted assassination of Donald Trump, who’s now president, but at the time was a candidate by Ryan Ruth. That was on September 15th, 2024. And just about two months before that was that first assassination attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania. And Charlie Kirk, of course, as you’ve been talking about, was instrumental in helping Trump get get elected for a second time. Katrina, can you also walk us through how the legal process works in high-profile shootings like this one and also in the case of Ryan Ruth? Well, you know, it will occur the way a traditional criminal investigation would, but of course with a heightened scrutiny. First, they will arrest and then charge the suspect. There will be an intensive investigation of their cell records, of their electronics. In the case of Ryan Ruth, there was actually an interesting twist. While investigating him, they looked at the computer of his son, Orin Ruth, and actually found child pornography. His son is now in federal prison on seven years. Um Ryan Ruth in fact wants his son to come be a character witness for him in this trial. But after the investigation is complete here, there will be an indictment. And then likely this will be some form of murder charge. In Trump’s case, it was an attempted assassination charge, but Charlie Kirk is not a federal government officer. All right, Katrina Kaufman, thank you. And earlier, Utah Governor Spencer Cox shared his reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death, as well as the state of political violence in this country. This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation. And I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people. When someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened. And we will have much more coverage on the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk in Utah. But first, a quick break. 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When news takes you where the story happens, we’ve just crossed into Lebanon. When the world’s best journalists come together to cover your world, you get the allne CBS Evening News. Every weekn night, the CBS News original 60 Minutes opens its archives. Pretty loose for Friday night. Yeah, I know. I mean, it’s not my first show. with moments you haven’t heard before. It’s almost more fun that way when you have something to prove. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss true crime anytime you want, anywhere you go with 48 hours podcasts. Real crimes, real lives, real justice. Listen to 48 hours podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. We are following reaction from across the political spectrum to the killing of Charlie Kirk. Former President Joe Biden writing on X. There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones. California Governor Gavin Newsome saying there the attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in every form. and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also writing, “Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk. Casey and I are praying for his family.” Charlie was a warrior for liberty and his murder is a tragedy for our nation. Lawmakers observed a moment of silence for Kirk on the House floor. However, the moment was cut short. Colorado’s Republican Congresswoman Lauren Bobart asked for a spoken prayer, saying, “Silent prayers get silent results.” And that then led to outbursts from the Democratic side of the chamber with the speaker having to call for order. Jordan Last was at today’s event and saw the shooting and here’s what he told Julia Goodrich earlier about what he witnessed. We were only about 10 or 15 minutes into the event and um I I was kind of near the line where people were asking questions. I couldn’t actually see Charlie, but I heard just a loud pop. And in my mind, I was like, “Okay, could be a firework, could be something, but uh I had a cement kind of pillar or barrier behind me.” And you know, just to be cautious, I kind of went behind it. The people with me were like, “What was that?” And then um that’s when people started saying to us, “Hey, Charlie’s been shot. Um like I saw him fall.” And then I knew, okay, this is a an active shooter situation. I crouched down. A lot of us crouched down. We really didn’t know what to do. I was just kind of waiting for, I guess, other shots to go off. Maybe 30 seconds after the shot, uh we people started to yelling run. Uh there was a door maybe 10 ft from us and people started filing through that. And so we said, “All right, let’s go.” I crouched down, went to the door, and I just took off running and, you know, I guess ran as as far as I could until I felt safe to the parking lot and then eventually to my truck and was with a couple other people and we all kind of stuck together and we didn’t know each other beforehand, but stuck together. We’re just talking about it afterwards. So, that’s basically uh what happened to me. I was maybe 50 to 100 ft directly to the right of Charlie Kirk when this happened. Leading up to that, I’m curious about your thoughts on security. There was a lot of people there. It was an open crowd. It’s an open carry state, not an open carry campus, but talk about kind of the the optics of security before this happened. Yeah. So, when I came in, I I noticed his security team. I actually walked right by them. They were checking things out. But I did notice um I mean no one’s checking for weapons. No one checked me whatsoever. And honestly my I did think during the event before it happened like you know anybody could have a weapon here. So um yeah UVU I do believe is an is a concealed carry campus I believe. I just checked that out this morning or last night. Um but yeah I don’t know. Those are my observations. Under Biden, our young people own nothing and they are miserable. Donald Trump refuses to accept this fake, pathetic, mutilated version of the American dream. When he was president, young people were richer than ever before, and he will do it again. And that was Charlie Kirk speaking at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last July. The Trump ally also spoke at the RNC back in 2020. That was during the president’s first term in the White House. Joining us now with more on Charlie Kirk is CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefe. Ed, thanks for being with us uh on this day. Help us take a step back and and give us some perspective on Kirk’s role in today’s conservative movement. It is hard to understate the scope of his influence. Yeah. especially among younger conservatives or younger Republican voters or those at least that spend a lot of time online. Uh Kirk began his Turning Point USA organization uh about 12 years ago when he was only about 18 and inspired by the Tea Party movement, built it from there. It it now includes uh Turning Point USA, which is a more of a political arm, and then um even Turning Point Faith, which is uh designed to uh organize uh among those that are more uh religiously conservative. And so uh you know then there’s a radio show and there was podcasting and there was a pretty voseiferous social media feed that included highlights from the event like the one he was holding today uh where you you hold these sorry prove me wrong exchanges with people who may disagree with you like Anna said one of the issues he talked a lot about in this country guns in America there would have been conversation about that could have been something that was going on in the news or with sports uh certainly issues of um of faith and and society in general and then defending the Trump administration from those that disagreed with it. But the idea was that he would sit there, engage the person, try to have a, you know, uh healthy and breezy back and forth. Maybe the other person uh walked away from it convinced, maybe the other person walked away slightly angry. Uh but the idea was he was trying to show his followers you can have these kinds of healthy conversations and here’s how you can defend your viewpoint uh from the conservative perspective. And again there are a lot of people in this country today Nancy who are learning about who he is for the first time. A and that’s because the way your social media feed works may not serve you that kind of content. Uh that’s to the detriment of of everyone that you’re not seeing the other side necessarily. And so this will be an opportunity for people to learn about uh maybe what he what he stood for and what he stood against and whether you agree with it or not uh that that’s what he was out there doing. Um and that it ended so violently and so unexpectedly is really going to be a profound marker on the conservative movement. You’ve seen the reaction from the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense, other senior White House officials like Steven Miller, for example, uh others who work in the West Wing who were close with Charlie uh who were inspired by the activism uh that he led and in many cases may very well be in the jobs they’re in because Charlie Cook told the president, “Yeah, that guy should should have that job or she should be working in that part of the administration.” Because we know that during the transition last year, given what he had done to help mobilize the conservative vote for the president, given how close he’d become with the president and his son Donald Trump Jr. especially he was at Mara Lago in transition meetings cherrypicking people for senior government roles urged them to put cashel at the FBI uh would have steered them towards certain people to put in the cabinet and then went out and used his movement to make sure that these people got the votes needed from fellow Republicans who may have been skeptical about their qualifications and made sure they got their jobs and others thinking ahead to the future of the party and the future of the MAGA movement knew that they had to be cultivating him and those that followed them because they are the foot soldiers in the conservative movement today. And guys like Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro, um, and plenty of others are the ones that the party leans on now, uh, to help draw attention to issues or to certain candidates who may need some money and manpower, uh, and to make sure that they understand why it is the president is doing what he’s doing. And Ed, the thing is, it’s an incredible impact for someone who is just 31 years old and yet he’s been part of this conservative scene uh, for quite some time. He started quite early on the grassroots level. Can you talk a little bit about that impact that not only he has had as a political figure in his own right, but also the movement he has helped spawn through turning point itself? Well, yeah, and and and that’s is we heard some on our air earlier today saying how attending and speaking at a Turning Point event could be just as effective as speaking at a Trump rally in terms of the mileage you could get out of doing so. that clips of it would spread, that the word of mouth would spread, that the donations might come in, that the volunteers willing to show up to help you because they like something you talked about, uh, would, you know, would would suddenly materialize, that there was real equity, um, or you could get results in essence for for being associated with them. There were conferences held by Turning Point and its various entities earlier this year that drew several senior Trump administration officials because before their government work and during it, they understood they were there in part because he made it happen. He helped find the voters necessary in the swing states. He helped draw the support needed to make sure Republican senators voted for them, maybe even some Democrats. Um, and he was sustaining that support by talking about them, having them on as guests, uh, and making sure that his followers knew about him. Um but again you know we we we talk Nancy in this country about making sure that young voters are engaged and that they participate in the process. That is what he was doing. Whether you agree with him or not, whether you find what he said u you know acceptable or vile he was a voice in the system and he was shaping the country to his liking through the work he was doing. And we’ve seen it on the left, we’ve seen it on the right, we’ve seen it among labor leaders, religious leaders, civil rights leaders through American history. he will rank as one of those kinds of activists that drew people to the streets, drew people to causes and events and and was gunned down way too soon. Uh an incredible legacy. I’m also I also find it noteworthy to to see the reaction that has been pouring out not only from leaders on the right but also on the left and notable names like Kla Harris, former President Obama, former President Biden. I mean it is rare to have le the leaders on on both sides be able to speak uh so movingly about one figure at this point. Well and and mostly most especially to to denounce violence of all sorts um as they should. Uh but also because you know there there are Democrats who were trying to take cues from him trying to figure out how it is that you were convincing people to to to you know to to to rally to your cause. I think the most notable example, that’s why I’m pulling it up here, was the California governor, Gavin Newsome, who himself launched a podcast earlier this year. We’ve now seen the Kentucky governor, Adam Andy Basher, go out and do the same thing because they understand the voters I need to reach, young male, um, and either, you know, right or center right are out there and they’re out there listening the podcasts and they’re out there in the digital space and they may be watching us right now on their phone or or or at home on their flat screen or their laptop. And Nome specifically went to see him. Uh they had an interview for Nuisance podcast. The governor was denounced for doing so, but at the same time he said, “Look, this guy figured out how to tap the political marketplace successfully. We as a Democratic party have to do so as well. And that’s why I want to talk to him.” And today he was among the first national Democratic leaders to call the attack on Kirk disgusting, vile, and and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in every form. and um you know we’ll we’ll continue to see how the country reacts to this in the coming hours. And again uh a lot of people who knew him and a lot of people have no idea what he did and may this perhaps be an opportunity for people to try to get beyond what their algorithm serves them and learn a little bit about the other side if they if whether they like him and agree with him or not. A very fair point there. Uh Ed O’Keefe, thank you very much for joining us with your insight. Republican Congressman from Utah, Mike Kennedy, joins us now. Congressman Kennedy, thank you for being with us on this day. What are your thoughts? Nancy, I’m really sad that we have to be together to talk about this tragic event, but I’ll just say to you, violence will not silence Charlie Kirk, nor his message, and will not silence the mighty people of the United States of America. And we will rise up and continue to do the vital work that needs to be done. And God bless Charlie Kirk’s family, his wife Erica, his children, and there were a number of of young people at this event. God bless him as well in this tragic time. Congressman Kennedy, um, what did Charlie Kirk mean to the conservative movement? Charlie Kirk continued to push forward in spite of threats. He was a a a seasoned veteran at debating, vigorously debating in a civil fashion, the issues of the day. And that’s why we will not stand down. Myself, I I take inspiration from the fact that he continued in spite of threats to his life that have occurred over time that he continued to push his message forward. The United States of America and the Constitution promote free speech and the opportunity for all people, especially with political speech to be able to speak their mind on the issues of the day. Charlie Kirk did that and his voice will continue to be heard. This tragic episode by this filthy assassin who committed this event will not silence his voice and it will not silence the good people of the United States of America. And I stand with my Democrat and Republican colleagues with Speaker Johnson, Leader Thun and President Trump. We will continue to move forward to do the work of the American people in spite of these violent efforts to shut down the opportunities for our citizens to speak freely on the issues of the day. And Congressman Kennedy, I can imagine this hits particularly close to home given that it did happen in your state. Uh what goes on in your mind when when when you first heard that news come in? It’s in my state and it’s in my district. This this place is just a few minutes from my house and I I know people that were there at that event and I know that this does not represent Utah nor its citizens. Uh and this institution is an outstanding institution full of great professors as well as students. And it’s a tragic event that they had to witness. But I know we can all learn from this event as far as this will not intimidate us. That I’ve had my as a state senator, I’ve had my house vandalized. I’ve had death threats against me. I know my congressional colleagues, some of them have had death threats as well against them. But we continue to do the work here in Washington DC. And I know my friends, my colleagues, the neighbors, they will continue to do their work to promote the opportunities that we have here in the United States. American. Violence will not intimidate us and violence will not silence the voices of our good people. Congressman Mike Kennedy, thank you very much for being with us tonight. Thanks for having me. Welcome in. It is 7:30 in the east, 4:30 in the West. I’m Juliet Goodrich. We’re following breaking news. Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Trump, Donald Trump, who was shot and killed today on a Utah college campus. It’s an act that the Utah governor is calling a political assassination. What happened at Kirk’s prove me wrong debate at Utah Valley University where he invites students to challenge his political and cultural views. Sources tell CBS News Kirk was killed by a single shot fired from a distance just after noon local time. Authorities say the shooter wore dark clothing and fired from a roof on campus. People in the crowd started screaming and running away after the gunshot was fired. And this was the moment Kirk was rushed from campus to the hospital. He was pulled through the crowd of people running to safety. Now, the governor of Utah gave an update about the investigation at a news conference this evening. Let’s take a listen. I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination. We are celebrating 250 years of the founding of this great nation. That founding document, the Declaration of Independence, that this this great experiment on which we embarked together 250 years ago, that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. The first one of those is life. And today, a life was taken. Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to two young children. He was also very much politically involved and that’s why he was here on campus. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people. Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated. And that’s what he does. He comes on college campuses and he debates. That is foundational to the formation of our country to our most basic constitutional rights. And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened. I pray that those who hated what Charlie Cook stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family and that all of us all of us will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans. At the White House, the American flag is lowered to half staff in honor of Charlie Kirk. President Trump says he’s ordering all US flags across the country to half staff until Sunday evening. The chair would ask that all members present in the chamber and those in the gallery please rise for a moment of prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family. House Speaker Mike Johnson led the chamber in a moment of silence in prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family. Speaking to cameras outside the chamber, he condemned the violence and called on political leaders to use their voices. I’m just going to say state the obvious here. This is detestable what’s happened. Political violence has become all too common in American society and this is not who we are. It it violates um the core principles of our country, our Judeo-Christian heritage, our civil society, our American way of life. And it must stop. We need every political figure. We need everyone who has a platform to say this loudly and clearly. We we can settle disagreements and disputes in a civil manner and political violence must be called out and it has to stop. Let’s bring in CBS News congressional reporter Torian Small for more on this. So toan Charlie Kirk had close ties with people inside the White House. So break down their response this evening. Yeah, off the top we saw the president ordering flags here at the White House grounds but also around the country at half staff. We saw that happened just about 2 hours ago since then. We’ve seen just a wave of reaction from folks not just within this administration, but also down the road on Capitol Hill from lawmakers holding that moment of silence on the House floor to the House Speaker given that very impassion plea for an end to this political uh this type of political violence. And then we saw presidents of past George W. Bush just put out a statement um sending his condolences to the family. Barack Obama, former president, also sending out his condolences and condemning this violence. What was also curious to me, I I also saw a uh post from California Governor Gavin Newsome. One of the first reactions to come out of this, he said, “Of course, there’s no place for this type of violence.” Um, and he also is one to reach across the aisle. He had Kirk on his podcast just earlier this year. So, they had some type of a cordial relationship there. But I can’t underscore enough just how important of a figure Kirk was to the president’s life. He has visited the White House several times this year. The president uh when he would come to visit would often tout how he was instrumental in helping him win with young voters. And part of that was because of the strategy that we saw at this event today, this debate me or prove me wrong as the events is as he called them, where he would meet with folks across the political aisle and have a very public debate that extended to digital spaces as where he would also then attach President Trump’s uh 2024 campaign to it. Uh, so a lot of folks working at the White House not only worked with Kirk, but know him intimately, which is why we’re seeing this outpouring of responses. Sure. Toriian, is this incident sparking any discussion in Washington about security measures in place? Yeah. What’s interesting, I saw uh my colleague Caitlyn Hueie Burns have a conversation with uh Mike Lee in the Senate. represents Utah there. And he was understandably so distraught at the the murder of uh Charlie Kirk, but also went on to say that this is something that should be considered, whether or not uh it’s safe for these public figures, especially connected to politics, uh to be out in the public. No word yet on if legislation will come from that. We haven’t necessarily heard the president weigh in on uh on needs uh or or security changes for folks in his orbit, but it is at least on the discussion and these early discussions uh as it relates to this shooting. Toriian Small Torian, thank you. Charlie Kirk was the founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA. It was founded in 2012 and as of today, the group says it has a presence on more than 3,500 campuses. In a statement this afternoon, Turning Point confirmed Kirk’s death and asked for his family and loved ones to be kept in people’s prayers during this time. Chris Van Cleave is outside Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix. A clearly elevated security presence in front of the Turning Point headquarters here in Phoenix. While Phoenix police say there are no clear threats against the organization here locally, we’ve seen a number of officers arrive in the last couple of hours. A white van there blocking access to the parking lot. Employees were sent home this afternoon. We watched as people lowered the American flag and the Arizona state flag to half staff after the word broke that Charlie Kirk had died in this shooting. also watched a steady stream of mourers come here to place flowers, leave hats. Uh we’ve seen people in tears, a lot of hugging, praying, people coming together, including a lot of young people coming to pay their respects. One young man we talked to said he felt like Kirk gave him a forum and a safe place to share his views, and Kirk became a voice for his beliefs, a voice that’s now been so violently silenced. Back to you, Chris Van Cleave. Thank you. Our partners at CBS affiliate KU TV in Salt Lake City are following the story. One of their anchors says her son was at the event when Kirk was shot. Heartbreaking day for so many. Thousands were in attendance. We know that many of you had students that were either on campus or at this event. Thousands of students there watching as this happened. I feel you today. My son, a student here at Utah Valley University, a sophomore this year. I did not know he was going to be at the event. He was actually texting me from the event earlier today saying, “I’m going to talk to him.” I was trying to figure out who he was talking to. And the next thing I heard was a call, him panicked and running um scared. You could hear screaming on campus. All the kids were running after that shot was fired. Uh hopefully we can talk to him at some point, but I know many of your students probably have had similar experiences. Brian, uh he told me on the phone that when this happened, he was standing in line. He was number 10. He wanted to debate or ask Charlie a question. He was waiting there not far from the stage. He heard one shot. He saw his head go back and then just sheer panic. Everyone running from campus and all of these students trying to figure out where to go. This is not a campus where students live on campus. So, they were all just trying to find a safe space to be. That’s very consistent with what we’ve heard also from other students um other event goers that were out there earlier today. this transpiring just after noon, just after the event and the speaking portion started to get underway. This was the first stop on Charlie Kirk’s tour. This is what he does. He travels the country and debates uh students on topics. And there were two stops in Utah. There was this one here at Utah Valley and the one also at Utah State University. Oddly enough, there was also the conversation last week about the early coverage of this event where he brought in Senator Mike Lee to to talk about this conversation. And then lo and behold, what happens here today uh was just I think something that nobody expected and nobody really anticipated transpiring. The people that were out here earlier today, I was speaking with a high schooler uh from the nearby UK uh school, the school that’s just local here. Uh a lot of them were here today. Uh he even told me that other students from other schools were getting extra credit to be here to be here and just listen and take in the spirit of conversation and the debate which is uh hard to come to grips with in today’s society here. And the sad part is this is the reality for our kids. My son uh had a couple of his friends meet him from South Jordan and Bingham High School. They came down here for this event and earlier this week they had a lockdown at the school where it was the first of its kind where they actually had the kids cover the windows, lock the doors, get under their desks, hide in a closet. After that trauma, they were already scared. They came down here today and this happened. I’m just sad that our kids live in this world, especially when the whole concept behind this, whether you agree with Charlie Kirk or not, is that kids could gather on campus, they could discuss politics, ask questions, and in a fun way debate those absolutely did not end that way today. Let’s We will continue to keep an eye on this breaking story. Charlie Kirk dead at 31 years old after being shot on campus at Utah Valley University. We also are covering more breaking news. Yet another school shooting, this time on a Colorado high school campus. We have the latest developments on the investigation. That’s next right here on CBS News 247 Prime Time. 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That’s just west of Denver in the Colorado foothills. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office says one of the students hospitalized with a gunshot wound is the shooting suspect. Now, here’s the latest update from officials. There were a lot of kids inside the school who saw it, um, heard it, witnessed something. So, we we’ll be tied up with those interviews for some time. Um, obviously, we’re going to focus on that suspect’s home, his car, his locker, all the things that we need to do to find out more about him and maybe why this happened. The shootings, all shootings occurred on school grounds, some inside, some outside. Thus, the variety of crime scenes. Uh law enforcement did not fire a weapon today and the suspect does have uh gunshot wounds. The high schoolers were busted to a nearby elementary school to be reunited with their families. CBS News Colorado is there with more on what the students saw and heard when the shooting happened. Well, we have been out at the elementary school for over two and a half hours now, and we have seen eight different school buses filled with school with kids uh bust to the school to be reunited with their families. When we first arrived, the first families were beginning to arrive as well. And at one point, we saw the line extend from the school through the parking lot and wrap around the sidewalk. Things have calmed down a little bit. The traffic has calmed down a little bit as more and more parents have been reunited with their children. And we’ve spoken with some of those families and the students that we’ve spoken with say it either happened during their lunchtime or their gym time and a PA announcement came over the speakers. Uh they say that message was locks lights out of sight. Typically that is telling them to find a room, get inside, lock the door, shut off the lights, and take shelter. Um, a lot of them were at lunch at the time. There was a door near the lunchroom that I’m told a lot of them were able to escape from. Each student we spoke with have a different story of how it unfolded for them. Here are some of those students. We were all super scared cuz we were in recess and we didn’t know what was happening. We thought someone was around our school. And then when rumors started to spread about something happening to the high school, I got really upset and I started calling my family. One had to leave lunch with his friends when they heard a PA announcement and the kids all ran out the emergency door and were running through the woods. He took shelter in somebody’s house and then they guided other kids into that house as well. Um my older son was at home but drove back to the high school to check on his little brother and his friends and he’s still making sure that all his friends are okay. I’m told by some of the students they have a drill that they do about once a year to go over this type of scenario and they were supposed to have that drill last week, but it was cancelled. So, we spoke with a lot of freshmen who they’re just a few weeks into attending this high school who really didn’t know what to do. Uh, and now they have to process something that they don’t know where to begin to process. We have seen a lot of families leave with a bit of relief on their face amidst the sadness, the fear and the anger. But we all know that uh these students and these families will carry this with them for a long time to come. It doesn’t end here as the students are reunited with their families. They will be processing this for a long time to come. And we will be here at Bergen Meadow Elementary School throughout the evening to give you updates as we receive them. But for now, I’ll send it back to you. New developments now out of New York where a suspect accused of murdering a couple and setting their home on fire is now in custody. Stay with us. That’s next right here on CBS News 247 Prime Time. What happens when you get conversation over conflict? I think they’ve taught me to have grace and compassion. When we follow the human side of the headline, I’m not asking that we ignore disability rather that we do not ignore ability. When news takes you where the story happens, we’ve just crossed into Lebanon. When the world’s best journalists come together to cover your world, you get the allnew CBS Evening News every weekn night. It’s the most popular F-word in Washington. fraud. Is it true that the social security number of just about every single American is available for sale on the dark web? An eyeopening 60 Minutes report. That’s chilling. It’s time for 60 Minutes. Your life is still a mystery. 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Some of the people who came to the event to watch Kirk speak spoke out about this terrifying event that unfolded. All of a sudden, I hear a pop. I just saw him grab. It looked like his neck and there’s just blood pouring out everywhere and his eyes kind of rolled back. I saw, you know, at one moment me and my buddy was having a good time just listening to what was going on and then we just saw we heard a loud shot, a loud bang and then I saw his body actually in slow motion kind of fall over. After a few seconds, people started saying like, “Oh my goodness, Charlie was shot. He I saw him fall to the ground.” And that’s when I realized this this is a serious situation. I was with one of my buddies and we kind of just talked and we thought it was cool because there was so many people and we thought it was cool to have so many people around there to just debate. We didn’t think that it was going to turn so violent so quickly. Nobody deserves to die for something where I mean everybody has different beliefs and that’s okay. That’s what makes us human and nobody deserves to get killed for having a belief that’s different than someone else. We take you to New York now where police say the man suspected of killing an elderly couple and setting their home on fire is now in custody. Officers tracked Jamal Mcgriff to Time Square after he allegedly used one of the victim’s credit cards. Now, police say Mcgriff approached Frank Olton outside his home and asked to charge his phone on Monday. A high-ranking police source told CBS News New York that Mcgriff pushed his way inside the home. He was not welcomed inside like police originally believed. And to Florida now, 12 jurors and four alternates have been selected in the federal trial of a man accused of trying to assassinate President Trump. So Ryan Ruth is representing himself in the case. He’s pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting an officer, and a number of gun violations. And New Orleans mayor Latoya Contrell appeared in federal court today. She pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, fraud, also obstruction of charges stemming from an alleged romantic relationship with her bodyguard. The mayor is the first sitting mayor in New Orleans to be charged while in office. Now, prosecutors accuse the mayor and her bodyguard of wasting more than 70,000 taxpayer dollars to conceal their romantic relationship. Contrell and Jeffrey Vappy the second are both charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and making false statements. We continue to follow breaking news. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk dead at 31 years old. We have reaction uh where we are seeing from multiple former US presidents tonight. Their reaction next. We’re NCIS. Do you guys want to see me do the chaa slide? 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I’m Juliet Goodrich. It’s 8:00 in the East, 5:00 in the West. Conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed today during an appearance at Utah Valley University just north of Proval, Utah. Now, along with founding conservative youth organization TurningPoint USA, Kirk had a massive following on social media and his podcast. President Trump has credited him with mobilizing young voters in the 2024 election and broke news of his death this afternoon. CBS News justice correspondent Scott McFarland reports. Just minutes into Charlie Kirk’s event on campus at Utah Valley University, after he tossed hats to the crowd, he began taking questions from the audience. Do you know how many masters there have been in America over the last 10 years counting or not counting gang violence? Someone then fired a gun and the shot struck Kirk in the neck. Oh my god. The crowd ran for cover while Kirk was carried away. Stop. Roughly two hours later, President Trump posted on social media that Kirk was dead, saying he was loved and admired by all, especially me. 24 hours. Utah’s Republican Senator Mike Lee. I’m devastated. I will miss him. My heart goes out to all those who mourn his passing today. Reporter Brian Schne is with our CBS affiliate KUV in Salt Lake City. He spoke to eyewitnesses. We finally got up and followed the crowd and I just kept holding her. I don’t even have my shoes on. I left my keys like and everyone’s just like scared like it it’s traumatizing like you know it it scares like I don’t even want to go to school tomorrow. A student I spoke to said they were there to exchange ideas and get a better understanding of the dialogue in today’s country. But all of that shattered as soon as Charlie Kirk was shot. I heard a loud bang, which I figured a shot would be a little bit louder, but uh I just saw it hit him and then he like fell over and slumped down and everybody got down and was screaming and then we all ran. Sources tell CBS News the shot that struck Kirk appears to have been fired from an elevated position in an academic building 1 to 200 yards away. Federal agents blanketed the scene along with local and university police canvasing the area. Kirk spoke last week on his podcast with Senator Lee about the tense atmosphere at the university ahead of his appearance. Senator Lee, this is already making a lot of headlines. People are very angry. They’re calling for my cancellation. They think our permit should be pulled. What? This is a greater response than when I go to Berkeley. The 31-year-old was married with two young children. His daughter turned three two weeks ago. In recent years, Kirk had become one of the most influential conservative figures, rallying young voters to the Republican party. I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country, TurningPoint USA, fighting for the future of our republic. He appeared multiple times with then candidate Trump during the last election. We’re grateful to be joined tonight by the founder of Turning Point Action, a gentleman named Charlie Kirk. Former President George W. Bush responded to the deadly shooting of Charlie Kirk with a statement writing, quote, “Today a young man was murdered in cold blood while expressing his political views and adding, quote, members of other political parties are not our enemies. They are our fellow citizens.” Former President Barack Obama also posted to social media, writing, quote, “We don’t yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy.” Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie’s family tonight, especially his wife Erica and their two young children. And former President Joe Biden posted, quote, “There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones.” Former President Bill Clinton also weighed in, writing, quote, “I’m saddened and angered by Charlie Kirk’s murder, and I hope we all go through some serious introspection and redouble our efforts to engage in debate passionately, yet peacefully.” Hillary and I are keeping Erica, their two young children, and their family in our prayers. Charlie Kirk was ingrained into the Trump White House after being a voice for young conservatives. We’ve mentioned the president credits Kirk with his success in courting young voters in 2024. Kirk spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2024 and 2020 along with the presidential inauguration in January. CBS News White House reporter Aaron Navaro has more on Kirk’s influence in the conservative movement. Charlie Kirk was someone who had deep ties not only to the Republican party as it is right now, but President Trump’s campaign and administration as well as President Trump’s vice president JD Vance and the many staffers now at the White House. Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, created in 2012 to organize young conservative voters, was involved in supporting Trump’s presidential runs in 2016 and his reelect in 2020. Turning Point had an even more hands-on role on the ground for Trump’s run in 2024 in creating a youth vote infrastructure that had not existed in Republican party politics. They had also built out significant parts of the Trump campaign in 2024 in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Kirk had appeared at multiple Trump campaign rallies over the years and had always gotten a deafening applause from supporters of President Trump. His influence continued after the election. As we know, Kirk had an advisory role to President-elect Trump as he was building out his presidential cabinet. In response to Kirk’s death on Wednesday, President Trump said that quote, “No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie Kirk.” The White House has also ordered that all flags on federal grounds will be flown at half staff. Aaron Navaro, CBS News, Washington. Our partners at CBS affiliate KUTV in Salt Lake City are following the story. Anchor Heidi Hatch says her son was at the event when Kirk was shot. Heartbreaking day for so many. Thousands were in attendance. We know that many of you had students that were either on campus or at this event. Thousands of students there watching as this happened. I feel you today. My son, a student here at Utah Valley University, a sophomore this year. I did not know he was going to be at the event. He was actually texting me from the event earlier today saying, “I’m going to talk to him.” I was trying to figure out who he was talking to. And the next thing I heard was a call, him panicked and running um scared. You could hear screaming on campus. All the kids were running after that shot was fired. Uh hopefully we can talk to him at some point, but I know many of your students probably have had similar experiences. Brian, uh he told me on the phone that when this happened, he was standing in line. He was number 10. He wanted to debate or ask Charlie a question. and he was waiting there not far from the stage. He heard one shot. He saw his head go back and then just sheer panic. Everyone running from campus and all of these students trying to figure out where to go. This is not a campus where students live on campus. So, they were all just trying to find a safe space to be. That’s very consistent with what we’ve heard also from other students um other event goers that were out there earlier today. This transpiring just after noon, just after the event and the speaking portion started to get underway. This was the first stop on Charlie Kirk’s tour. This is what he does. He travels the country and debates uh students on topics. And there were two stops in Utah. There was this one here at Utah Valley and the one also at Utah State University. Oddly enough, there was also the conversation last week about the early coverage of this event where he brought in Senator Mike Lee to to talk about this conversation. And then lo and behold, what happens here today u was just I think something that nobody expected and nobody really anticipated transpiring. The people that were out here earlier today, I was speaking with a high schooler uh from the nearby UK uh school, the school that’s just local here. Uh a lot of them were here today. Uh he even told me that other students from other schools were getting extra credit to be here to be here and just listen and take in the spirit of conversation and the debate which is uh hard to come to grips with in today’s society here. And the sad part is this is the reality for our kids. My son uh had a couple of his friends meet him from South Jordan and Bingham High School. They came down here for this event and earlier this week they had a lockdown at the school where it was the first of its kind where they actually had the kids cover the windows, lock the doors, get under their desks, hide in a closet. After that trauma, they were already scared. They came down here today and this happened. I’m just sad that our kids live in this world, especially when the whole concept behind this, whether you agree with Charlie Kirk or not, is that kids could gather on campus, they could discuss politics, ask questions, and in a fun way debate those absolutely did not end that way today. KUTV reporter Leslie Dwerte is outside the hospital where Charlie Kirk was taken after he was shot. Brian Heidi. I’m here at the hospital, Tanoga’s Hospital, where in the last few minutes, there has been a lot more activity. And the latest is we just saw the medical examiner arrive to the hospital. This, as I’m speaking, people are gathering here. More and more people are arriving to pay their respects to Charlie. Just around the corner, people have flags, signs, many in tears. And as I mentioned moments ago, the medical examiner arrived and police are still present. Roads are blocked or the entrances to the hospital are blocked off, only letting emergency vehicles inside or people who need care. This is still developing and has been a tragic moment and certainly people here are feeling emotional over what happened here in Utah. From that, I’ll send it back to you guys, Brian Heidi. We’re getting new information here at CBS News 247 prime time. I want to bring in Anna Shear, senior producer at the CBS News crime and public safety unit. Anna, I know that you have some information from Cash Patel. Yes, he just posted on X that the person of interest that FBI was questioning has now been released. So, yet another twist to this confusing afternoon. We’ve had a lot of uh conflicting information over the last few hours. There was an individual arrested. Initially, that person was released. It appeared that the FBI and authorities were saying that a second person of interest was being questioned. That is our understanding according to the information that’s been made public by law enforcement. Uh Cash Patel jumped the gun about 10 minutes prior to uh a law enforcement press conference uh about an hour ago saying that a suspect was in custody. Uh now walking that back. So is there an active manhunt on our screen? We’re seeing SWAT teams out walking around. Uh this has really been a challenging environment for law enforcement and they don’t appear to have been ready for this type of an event. Clearly uh they had a small number of resources uh covering the event and then in the immediate aftermath. It’s unclear if they know who the suspect is. So very strange series of events in the wake of this horrific uh targeted brutal attack that left Charlie Kirk dead. Uh you saw that gunshot fired. Uh our experts that we’re talking to say likely about 100 to 200 m away. Um the school told us they believe they know from which building the shot was fired. Uh law enforcement tell us they believe the shot was fired from the roof. I’ve been reviewing footage. I do see footage of an individual running on the roof, but we don’t know if that was the shooter. So, lots of questions remaining there on the scene. Yeah, absolutely, Anna. And if we kind of backtrack, you know, initial reports said that there was a person in custody that was within the hour of the shooting and then just recent reports saying that that person had been released and that there was a uh person of interest being questioned. So, um at this point, where do things stand? There is no suspect. There is no one in custody. Correct. That’s right. At this point, we do not have any information to lead us to believe that a there is a suspect, that they even know the identification of the shooter. This is a very weak position for law enforcement to be in hours after the attack. Uh, every minute that passes by gives a suspect who could be on the run more time to get further away uh from the scene. What’s heartening is that there is a lot of uh surveillance cameras around the area like really anywhere. Uh, and it just takes time for law enforcement to recover that footage, go through it. It’s painstaking work. Of course, they’re going to put every agent on it. Um, but you know what’s interesting about this event, it really caught everyone offguard and this is a person who was one of their own, an associate of Cash Patel, very tight with Donald Trump. I think the shock and the mourning uh seems to have affected the way this is all playing out. We were seeing uh a release from Cash Patel that likely went out too soon talking about a suspect in custody. Now, we’re hearing that it was a person of interest who was released already. A very confusing, not aized um effort in terms of keeping the public informed about where law enforcement was in terms of the investigation. And I can’t help but wonder, I know that there’s a lot of surveillance video, but I just wonder about the security and manpower that was physically there. And I do find it interesting that this was a conservative speaker. There was a lot of talk prior to him coming. Um some talk that people didn’t want him there. So I am I’m curious uh where that security was in the lineup of things for this particular event. It’s a great question. So Charlie Kirk does have his own security team. um a relatively small team, but there were people around him in the immediate area around him who worked directly for him and they likely coordinated with the university in advance in some capacity. They, you know, picked the location. Uh they coordinated on a time for people to come and set up. Uh they probably also coordinated with student leaders at Turning Point USA at the university who invited Kirk to attend. So, I’m sure there are conversations about that. Now, there were about a a half dozen local police who were also present according to law enforcement. There were more than 3,000 people potentially that attended the event. So, that woefully understaffed is how I would describe that. If there were in fact only a handful, even if there were a dozen police officers, uh, for that many people, uh, that’s really not enough because, you know, when you draw a crowd like that in in the open air and, you know, it’s warm outside, things happen. People need help. People need first responders. My my instinct is that Kirk thought, okay, I’m being invited by this student group. You know, I founded this 12 years ago. There was a level of comfort thinking that he was speaking to a friendly crowd and by all accounts if you look there he was. There was a there was chatter online discussion controversy around the event but he’s used to that and he invites that that was his whole modus operende was to invite uh voseiferous debate even controversy around himself and he was comfortable with that. Um, unfortunately, it appears that the organizers uh really miscalculated how much police presence they needed. But I would also say in law enforcement’s events to secure a location like this in the wide open where anybody can walk in on campus, even if they had metal detectors, that would have been much better. But it’s very challenging to secure an area like this against a lone wolf operator. Yeah. Very much so. All right, Anna Shakar. Anna, thank you so much. Well, we will talk to an FBI special agent about how authorities are approaching this investigation into the deadly shooting on this Utah college campus. That’s next. We’ll be right back. What happens when reporters take you inside the story? 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What happens when the world’s best journalists come together? Write a prescription for the healing of America. We’re retired and this is our paradise. No, it’s gone. You get the stories of America every night. You get the allnew CBS Evening News every weekn night. I can only describe it as evil. Follow and listen to Train to Kill, the dog trainer, the Aerys, and the Bodyguard on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. My job can get dangerous sometimes, but I’m very good at what I do. I know you’re scared. I’m here to help. They said you were the best. Your daughter hired me to bring you home. I made a promise. I would never stop looking. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You hear about the reward? Come in. Okay. Tracker. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS Fall. I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination. We are celebrating 250 years of the founding of this great nation. That founding document, the Declaration of Independence, that this this great experiment on which we embarked together 250 years ago, that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. The first one of those is life. And today, a life was taken. Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to two young children. He was also very much politically involved and that’s why he was here on campus. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people. Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated. And that’s what he does. He comes on college campuses and he debates. That is foundational to the formation of our country to our most basic constitutional rights. And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened. And that was Utah governor calling the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk a political assassination. Okay, so these pictures were taken moments before 31-year-old Kirk was fatally shot at the event at Utah Valley University this afternoon. I want to bring in now Doug Coons. He’s a former special agent and supervisory special agent of the FBI. Thanks for joining us. So much to talk about, but let’s first and foremost talk about the fact that there is no suspect in custody after a couple of people were taken in for questioning. Um, we’re so used to a quick resolution and that cops find someone quickly. Tell us about the scramble and what’s going on here. Right. I I’m speculating. Uh but when you’re working these kind of things, you know, back when I was active in the FBI, typically you get a lot of data all at once when it first happened, you you’ve got uh tips coming in. You’ve got internet, you’ve got phone, you’ve got uh the people that are are there that are providing information and law enforcement acts upon that. And obviously they’ve detained a couple people that were persons of interest that most likely have have been questioned and and somehow cleared of that and and released. And uh so the investigation continues. Um like you said, we’re used to with technology and cameras everywhere, a lot of times these things are resolved fairly quickly or the the shooter kills himself or or whatever may happen. But it doesn’t always happen that way. You look at the United Healthcare shooting and and that person was on the run for several days before he was caught. And really several days is not a long time to catch somebody. Um I think we’ve just gotten a little bit uh accustomed to a quicker resolution and it may not happen in this case. You know, they may catch him yet tonight, could be tomorrow, could be sometimes this this week, but I still have a lot of confidence that it will happen soon. Sure. Doug, let’s get into the mindset of the shooter, if you will. Um, we understand that he was on a a second level, so there was some thought into that. Do you think he acted alone? And what does that tell you that he had a clear shot or he certainly mapped out uh this vantage point? It’s hard to say whether or not he acted alone or not. Uh I would have to guess probably. Uh this was based on experience and it I do believe it had to have been fairly well planned out. A shot from that distance. You know, 200 yards is not a a real long way, but it’s long enough that you’re going to have to have a rifle with some optics on it. You know, a scope that um makes it accurate from that distance. and uh to be able to get uh a long rifle into a building and and up to a second floor, you know, it could have been staged there uh on days previously. Um you know, with the crowds around, I I find it hard to believe that he could have just walked up there that day. Um with everyone standing around, but uh again, we’re speculating. Given the information that we have now, uh where do things stand in the investigation? This obviously is going to go into the night and until the suspect is um brought into custody, but what are authorities doing? How how wide is their scope going now? Well, they’re using all the tools that are available to them. All of the security video footage, you know, there’s going to be hours and hours of that to look at that comes from not only the buildings, but the people with their phones. Um they’re probably trying to track down those people that have those and and get the video and review them. Uh also just doing the interviews of of the people that were in the vicinity. Uh looking to see uh who had access to the building. Uh there’s probably lots of internet and phone tips coming in that need to be vetted checked out. Uh and people mean well, but there’s such a flood of the tips that come in. uh it’s very hard to sift out sometimes what’s uh a legitimate um lead that could produce something versus just you know you know I saw somebody looked like he had something in his pocket you know that there’s not much you can do with that but you still have to take that call and do what you can yeah take each and every one of them seriously Doug thank you so much for your insight appreciate your time now as we told you earlier the son of a Salt Lake City news anchor was at the event where Charlie Kirk was shot and killed today. Heidi Hatch was able to speak with her son Jordan about what he experienced. Here’s that interview from just a few moments ago. My son was one of the thousands that was there today and I just saw him for the first time just a couple of minutes ago, but I’m going to have him come over here and talk to us a little bit about what he saw. Uh this was happening just after noon today. I was texting him just to check on his wrist cuz he heard it. Uh being a mom, checking in to see exactly what was happening. He didn’t answer me. Uh Jordan, at some point you texted back and said, “I’m hoping to ask him a question, but I didn’t know who that hymn was.” You were at this event today. Was it something that you were planning to do with friends or decided at the last second or what happened? Um yeah, I just I just I knew he was coming, so I decided a few days ago that I wanted to talk to him. I agree with him on most things. Um but I still think it’d be fun to debate him to I don’t know, just it’s it’s a cool experience. There’s millions of people watching, thousands of students there. I just thought it would be a fun experience. I got there, there was thousands of kids. Um, I got in line to go actually debate him and honestly it was probably good I got there uh at 12 when it started instead of earlier because I ended up further up in the line and it was probably So further up means like you were close to the stage or where were you at? I So there was some stairs leading down towards the stage and I was kind of at the top of those stairs. So, I was going to make my way down. I wanted to debate him, but I was just up there. I was talking to some kids and it just it happened. I I thought someone was blowing up fireworks. Um I thought there was some sort of firecrackers or something and then I just I saw his head go back. I saw him fall over and everyone freaked out. Kids were getting down. I sprinted out of there. Called you. Yeah. I got a panicked phone call and I’m not a very uh good mom under pressure because I think I freaked out and hung up on you at some point trying to find your dad. But when you left and you said you saw his head go back, did you realize in your mind that he had been shot or did you still think there was fireworks and he was being dramatic and fell over some? It took a second or two, but I heard the fireworks. I maybe even saw some smoke come up from somewhere, but I saw his head go back. I saw him fall out of the chair and everyone started screaming and I didn’t see any of the blood, but I think at that point I knew that something insane, something I never thought I would experience happened. I kind of realized that he had been shot. Um, and it was just it was hard to process in my head and I still don’t know if I completely have processed it, but So there was thousands of kids there. Did what when everyone started running, was there a clear path to get out? Did everyone realize at the same point or was it just sheer panic? A lot of kids hit the ground. I was running out of there. I had my backpack, my skateboard. There was kids shoving um around. I even had some friends. They’re probably 15 ft from the stage. They have a video from when they were there. Everyone just hit the ground. No one kind of realized what happened, but they had even a better vantage point of what happened. They could see kind of the gruesome aspect of it. And I’m glad I wasn’t there because I was pretty close to the door. I was able to get out. I’m familiar with UVU. So, I knew my way back to my apartment. I made my way back. I called my friends, called my mom, my dad. Just, you know, you have some friends that are here with you right now. They came down um from the high school today. And earlier this week, Bingham High School had a lockdown where the kids didn’t know exactly what was happening. They were locked in classrooms. They were told to cover the windows, get under their desks, and then something like this happened. Um, were they pretty afraid? I think so. The two friends I had from high school, um, I think we’re pretty We will continue to follow this breaking story. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk dead at 31 years old. We’ll have continuing coverage on CBS News 247. Counting gang violence. Great. Conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk shot and killed during an appearance at a college campus in Utah. The tribute tonight from President Trump. And NATO jets scrambled to shoot down Russian drones over Poland, raising fears of a widening war in Eastern Europe. Simply defies imagination that that could be accidental. Eye on America, 24 years after the September 11th attacks, how a new generation is being taught to never forget. And tiny specks on ancient rocks. NASA says this could be the clearest evidence yet of life on Mars. From CBS News headquarters in New York, this is the CBS Evening News. Good evening. I’m Maurice Dubois. I’m John Dickerson. Conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed today during an appearance at Utah Valley University just north of Provo, Utah. Kirk, a 31-year-old influential ally of President Trump, was speaking to a crowd on the campus when he was shot in the neck area. Kirk was the co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA. He had a popular podcast and millions of followers on social media. President Trump had credited him with mobilizing young voters in the 2024 election. This evening, the president broke the news of Kirk’s death, calling him a truly great American patriot, and flags were lowered to half staff at the White House in honor of Charlie Kirk. CBS News justice correspondent Scott McFarland has been speaking with his federal law enforcement contacts and leads us off tonight. Scott, what have we learned? Several hours after the shooting, it’s still unclear who pulled the trigger. The FBI director gave shifting information tonight. At first saying a subject had been taken into custody for the shooting, then saying that subject had been released. Just minutes into Charlie Kirk’s event on campus at Utah Valley University, after he tossed hats to the crowd, he began taking questions from the audience. Do you know how many masses there have been in America over the last 10 years counting or not counting gang violence? Someone then fired a gun and the shot struck Kirk in the neck. Oh my god. The crowd ran for cover. While Kirk was carried away, folks. Roughly two hours later, President Trump posted on social media that Kirk was dead, saying he was loved and admired by all, especially me. 24 hours. Utah’s Republican Senator Mike Lee. I’m devastated. I will miss him. My heart goes out to all those who mourn his passing today. Reporter Brian Schne is with our CBS affiliate KU TV in Salt Lake City. He spoke to eyewitnesses. We finally got up and followed the crowd and I just kept holding her. I don’t even have my shoes on. I left my keys like and everyone’s just like scared. Like it it’s traumatizing like you know it it scares like I don’t even want to go to school tomorrow. A student I spoke to said they were there to exchange ideas and get a better understanding of the dialogue in today’s country. But all of that shattered as soon as Charlie Kirk was shot. I heard a loud bang which I figured a shot would be a little bit louder, but uh I just saw it hit him and then he like fell over and slumped down and everybody got down and was screaming and then we all ran. Sources tell CBS News the shot that struck Kirk appears to have been fired from an elevated position in an academic building 1 to 200 yards away. Federal agents blanketed the scene along with local and university police canvasing the area. Kirk spoke last week on his podcast with Senator Lee about the tense atmosphere at the university ahead of his appearance. Senator Lee, this is already making a lot of headlines. People are very angry. They’re calling for my cancellation. They think our permit should be pulled. What? This is a greater response than when I go to Berkeley. The 31-year-old was married with two young children. His daughter turned three two weeks ago. In recent years, Kirk had become one of the most influential conservative figures, rallying young voters to the Republican party. I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country. Turning Point USA, fighting for the future of our republic. He appeared multiple times with then candidate Trump during the last election. We’re grateful to be joined tonight by the founder of Turning Point Action, a gentleman named Charlie Kirk. The governor of Utah characterized this as a political assassination. At one point this afternoon, Utah Valley University police were going building to building and doortodoor to get students off campus and away from campus. Maurice John. Okay, Scott McFarland, thank you. Moving fast. We’re joined now by our chief Washington analyst, Robert Costa. He spoke frequently with Charlie Kirk and our senior White House correspondent, Ed O’Keefe, can tell us more about Charlie Kirk’s friendship with President Trump. Bob, let’s start with you. What can you tell us about Charlie Kirk? Charlie Kirk was someone who was a father. He was a son. He was a husband. And he was also a political force. So many Republicans today are stunned to see a rising star gunned down. On paper, an activist, someone who was influential with many young Americans, especially those who are more on the right. Yet, this is someone who has built relationships in his 20s and early 30s with some of the most powerful people in this country, most notably President Trump. They trusted Kirk as someone who really knew how the country was mapped out on college campuses, where the votes were, where the power centers could be for the next generation of the Republican party. And so, it’s not just about a friend being lost, and someone who’s a confidant to those in the party. But this was someone who was seen as the leader for the party as it look to the future. And Ed, Donald Trump gave Kirk a lot of praise for helping him win reelection. Just how important was he? Oh, incredibly important to the Trump re-election. Among other things, he was among those pushing now President Trump to pick JD Vance as his running mate, arguing that he would help reflect the next generation of the MAGA movement uh should he uh run for president himself one day. Very close with Donald Trump Jr. went with him to Greenland earlier this year when that was an issue for the White House. and is someone who in the during the presidential transition was meeting on a regular basis with President-elect Trump to pick cabinet secretaries and other senior government officials. In essence, saying to him, “Pick this person for that job. Send this other person to this other agency and then making sure that Republican senators would provide the votes necessary to get them confirmed and put pressure on a handful of Republican lawmakers who raised concerns about some of those picks. The thing to keep in mind though, if you’re someone who doesn’t know who this guy is, who who Charlie Kirk was, and given the age we live in where your algorithm may be different than your neighbors or one of your relatives, this was somebody who that eyewitness said tried to help get a better understanding of the dialogue to like-minded conservatives across the country. And in doing so, was convincing younger conservative voters across the country to support President Trump last year, made him so essential to his re-election campaign. Bob, you’ve covered the conservative movement for a long time. Kirk rose as the movement was changing. Was he a product of that change or was he a driver of that change? John, he he was certainly a driver of that change. This is someone who you see in Charlie Kirk, someone who saw Mitt Romneyy’s defeat in 2012. And he was able to say, “Yes, maybe the traditional Republican party was moving in that direction, but he was open to new arguments, open to nationalism, to populism, to the rise of then businessman Donald Trump in 2016. And he saw an opportunity for the Republican party to go in a new direction. And that’s why he was able to build a bond with Tucker Carlson, with Donald Trump Jr., and with President Trump. But it’s notable that Charlie Kirk was not just one of so many conservative activists. John, at the end of the day, this is someone I observed up close at event after event. He had joy. You may disagree with Charlie Kirk’s political views. You may march in the streets against them. You may be a major supporter of his and count him as an ally. At the end of the day, whether it’s California Governor Gavin Newsome or others, they saw him as someone who was a real competent conservative and worthy of the arena he was in. Robert Costa and Ed O’Keefe in Washington for us. Thank you both. We mentioned Charlie Kirk’s work with his conservative youth organization, Turning Point USA. Chris Van Cleave is outside Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix. Yep, guys. We’ve seen an elevated security presence here. Phoenix police on scene. Although Phoenix police also say there are no indications of any specific threats here locally against the organization. A number of officers have arrived in the last couple of hours. That white van is blocking the driveway. Still, we were here as we watched as employees brought the American flag and the Arizona state flag to half staff. Most employees were sent home this afternoon. And we have watched as a steady stream of people have come to pay their respects, dropping off flowers. We’ve seen a lot of emotion. People in tears embracing each other and praying. Noticeably, a number of young people are among the folks coming to pay their respects. Kirk did a lot of events on college campuses as you’ve heard Bob Costa say. One young man we talked to said he felt that Kirk created a forum that was welcoming for him and gave him a voice, a voice that has now been so violently silenced. Here’s Van Cleave for us. Thank you, Chris. Now, more of the top stories from around the world in tonight’s evening news roundup. A shooting at a high school in Evergreen, Colorado near Denver. Three teenagers are in critical condition. Authorities say the suspected shooter is among the wounded and it’s unclear what led to the shooting. Cutter’s prime minister says Israel’s air strike targeting Hamas leaders in his country killed any hope for the hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza. More now from MTS Taab in the capital city Doha. Well, the mood here in Doha has gone from shock to outright fury following the unprecedented Israeli attack that targeted Hamas negotiators as they were reviewing President Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal. Now, Guthur’s prime minister has called for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to be quote brought to justice by international courts. While Guthri officials have told us they feel betrayed by the Trump administration, who they say did not warn them in advance of the strike. Whatever the case, Prime Minister Netanyahu seems unfazed. In a video statement tonight, he warned Qatar to expel Hamas, saying if they don’t, Israel will. MTS, thank you. And it is a royal reunion for father and son. King Charles and Prince Harry met today for the first time in 19 months. Harry returned to the UK this week for charity events and to honor his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, on the third anniversary of her death. Harry has been estranged from the royal family since 2020 when he and his American wife, Meghan Markle, moved to California and stepped back from their royal duties. Still ahead on the CBS Evening News, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spills over into Poland, where a swarm of drones was shot down by America’s NATO allies. Elizabeth Palmer reports on the fallout. And Perseverance pays off. NASA says its car-sized rover, Perseverance, has found the clearest evidence yet of life on Mars. Okay. So, let’s just start at the beginning. Well, let me start with this. What is at stake here? What is the answer then? Do you know why you want me to just keep going? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Were there death threats? How is this possible? What’s wrong with that? Art, are you saying they lied? Have you told the government that? Why won’t you say the word crisis? You’re not answering my question. Is that scary? Does that make sense? What do you mean? What does that mean to me? Does any of that make sense? What’s your response? What happened? Why? It’s time for the CBS News original 60 Minutes, Sunday on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus. There is no more room in our city. New York City is receiving record numbers of migrants. Today, we’re going to have more than 500 adults and children come through that door. Tensions rise as shelters reach max capacity. We don’t have to take care of them. CBS reports goes inside a crisis cities and families are facing as they fight to survive. The United States still has that glimmer of hope for people to come here. Fighting for a future now streaming on the free CBS News app. This case, it’s like a screenplay. Something straight out of Hollywood, but it’s not fiction. It’s 48 hours. Human remains found this week. Four families shattered. There’s no physical evidence. The mystery would haunt investigators for years. There’s some questions that have to be asked and need to be answered. Like a John Gisham novel. A gripping true crime original. 48 hours. Now streaming on the free CBS News app. Here comes a big one. What I’ve seen, it’s like chaos. This is the pager that Hezbollah was using. How was this possible? Oh, come on. Come on. Wow. Ask me the hard-hitting questions. I’m open to all of it. 60 minutes. Is this what you want? 60 minutes. 60 minutes. It’s time for the CBS News original, 60 Minutes, Sundays on CBS. For the first time since the NATO alliance was formed after World War II, NATO planes scrambled overnight to take down enemy targets in NATO airspace. It happened over Poland during a Russian drone attack across the border in Ukraine. Elizabeth Palmer has reaction tonight from America’s military allies. People only realized Russian drones were overhead when they heard the fighter jets that shot them down. This morning, there they were, littering fields in eastern Poland. No one was injured, but one did hit this couple’s house. We were watching TV news about the drones, said Tomas Viswski. And then there was this massive boom. Polish F-16s were scrambled to shoot down the drones backed by F-35s from the Netherlands and Italian surveillance planes. And on the ground, Germany activated its Patriot air defenses. Russia’s defense ministry denies it had targeted Poland, but that’s unthinkable, said Polish Foreign Minister Ratoslav Sakorski. It simply defies imagination that that could be uh accidental. The Kremlin has a long history of provoking NATO. It sends fighter jets into Allied airspace and submarines into European waters. “This is the first time NATO has responded with force because this hostile incursion was just too big to ignore,” said NATO’s senior military spokesman, Colonel Martin O’Donnell. Uh this I think it’s reckless uh and I think it’s dangerous and again we the intentions uh of the act are still unclear. It’s being assessed but uh reckless and dangerous. How much of an escalation is this that NATO has responded with military force. These acts were taken in defense of allied territory. Uh and it’s it’s what it’s what our populations would expect us to do and it’s absolutely what we did. This wasn’t just a hostile military act. It was a political one, too. Poland’s foreign minister said today that Vladimir Putin is mocking President Trump’s efforts to bring peace in Ukraine. Elizabeth Palmer tonight. Thank you. Eye on America is next. The lessons of the September 11th attacks. How a new generation is learning to never forget. Ready? Yeah. And one, two, three. No matter how you start your day, one thing is clear. CBS Mornings is the best way to start your day. Clearly. Look at this outfit, baby. Give me some love, baby. We got a toy. Look at this. Oh, no. Clearly fun. Hi, Otis. Hi. Smart. We’ve got tips to save on clothes, tech, and more. Clearly uplifting. I’m getting goosebumps right now. Oh, my heart is soaring. Oh. Oh, I got I got one. I got one. Okay. I can’t wait. The light bulb went off right here. I saw it go. Okay, watch this. See CBS Mornings is clearly brighter. It’s going to be a bright sunshiny day. It’s a bright, bright, bright way to start your day. Clearly CBS Mornings weekdays at 7 on CBS. This is CBS. What happens when you get conversation over conflict? I think they’ve taught me to have grace and compassion. When we follow the human side of the headline, I’m not asking that we ignore disability rather that we do not ignore ability. When news takes you where the story happens, we’ve just crossed into Lebanon. When the world’s best journalists come together to cover your world, you get the allnew CBS Evening News every weekn night. The CBS News original 60 Minutes opens its archives. Pretty loose for Friday night. Yeah, I know. I mean, it’s not my first show. With moments you haven’t heard before. It’s almost more fun that way when you have something to prove. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss true crime anytime you want, anywhere you go with 48 hours podcasts. Real crimes, real lives, real justice. Listen to 48 hours podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. Politics isn’t a game. When do consumers actually get to touch and feel a difference in their lives? Politics is about policy. So you would encourage Democrats to work with Donald Trump on an issue like healthcare. I’m a voracious consumer of information and I’m impatient. I don’t like to be spun. Do you know if there are active terror cells in the United States right now? To be moderator of Face the Nation means bringing the most powerful stakeholders to the table to become better informed. September 11th, 2001. You will remember this day as long as you live. That was Dan Rather opening this broadcast 24 years ago tomorrow. Many of us do remember that day like it was yesterday. But nearly a third of Americans were born after those attacks happened. In tonight’s Eye in America, Nicole Skanga reports on a mission to teach school kids about 9/11 so they can carry on the nation’s promise to never forget. What do you already know about 9/11? And where did you learn what you know? In West De Mo, Iowa, roughly,00 miles from ground zero, history teacher Anne Croce is tackling one of the most defining moments of the past half century. Teaching students about 9/11 is critical. I want them to understand what their previous generation experienced that trauma and how an event like that brought millions of people, not even just in the United States, but globally together. Croiss was in the third grade and had never even seen a skyscraper when terrorists turned four airplanes into weapons, killing almost 3,000 innocent people. A catastrophe now history class for her 11th graders like Fitz Carpenter. I actually learned some new stuff. I didn’t know how many people were like evacuated on the boats. To develop her lesson plan, Croyce joined a group of teachers from all over the country this summer at New York City’s 911 Memorial and Museum. Part of a program designed to teach teachers what happened at ground zero. I could see the smoke coming from that that first tower, that north tower. Bill Spade is the sole survivor of Staten Island, New York’s Elite Rescue 5. I hear the chief say, “Uh, we need four more rescues here and we have jumpers.” He was one of the last men to evacuate the North Tower. We’re only minutes into this fire and we got jumpers. This is the World Trade Center site right here in Alabama. Chris Thlacer carries a different perspective. Just 25 on September 11th, the young Army officer deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan following the attacks. Which one of these was easier to relate to? Today he’s a high school teacher passing along lessons of the global war on terror and of the resilience that followed. It’s one of those watershed moments in US history. It must be taught. The patriotic side of it, the messy side of it is a great rallying moment for what we can achieve when we decide to work together. Even in darkness, there’s light. Absolutely. Should every teacher in the US be required to teach 9/11? Yes. I know it’s hard to try to teach on September 11th to students because, you know, some of them it’s just their second week of school, but at some point it definitely needs to be every state’s standard. So, you have the two twin towers. Which city are those in? A curriculum designed for those who can’t remember by this generation of teachers who have vowed to never forget. For Ian America, I’m Nicole Skena in New York. going to break my nose. I’ve Shop fall styles at Ashley. Easily make room for everyone with a dining table that extends to fit your crew. Get back and relax after the meal on reclining sectional sofas. Get everything you need for a great evening from Ashley. When you need to prepare for unpredictable adventures, you need weather tech. Laser measured floor liners front and rear. seat protector to save the seats. They’re all yours. They’re here. Hey, I knew you were coming, so I wither take the car. Can we get ice cream? We can now. Order your premium Americanmade products at wt.com. Did you know your brain has three dimensions of memory? working short-term and long-term. That’s why we created new Nariva Memory 3D. Unlike ordinary memory supplements, Nariva’s revolutionary formula has clinically tested ingredients that support three dimensions of memory. Take it from me. An elephant never forgets. When you need to remember, remember Nariva. Dogs of the world. Take a stand against bland. Let the benefitful revolution begin. Real meat and veggies. Explosive flavor. Jaw-dropping variety. Benniful. Get boring in the bowl. We’re NCIS. Do you guys want to see me do the chaa slide? Uh, can we get to the body, please? Right. Oh, what’s got you so punchy lately? Not punchy. Passionate. Just a grid team for wood. We’re NCIS. NCIS. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS Fall. No matter how you start your day, one thing is clear. It’s actually two things. Pretty sure it’s three, guys. Whether it’s news, money, health, or wellness, sports, movies, or even inspiration, clearly CBS Mornings is the place to be. That’s like seven things. Okay. Clearly, I’m bad at math. Always been. Clearly CBS Mornings weekdays at 7 on CBS. We can start whenever you’re ready. Ready? Yeah. Where are you? No. Stop. Wrong pedal. Wrong other pedal. The wheelchair. What do you want? Stop the car. That’s a kid. Kid. Kid. Did I pass? Now serving 942. I’m John Dickerson. I’m Maurice Dubois. Part of the allnew CBS Evening News. Watch now. Here we go. The ultimate tradition continues. 60 Minutes is here right now. America’s number one news program is a free stream. An ancient riverbed more than 3 billion years old. What made it stand out? It just didn’t look like the rocks around it. Dr. Nikki Fox is NASA’s head of science. This is by far uh the the the most interesting observation that we have made as we continue to look for life elsewhere in the solar system. It’s a rock for the ages and for the big question. Are we alone? Mark Stman, CBS News, Atlanta. But still no sign of any little red people. No Martians. You know, they’re they’re hiding hard to see somewhere. That’s it for the CBS Evening News for tonight. I’ll see you soon on CBS Evening News Plus and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow. Have a good night. CBS Sunday night. Here we go. The ultimate tradition continues. What I’ve seen, it’s like chaos. America’s longest running news magazine show is back for 60 minutes. 60 minutes with a new season. Hey, let’s go. You’re willing to talk about anything. I’m open to all of it. Ask me the hard-hitting questions. So, how do you get over the nerves? Honestly, it’s a whole bunch of mind. The most influential people. Who’s the best coach in college football? Let me see a mirror so I can look at it. Are you a billionaire yet? None of your business. And he’s trying to get me robbed. Investigated journalism. Am I getting a real look at what life is like in here today? Absolutely not. Do you think people visiting know that these were looted? When stories threaten our way of life, 60 Minutes demands answers. This is the pager that Hezbollah was using. Do you have hope that you may find him yet? It’s after we had finally like gotten a good view and like we were like, “Oh, this is so cool. We finally like get to see him and like hear what he’s talking about.” When everything like went down, it happened quickly. Uh some people said they thought a balloon popped. Others said they knew a shot was fired. What do you What did you think when it happened at first? I think when I heard the pop and saw Charlie fall, I like knew it was a shot. But just the pop alone, I was a little confused. But yeah, it was almost like we saw like him like draw back before we even like heard the shot. Like I immediately knew someone had been shot. So it wasn’t even like there was no question. I was just like, “Okay, got to get out of here.” Like fight or flight. So you guys all started running. Uh were you able to stay close to each other or was there so much panic that you couldn’t even find your friends and you were just trying to get to safety? We were able to stay together. There was four of us that had come together, so we just stayed together and just ran to the nearest bathroom and tried to get to safety. Yeah, we like kind of locked ourselves in the bathroom with a few of like the college girls and they had no idea what was going on at first. Like we were literally on the phone with 911 and they hadn’t gotten any calls yet. They were like by the end of the call they were getting like so many calls that they were like, “Okay, I have to like get on the other line, but just like stay where you are and like we just they were like asking all these questions.” They’re like, “Is there a few people?” And I was like, “No, there’s like thousand at least people here right now and like somebody’s been shot.” And you were the first to report it to 911, I think. So, as far as we know, that was just like our first thought for some reason. She was like, “Call 911.” And I was like, “Okay.” Yeah. When I was talking to Jordan, your friend, and my son on the phone, too. I was I didn’t know what to do. I’m like, “Should I hang up, tell him to run? Should I call? Should you call?” So, definitely a lot of confusion. Stick with us for just a second here. It is about 7:00. We’re going to start 2 News at 7:00 right now. But we do want to thank you for being with us. If you’re just joining us here, we’re live on the campus of Utah Valley University where earlier today 31-year-old Charlie Kirk with Turning Point Utah was shot and killed in an assassination style attempt shooting was shot and killed here on the campus. This is breaking news on 2 News at 7. We’re back out here live. We were talking to uh two seniors in high school from Bingham High School. They were here on campus today wanting to hear Charlie Kirk. Uh I want to talk to you both a little bit about this. Grace, you said that you’ve been involved with your brother with Turning Point. Tell me a little about it. Do they come and talk to kids on campuses? Because a lot of what they do is trying to get uh kids excited about politics and having these conversations. So, how did you get involved? Yeah, I mean it was partially my brother and like him telling me about it and just he was he was the president when it was at Bingham and then like handed off to one other girl and now it’s to me and then also Charlie Kirk was all over social media and when we were doing like club rush a couple of weeks ago everybody knew who Charlie Kirk was because they’ve seen him all over their Instagram or Tik Toks. Do you feel like kids your age talk a lot about politics these days or is it just not something they’re interested in? Where do you think it stands? I think a good amount talk about it, but it’s not like we’re having political debates in the classroom or anything. It’s mostly just people are involved. Yeah. Does this change how you feel about politics after what you’ve seen and felt today? Um, not a ton. I’m going to be honest. I think I still have like some very strong core beliefs and values that I think have stayed pretty much the same. Just a little more like timid about like coming to events like this. Obviously like after that it’s kind of like what do you even like should you be involved? It’s like kind of questioning like whether or not it’s like worth it to try and like you know make a difference. I mean I think in the long run it it is but obviously like when lives are being lost it’s like a much deeper like issue than just us going to like some event to you know learn and like be educated and support. It definitely changes things. I know it’s a difficult day and you guys are both still processing. Thank you so much for talking to us. I know uh your moms are waiting for you to get home so they can hug you as well. I think uh everyone needs an extra hug today. So, thanks so much for talking to us. Uh right now, we want to get back to Brian Will. He is at the Utah State Capital where shortly there is going to be a vigil going on for people who just want to gather and be with others to talk about what happened today. Heidi, that vigil is underway and I’m going to step out of the way so you can listen in to this vigil tonight here at the capital for Charlie Kirk. The speakers are just starting here with a prayer moment of silence and multiple speakers tonight. You can see people are carrying American flags. There’s more than 100 people gathered here at the capital right now. And let’s just take a listen in at what they’re saying. government that’s something to pray for for his legacy. Pray for his family, those that support them, those that are pray. here. And let’s just pray that there a concern because we love them. people for us and we appreciate what you guys So, that was a live look at the vigil taking place at the Utah State Capital. The audio a little bit difficult to hear. We’re going to try to get that resolved for you at anyway cost uh any of our costs here that we can. So, we’ll try to get that taken care of so you can watch it and listen to it. Um, it’s just another step in what has been a horrific day for so many that witnessed what took place here in Oram earlier today. So, to kind of give the timeline of what what was going on, Charlie Kirk was uh a political activist u talked to as many as a conservative was here um on his tour. So typically he will go around to college campuses all across the country, talk with students, have that dialogue and take questions and debate uh about political topics or heated topics uh on many dinner tables across the country and share his perspective but also hear other perspectives and then kind of go back and forth in an open debate sort of lifestyle with Turning Point USA that he founded when he was 18. Charlie Kirk, 31 years old, leaves behind a wife and two children. He was shot around 12:20 today uh by a single gunshot wound uh suffering rather from a single gunshot wound from a single gunshot that was on the campus of Utah Valley University. And the roller coaster of sort of what we’ve gone through throughout the day is figuring out the individuals potentially involved in this. So, a person of interest or a suspect. And at one point we had a suspect that was early um identified and there were videos circulating of him around on social media and what you were seeing was that suspect actually being detained and um saying something out loud. Now those videos circulating show an individual that was actually released. So we had that first individual that was taken into custody as a person of interest. Um that individual was actually identified in the press conference and as someone that is well known kind of in the political spectrum here going to a number of events and as an activist here in Utah, but he was cleared earlier today. Then there was the conversation about a potential suspect or a person of interest and we heard that at about 4:15 today during the news conference where there were persons uh a person of interest that was taken into custody and that was confirmed by both the governor and local police. Meanwhile, you had the FBI director, Cash Patel, saying that a suspect was in custody. So, you hear a suspect is in custody from the FBI director, but on the local side, we’re hearing that a person of interest was also taken into custody. So, which one which stage were they at at that point? And then we learned within the last hour or so that that initial suspect, according to the FBI director, has been released. So, lingering questions here. Is there still a manhunt or a be on the lookout, a bolo of sorts for an individual that was classified potentially as an active shooter and a homicide suspect that was out from the incident that transpired in the in the events that transpired earlier today around 12:20 in the afternoon? When I was on campus, I arrived here at about 2:00 on the dot on the north side of campus and we were standing there. the campus was actually still shut down, which is still the case, but we’ve been allowed to come on to a certain point on campus and share some of this live coverage with you. What we did see was law enforcement both on the local level um and the county level that were combing the neighborhoods. They were coming off of the campus and going and spreading out on the boundaries. They were periodically looking at a phone like this. So, as they were walking along these streets, they were looking at people that were walking along on the opposite side of the sidewalk. For example, myself and other people that were on the near sidewalk, and they were looking at a phone to reference of sorts a picture. What they were also doing was going towards homes, knocking on doors, talking to people, looking into areas of heavy brush, um, things like that. There was under an underground covert that went under one of the roads, and we’re seeing actually a canine that came over to actually see if they could catch a scent. So, it’s very clear that law enforcement had somebody that they were looking for early on, somebody that they were dedicated and dedicating their search to. But at this point, was that the suspect they had in custody? That question still needs to be answered. Or is that a different person wearing maybe that dark clothing that we’ve heard that description come about. Or was it the person that may have been seen on the top of a roof? There’s still those other questions. So, right now, we’ve had some of that information confirmed and some of these lingering questions. So, at this point, we’re just kind of playing this waiting game. Actually, as I’ve been trying to trade text messages here with folks that are in charge of the information flow, which would be the Utah Department of Public Safety, and as of about 45 minutes ago, they said they were anticipating sharing a info release. I did ask a series of questions about an individual. That’s some information had come to me directly about within the last hour and a half or so, which we won’t put out without confirmation, but I asked about some specifics for this individual and the suspect that they were looking into. Keep in mind if there is an active shooter or a situation such as this as we’ve seen with other instances here in Utah, we’ve got a be on the lookout or a bolo or a license plate with a photo and all these other things that are put out for the general public to see if they have something that they’ve noticed that they can dial into 911 or local law enforcement say, “Hey, I’ve seen this person.” And you see that with an Amber Alert or in the instance that happened on um the interstate last year with Sergeant Bill Hooser when Michael Jane was at large. You had those things too. I do want to bring you back to the Utah State Capital now where that vigil is still underway. Let’s take a listen. Courage, the same conviction, and the same love for that country that defined his life. Charlie Kirk believed America’s best days still were ahead. May his sacrifice stir in us a deeper determination to make that true. Tonight, our hearts are especially going out to Charlie’s wife and their two children along with all of his loved ones who are mourning the unmanageable loss. No words can erase the depth of their grief. But may they feel our unwavering support, love, prayers, and strength of this community standing beside them during this profoundly difficult time. Thank you. And may God bless Charlie’s family, Utah, and the United States of America. All right. Thank you, Representative Oxier. Uh those were touching words and I really especially appreciate your thoughts going out to the family as we all are heartbroken for that tremendous loss for those young children who will grow up without their loving father. Uh we will now hear from Rory Stewart who is with the Utah College Republicans and then we will hear from 14-year-old Christy Horlocker who has some thoughts about Charlie Kirk and his life. Thank you all for being here tonight. We are uh here to remember and honor Charlie Kirk. He was someone who believed deeply in the power of young people to make a difference in our communities and in our country. Through his work, he encouraged students to think critically and to speak up and to take ownership of the future. As a college student, uh, as a college student myself, I felt his message personally on campus, it isn’t always easy to stand up for what you believe in. But Charlie’s example gave us gave up me and many others the confidence to do uh to carry ourselves with courage and conviction. He reminded many of us that our voices matter and that even as students we can shape the direction of our country. Charlie was bold. He challenged us not to shy away from from hard conversations and to be proud in our beliefs and to carry ourselves with courage um to carry ourselves with courage and conviction. Whether you agree on every issue or not, you you couldn’t deny his passion for America and his tireless energy in fighting for what he believed in. Tonight, as we remember him, let’s carry forward his spirit. Let’s be people who continue showing up and having tough conversations and defending the freedoms we cherish. That’s the legacy Charlie left us, and it’s one worth living out every single day. Our hearts go out to Charlie’s wife, Erica, and his two kids. Thank you. Um, I love Charlie. He was such a good example to me and my siblings and my brother. Um, me and my brother would watch his videos all the time and and we would learn so much. And he wasn’t just all about politics. He was a missionary. He was teaching what was right. And that’s what I loved about him. God bless Charlie Kirk. We’ll now hear a few words from Representative Jake Sawyer and then I’ll share a few words. We’ll have a closing prayer tonight by uh rep former representative Brian King who was the minority leader in the house for many years and we served together and we’re grateful that he came tonight to join us in this vigil. Uh so we’ll hear now from Jake. Uh I know you guys can’t hear in the back so I’m going to just try and talk really loud if that works. vote. Do you vote? I can hear you. You can hear. Okay. First, I want to thank the first responders and the officers and the medical teams. Everybody who rushed in and is still working through this tragedy as we speak. Their courage and service remind us what true sacrifice and service look like, and they deserve our deepest gratitude and respect. Tonight, we remember Charlie Kirk. He was fearless. He spoke truth. He stood firm. and he inspired so many of us to do the same. His voice made people feel less alone and his courage gave others the strength to stand. But if Charlie taught us anything, it’s that this fight doesn’t rest on one man’s shoulders. It’s on all of us. Carry forward his courage, his conviction, and his love for this great nation. I still believe in Utah. I still believe in America. And I believe we can honor Charlie not just by remembering him, but by living out what he stood for. His impact will live on and it does live on in us. And it’s our responsibility to keep that alive. May his family find comfort. May we find the strength to take up the work and may God bless this state and this nation. Thank you. All right. This microphone is heavily influenced by gravity. All right. My name is Kerianne Lisenby. I’m a representative in the House and I am so grateful for all of my colleagues who are here tonight who are here to to recognize the bold life that Charlie Kirk led and to mourn together. The senseless violence that took Charlie Kirk’s life today is a heartbreaking attempt to silence a bold voice for truth. But it will not succeed. Charlie’s unwavering commitment to free speech, to the sanctity of life, and conservative values like faith, family, and freedom cannot be extinguished by such cowardly acts. Evil hates good and wants to silence truth. What should our response be in the face of such evil? Recently, Charlie said he hopes his calls for young adults to lead a more meaningful life will actually result in them spending less time on social media. His anecdote for them was to channel their frustration toward the transcendent. As Christie said, he was a missionary. He was a Christian. He said, “Focus on the transcendent instead of on tearing everything down.” Charlie used technology and his talent for debate to trigger a cultural great awakening. He said the next American revival won’t happen on Tik Tok and it won’t be spurred by political triumphs alone. It will show up in rising church attendance, marriage rates, and child births. These actionable these actionable ideas will amplify Charlie’s light as we let this tragedy unite us and strengthen our resolve to stand together and to speak against the evils of extremism and violence. This is a moving bit of the eulogy by Earl Warren for President Kennedy that I feel is applicable here tonight. Quote, “What moved some misguided wretch to do this horrible deed may never be known to us, but we do know that such acts are commonly stimulated by forces of hatred and malevolence, such as today are eating their way into the bloodstream of American life.” End quote. Frederick Douglas reflecting on Lincoln’s legacy said quote his death which was a calamity to the nation has not silenced his voice. His words and deeds still live and will continue to inspire generations. I hope and am confident that we will all be able to say the same of Charlie Kirk. Peretta Scott King in a speech after her husband Martin Luther King’s death said, quote, “The bullet that pierced the heart of Martin Luther King Jr. could not silence the truth of his message. His dream lives on and we carry it forward with love and courage. This underscores how MLK’s call for equality and justice persisted, inspiring continued action against hate. We hope Charlie’s suffering family will take comfort in the words of the psalmist. Quote, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” End quote. Just as Charlie inspired millions through Turning Point USA, his radio show, and his tireless activism, we must honor him fearlessly by continuing the fight for free of life and the principles that unite us. Let’s rally to keep his voice alive. As Jawaral Neu, India’s first prime minister in a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi said, quote, “You can kill a man, but you cannot kill an idea.” End quote. I pray. I pray we will all turn our hearts to God. and ask him to save our nation and our republic. His assassination will go down in the annals of history like Martin Luther King and JFK as this shot heard around the world and as a turning point in America. USA us. Thank you. That was inspiring. We will now have a moment of silence. Please join me. Thank you. I want to thank everybody who has come tonight again and I want to thank especially the woman who had the forethought to bring lots of Kleenex. Thank you. Thank you. There’s a young woman in the audience who has a basket full of Turning Point memorabilia that she would like to share with anybody who wants it. So, she’s right over here after the program. And we will now have hear the closing prayer from Representative Bri, former Representative I apologize, Brian King, who was the minority leader in the House for many years. And thank him for being here. Our dear heavenly father, we come together this evening in sorrow and concern in mourning for the senseless act of political violence that we have seen today in our beautiful state. We come here, heavenly father, not on one side of the political spectrum or another. Not as Democrats or Republicans, not as team red, not as team blue. We come here as Americans. We come here as Utons. We come here with a love for the basic freedoms that we enjoy and most importantly the freedom that we have to express ourselves with diversity with diverse viewpoints and perspectives and doing so with the right to share our opinions without violence and without disrespect. But recognizing that the bonds that keep us together as Americans are greater than the differences of opinion that at some at times we may feel strongly about. We pray specifically your honor or heavenly father for um the Kurt family. We pray for Eric and we pray for Charlie Kirch, too. Beautiful children who will now grow up without their father. We pray that thy spirit might be with them, that thou would help them, calm them, comfort them, and that they might know of. It’s time to choose performance automotive. When you choose performance, you’re choosing quality. That means quality vehicles, quality service, and a quality experience. Quality. Just one more reason to choose performance. 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Plus, more sports, more weather, clearly more CBS Mornings, plus Go to the ends of the earth. We’ll hit the heights. Reach for the stars. Star power. I like it. Experience thoughtprovoking, something that’s undeniable. Tada. And truly original reporting. I’m in on this. There’s always something new under the sun on CBS Sunday Morning. What happens when the world’s best journalists come together? Write a prescription for the healing of America. Not counting gang violence. Great. Conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk shot and killed during an appearance at a college campus in Utah. The tribute tonight from President Trump. And NATO jets scrambled to shoot down Russian drones over Poland, raising fears of a widening war in Eastern Europe. simply defies imagination that that could be accidental. Eye on America, 24 years after the September 11th attacks, how a new generation is being taught to never forget and tiny specks on ancient rocks. NASA says this could be the clearest evidence yet of life on Mars. From CBS News headquarters in New York, this is the CBS Evening News. Good evening. I’m Maurice Dubois. I’m John Dickerson. Conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed today during an appearance at Utah Valley University just north of Provo, Utah. Kirk, a 31-year-old influential ally of President Trump, was speaking to a crowd on the campus when he was shot in the neck area. Kirk was the co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turningpoint USA. He had a popular podcast and millions of followers on social media. President Trump had credited him with mobilizing young voters in the 2024 election. This evening, the president broke the news of Kirk’s death, calling him a truly great American patriot, and flags were lowered to half staff at the White House in honor of Charlie Kirk. CBS News justice correspondent Scott McFarland has been speaking with his federal law enforcement contacts and leads us off tonight. Scott, what have you learned? Several hours after the shooting, it’s still unclear who pulled the trigger. The FBI director gave shifting information tonight. At first, saying a subject had been taken into custody for the shooting, then saying that subject had been released. Just minutes into Charlie Kirk’s event on campus at Utah Valley University, after he tossed hats to the crowd, he began taking questions from the audience. Do you know how many masters there have been in America over the last 10 years counting or not counting gang violence? Someone then fired a gun and the shot struck Kirk in the neck. Oh my god. The crowd ran for cover while Kirk was carried away. Stop. Roughly two hours later, President Trump posted on social media that Kirk was dead, saying he was loved and admired by all, especially me. 24 hours. Utah’s Republican Senator Mike Lee. I’m devastated. I will miss him. My heart goes out to all those who mourn his passing today. Reporter Brian Schne is with our CBS affiliate KUV in Salt Lake City. He spoke to eyewitnesses. We finally got up and followed the crowd and I just kept holding her. I don’t even have my shoes on. I left my keys like and everyone’s just like scared like it it’s traumatizing like you know it it scares like I don’t even want to go to school tomorrow. A student I spoke to said they were there to exchange ideas and get a better understanding of the dialogue in today’s country. But all of that shattered as soon as Charlie Kirk was shot. I heard a loud bang which I figured a shot would be a little bit louder but uh I just saw it hit him and then he like fell over and slumped down and everybody got down and was screaming and then we all ran. Sources tell CBS News the shot that struck Kirk appears to have been fired from an elevated position in an academic building one to 200 yards away. Federal agents blanketed the scene along with local and university police canvasing the area. Kirk spoke last week on his podcast with Senator Lee about the tense atmosphere at the university ahead of his appearance. Senator Lee, this is already making a lot of headlines. People are very angry. They’re calling for my cancellation. They think our permit should be pulled. What? This is a greater response than when I go to Berkeley. The 31-year-old was married with two young children. His daughter turned three two weeks ago. In recent years, Kirk had become one of the most influential conservative figures, rallying young voters to the Republican party. I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country, TurningPoint USA, fighting for the future of our republic. He appeared multiple times with then candidate Trump during the last election. We’re grateful to be joined tonight by the founder of Turning Point Action, a gentleman named Charlie Kirk. The governor of Utah characterized this as a political assassination. At one point this afternoon, Utah Valley University police were going building to building and doortodoor to get students off campus and away from campus. Maurice John. Okay, Scott McFarland. Thank you. Moving fast. We are joined now by our chief Washington analyst, Robert Costa. He spoke frequently with Charlie Kirk. And our senior White House correspondent, Ed O’Keefe, can tell us more about Charlie Kirk’s friendship with President Trump. Bob, let’s start with you. What can you tell us about Charlie Kirk? Charlie Kirk was someone who was a father. He was a son. He was a husband. And he was also a political force. So many Republicans today are stunned to see a rising star gunned down. On paper, an activist, someone who was influential with many young Americans, especially those who are more on the right. Yet, this is someone who has built relationships in his 20s and early 30s with some of the most powerful people in this country, most notably President Trump. They trusted Kirk as someone who really knew how the country was mapped out on college campuses, where the votes were, where the power centers could be for the next generation of the Republican party. And so it’s not just about a friend being lost and someone who’s a confidant to those in the party, but this was someone who was seen as the leader for the party as it looked to the future. And Ed, Donald Trump gave Kirk a lot of praise for helping him win re-election. Just how important was he? Oh, incredibly important to the Trump re-election. Among other things, he was among those pushing now President Trump to pick JD Vance as his running mate, arguing that he would help reflect the next generation of the MAGA movement uh should he uh run for president himself one day. Very close with Donald Trump Jr. went with him to Greenland earlier this year when that was an issue for the White House and is someone who in the during the presidential transition was meeting on a regular basis with President-elect Trump to pick cabinet secretaries and other senior government officials in essence saying to him pick this person for that job send this other person to this other agency and then making sure that Republican senators would provide the votes necessary to get them confirmed and put pressure on a handful of Republican lawmakers who raised concern concerns about some of those picks. The thing to keep in mind though, if you’re someone who doesn’t know who this guy is, who Charlie Kirk was, and given the age we live in where your algorithm may be different than your neighbors or one of your relatives, this was somebody who that eyewitness said tried to help get a better understanding of the dialogue to like-minded conservatives across the country. and in doing so was convincing younger conservative voters across the country to support President Trump last year made him so essential to his re-election campaign. Bob, you’ve covered the conservative movement for a long time. Kirk rose as the movement was changing. Was he a product of that change or was he a driver of that change? John, he he was certainly a driver of that change. This is someone who you see in Charlie Kirk, someone who saw Mitt Romney’s defeat in 2012. And he was able to say, “Yes, maybe the traditional Republican party was moving in that direction, but he was open to new arguments, open to nationalism, to populism, to the rise of then businessman Donald Trump in 2016. And he saw an opportunity for the Republican party to go in a new direction. And that’s why he was able to build a bond with Tucker Carlson, with Donald Trump Jr., and with President Trump. But it’s notable that Charlie Kirk was not just one of so many conservative activists. John, at the end of the day, this is someone I observed up close at event after event. He had joy. You may disagree with Charlie Kirk’s political views. You may march in the streets against them. You may be a major supporter of his and count him as an ally. At the end of the day, whether it’s California Governor Gavin Newsome or others, they saw him as someone who is a real competent conservative and worthy of the arena he was in. Robert Costa and Ed O’Keefe in Washington for us. Thank you both. We mentioned Charlie Kirk’s work with his conservative youth organization, Turning Point USA. Chris Van Cleave is outside Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix. Yep, guys. We’ve seen an elevated security presence here. Phoenix police on scene. Although Phoenix police also say there are no indications of any specific threats here locally against the organization. A number of officers have arrived in the last couple of hours. That white van is blocking the driveway. Still, we were here as we watched as employees brought the American flag and the Arizona state flag to half staff. Most employees were sent home this afternoon. And we have watched as a steady stream of people have come to pay their respects, dropping off flowers. We’ve seen a lot of emotion. People in tears embracing each other and praying. Noticeably, a number of young people are among the folks coming to pay their respects. Kirk did a lot of events on college campuses, as you’ve heard Bob Costa say. One young man we talked to said he felt that Kirk created a forum that was welcoming for him and gave him a voice, a voice that has now been so violently silenced. Chris Van Cleave for us. Thank you, Chris. Now, more of the top stories from around the world in tonight’s evening news roundup. A shooting at a high school in Evergreen, Colorado near Denver. Authorities say the suspected shooter is among the wounded and it’s unclear what led to the shooting. Cutter’s prime minister says Israel’s air strike targeting Hamas leaders in his country killed any hope for the hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza. More now from MTS Tayab in the capital city, Doha. Well, the mood here in Doha has gone from shock to outright fury following the unprecedented Israeli attack that targeted Hamas negotiators as they were reviewing President Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal. Now, Guthr’s prime minister has called for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to be quote brought to justice by international courts. While Guthri officials have told us they feel betrayed by the Trump administration, who they say did not warn them in advance of the strike. Whatever the case, Prime Minister Netanyahu seems unfazed. In a video statement tonight, he warned Qatar to expel Hamas, saying if they don’t, Israel will. MTS, thank you. And it is a royal reunion for father and son. King Charles and Prince Harry met today for the first time in 19 months. Harry returned to the UK this week for charity events and to honor his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, on the third anniversary of her death. Harry has been estranged from the royal family since 2020 when he and his American wife Meghan Markle moved to California and stepped back from their royal duties. Still ahead on the CBS Evening News, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spills over into Poland where a swarm of drones was shot down by America’s NATO allies. Elizabeth Palmer reports on the fallout. And Perseverance pays off. NASA says its car-sized rover, Perseverance, has found the clearest evidence yet of life on Mars. Okay. So, let’s just start at the beginning. Well, let me start with this. What is at stake here? What is the answer then? Do you know why you want me to just keep going? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Were there death threats? How is this possible? What’s wrong with that art? Are you saying they lied? Have you told the government that? Why won’t you say the word crisis? You’re not answering my question. This really is that scary. Does that make sense? What do you mean? What does that mean to any of that makes sense? What’s your response? What happened? Why? Why? It’s time for the CBS News original 60 Minutes Sunday on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus. There is no more room in our city. New York City is receiving record numbers of migrants. Today we’re going to have more than 500 adults and children come through that door. Tensions rise as shelters reach max capacity. We don’t have to take care of CBS reports goes inside a crisis cities and families are facing as they fight to survive. The United States still has that glimmer of hope for people to come here. Fighting for a future now streaming on the free CBS News app. This case, it’s like a screenplay, something straight out of Hollywood, but it’s not fiction. It’s 48 hours. Human remains found this week. Four families shattered. There’s no physical evidence. The mystery would haunt investigators for years. There’s some questions that have to be asked and need to be answered. Like a John Gisham novel. A gripping true crime original. 48 hours. Now streaming on the free CBS News app. Here comes a big one. What I’ve seen, it’s like chaos. This is the pager that Hezbollah was using. How was this possible? Oh, come on. Come on. Wow. Ask me the hard-hitting questions. I’m open to all of it. 60 minutes. Is this what you want? 60 minutes. 60 minutes. It’s time for the CBS News original, 60 Minutes, Sundays on CBS. For the first time since the NATO alliance was formed after World War II, NATO planes scrambled overnight to take down enemy targets in NATO airspace. It happened over Poland during a Russian drone attack across the border in Ukraine. Elizabeth Palmer has reaction tonight from America’s military allies. People only realized Russian drones were overhead when they heard the fighter jets that shot them down. This morning, there they were, littering fields in eastern Poland. No one was injured, but one did hit this couple’s house. We were watching TV news about the drones, said Tomas Viswski. And then there was this massive boom. Polish F-16s were scrambled to shoot down the drones backed by F-35s from the Netherlands and Italian surveillance planes. And on the ground, Germany activated its Patriot air defenses. Russia’s defense ministry denies it had targeted Poland. But that’s unthinkable, said Polish Foreign Minister Ratislav Sakorski. It simply defies imagination that that could be uh accidental. The Kremlin has a long history of provoking NATO. It sends fighter jets into allied airspace and submarines into European waters. This is the first time NATO has responded with force because this hostile incursion was just too big to ignore, said NATO’s senior military spokesman, Colonel Martin O’Donnell. I think it’s reckless uh and I think it’s dangerous. And again, we the intentions uh of the act are still unclear. It’s being assessed, but uh reckless and dangerous. How much of an escalation is this that NATO has responded with military force? These acts were taken in defense of allied territory. Uh and it’s it’s what it’s what our populations would expect us to do, and it’s absolutely what we did. This wasn’t just a hostile military act. It was a political one, too. Poland’s foreign minister said today that Vladimir Putin is mocking President Trump’s efforts to bring peace in Ukraine. Elizabeth Palmer tonight. Thank you. Eye on America is next. The lessons of the September 11th attacks. How a new generation is learning to never forget. Ready? Yeah. And one, two, three. No matter how you start your day, one thing is clear. CBS Mornings is the best way to start your day. Clearly. Look at this outfit. Amazing. Give me some love, baby. We got a toy. Look at this. Oh no. Clearly fun. I own this. Hi. Smart. We’ve got tips to save on clothes, tech, and more. Clearly uplifting. I’m getting goosebumps right now. Oh, my heart is soaring. Oh. Oh, I got I got one. I got one. Okay. I can’t wait. The light bulb went off right here. I saw it go. Okay, watch this. See CBS Mornings is clearly brighter. It’s going to be a bright sunshiny day. It’s a bright bright bright way to start your day. 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When do consumers actually get to touch and feel a difference in their lives? Politics is about policy. So you would encourage Democrats to work with Donald Trump on an issue like healthcare. I’m a voracious consumer of information and I’m impatient. I don’t like to be spun. Do you know if there are active terror cells in the United States right now? To be moderator of Face the Nation means bringing the most powerful stakeholders to the table to become better informed. September 11th, 2001. You will remember this day as long as you live. That was Dan Rather opening this broadcast 24 years ago tomorrow. Many of us do remember that day like it was yesterday. But nearly a third of Americans were born after those attacks happened. In tonight’s Eye in America, Nicole Skanga reports on a mission to teach school kids about 9/11 so they can carry on the nation’s promise to never forget. What do you already know about 9/11 and where did you learn what you know? In West De Moine, Iowa, roughly,00 miles from ground zero, history teacher Anne Cro is tackling one of the most defining moments of the past half century. Teaching students about 9/11 is critical. I want them to understand what their previous generation experienced, that trauma, and how an event like that brought millions of people, not even just in the United States, but globally, together. Croiss was in the third grade and had never even seen a skyscraper when terrorists turned four airplanes into weapons, killing almost 3,000 innocent people. A catastrophe now history class for her 11th graders like Fitz Carpenter. I actually learned some new stuff. I didn’t know how many people were like evacuated on the boats. To develop her lesson plan, Croyce joined a group of teachers from all over the country this summer at New York City’s 9/11 Memorial and Museum, part of a program designed to teach teachers what happened at ground zero. I could see the smoke coming from that that first tower, that north tower. Bill Spade is the sole survivor of Staten Island, New York’s Elite Rescue 5. I heard the chief say, “Uh, we need four more rescues here and we have jumpers.” He was one of the last men to evacuate the north tower. We’re only minutes into this fire and we got jumpers. This is the World Trade Center site right here. In Alabama, Chris Thlacer carries a different perspective. Just 25 on September 11th, the young Army officer deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan following the attacks. Which one of these was easier to relate to? Today, he’s a high school teacher passing along lessons of the global war on terror and of the resilience that followed. It’s one of those watershed moments in US history. It must be taught. The patriotic side of it, the messy side of it, it’s a great rallying moment for what we can achieve when we decide to work together. Even in darkness, there’s light. Absolutely. Should every teacher in the US be required to teach 911? Yes. I know it’s hard to try to teach on September 11th to students because, you know, some of them it’s just their second week of school, but at some point it definitely needs to be every state’s standard. So, you have the two twin towers. Which city are those in? A curriculum designed for those who can’t remember by this generation of teachers who have vowed to never forget. for I in America. I’m Nicole Skanga in New York. We’re NCIS. You guys want to see me do the chaa slide? Uh, can we get to the body, please? Right. Oh, what’s got you so punchy lately? Not punchy. Passionate. This is a great team for wood. We’re NCIS. NCIS. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS fall. No matter how you start your day, one thing is clear. Actually, two things. Pretty sure it’s three, guys. Whether it’s news, money, health, or wellness, sports, movies, or even inspiration. Clearly CBS Mornings is the place to be. 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You get the allnew CBS Evening News. When everything’s on the line, real heroes rise to the occasion or die trying. We’re firefighters. We’re going to find a way to get you out of here. We take the hits together. We’re on the same team. I’m right here with you. No matter what, I would never leave you hanging in the deep end. And this place is a way of giving you new family. Fire Country. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS Fall. I’m John Dickerson. I’m Maurice Dubla. Part of the allnew CBS Evening News. Watch now. Here we go. The ultimate tradition continues. 60 Minutes is here right now. America’s number one news program is a free streaming channel. It’s time for 60 Minutes everywhere you watch. Long before astronomer Galileo Galilei first gazed at Mars through a telescope, our neighboring red planet had captured our imagination. Humans have long wondered whether there is or was life on the fourth rock from the sun. As Mark Stman reports, a rock star named Perseverance may have finally dug up the answer. This is a selfie of Perseverance, the rover that found this rock, potentially the most meaningful rock on Mars NASA has ever studied. Shawn Duffy is NASA’s acting administrator. So, this very well could be the clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars. Uh, which is incredibly exciting. These spots on the rock make NASA giddy. a potential bio signature of Martian microbes in an ancient riverbed more than three billion years old. What made it stand out? It just didn’t look like the rocks around it. Dr. Nikki Fox is NASA’s head of science. This is by far uh the the the most interesting observation that we have made as we continue to look for life elsewhere in the solar system. It’s a rock for the ages and for the big question. Are we alone? Mark Stman, CBS News, Atlanta. But still no sign of any little red people. No Martians. You know, they’re they’re hiding. Hard to see somewhere. That’s it for the CBS Evening News for tonight. I’ll see you soon on CBS Evening News Plus. And we’ll see you right back here tomorrow. Have a good night. I’m John Dickerson. I’m Maurice Dubois. Part of the all new CBS Evening News. I’m Major Garrett in Washington, inviting you to the Takeout. Politics, policy, people, and pop culture served up week nights. It’s serious.

Conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk died Wednesday after he was shot at an event at Utah Valley University. He was 31 years old.

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