OREM, Utah — Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was in critical condition at a Utah hospital Wednesday after being shot at a college event, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. A suspect was in custody, the college said.
Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The AP was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.
Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The AP was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.
“We are confirming that he was shot and we are praying for Charlie,” said Aubrey Laitsch, public relations manager for Turning Point USA.
Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. The event had been met with divided opinions on campus. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”
Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit to Utah colleges was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”
The college said a “single shot” had been fired at Kirk and a suspect was in custody.
President Donald Trump and a host of Republican and Democratic elected officials decried the shooting and offered prayers for Kirk on social media.
“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The shooting comes amid a spike in political violence in the United States across all parts of the ideological spectrum. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.
Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at the event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk go back.
“It seemed like it was a close shot,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke.
UIC students protest conservative speakers Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens
He said there was a light police presence at the event and Kirk had some security but not enough.
“Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”
Kirk grew up in Prospect Heights, where he played high school basketball and organized a protest against an increase in the cost of cafeteria cookies. Kirk has described his parents as Republicans, but not particularly ardent ones. His father worked an architect and his mother worked as a mental health counselor.
He told the Tribune that his political awakening began in middle school after a teacher badmouthed then-President George W. Bush. Trying to understand the teacher’s apparent animosity, he said, he read the books of economist Milton Friedman and became convinced that Republicans offered the most sensible philosophy for an ambitious young person.
Kirk recalled sparring with teachers at Wheeling High School over what he perceived to be their Marxist viewpoints. He said he got kicked out of class a few times for arguing. Classmates, however, have disputed the idea that the teachers were Marxists or Kirk was punished for expressing his opinion.
He said he wanted to go to West Point, but he was not accepted. He claimed in a 2015 speech that he lost out to “a far less-qualified applicant in my district that was of a different gender and a different persuasion.” In a 2018 interview with the Tribune, he acknowledged he could not prove the allegation — only that he was repeating what he had been told.
He started Turning Point two days after graduating from Wheeling along with William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.
But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.
Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.
Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.
Durkin Richer and Sherman reported from Washington.
Originally Published: September 10, 2025 at 2:04 PM CDT