Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on Wednesday while speaking to a large crowd at Utah Valley University in Orem, President Donald Trump said.
An unknown gunman fired at the 31-year-old Kirk from a building 200 yards away just after noon local time, hitting him once in the neck, the university said.
Kirk, who was married with two children, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he had been in surgery before Trump announced his death.
The gunman remained at large Wednesday afternoon, according to a UVU spokeswoman.
U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk appears at a Utah Valley University speaking event in Orem, Utah, U.S. September 10, 2025.
Trent Nelson/the Salt Lake Tribu | Via Reuters
UVU cancelled classes and told people who remained on campus to “secure in place until police officers can escort you safely off campus.”
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote. “He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”
Trump ordered U.S. flags lowered to half-mast through Sunday to mark Kirk’s death.
U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk throws hats to the crowd shortly before he was shot at a Utah Valley University speaking event in Orem, Utah, U.S. September 10, 2025.
Trent Nelson/the Salt Lake Tribu | Via Reuters
Kirk was the co-founder of Turning Point USA and head of multiple related political organizations. HIs movement, which was aimed at young conservatives, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars.
A staunch Trump supporter, Kirk was also a personal friend of top officials in Trump’s administration.
He was at Utah Valley University on Wednesday for the first stop on Turning Point’s “American Comeback Tour,” according to the group’s website.
The event featured Kirk seated at his “prove me wrong table,” a format in which he debated people who challenged his views.
UVU is Utah’s largest public university, with nearly 47,000 enrolled students as of fall 2023.
Shortly before the shooting, Kirk tweeted about the event.
“WE. ARE. SO. BACK,” Kirk wrote on X.
“Utah Valley University is FIRED UP and READY for the first stop back on the American Comeback Tour.”
The scene after U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk was shot at a Utah Valley University speaking event in Orem, Utah, U.S. September 10, 2025.
Trent Nelson/the Salt Lake Tribu | Via Reuters
Jason Chaffetz, a former Republican congressman from Utah, told Fox News that he was at the event with family.
Kirk had been asked a question about “transgender shootings, mass shootings” right before being shot, Chaffetz said.
“As soon as this shot rang out, everybody hit the deck, and then everybody started scattering and yelling and screaming, as you might imagine,” Chaffetz said. “I can’t say I saw blood. I can’t say I saw him get shot, but as soon as that shot went out, he fell back into his left and everybody hit the deck.”
Kirk’s wife, Erika Kirk, tweeted a biblical verse after the shooting.
“Psalm 46:1 – God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” Erika Kirk wrote.
Charlie Kirk speaks during a town hall meeting Monday, March 17, 2025, in Oconomowoc, Wis.
Jeffrey Phelps | AP
Elected officials and others from both sides of the political issued statements of support for Kirk after he was shot and condolences after his death was announced.
“There is no place in our country for this kind of violence,” former President Joe Biden wrote in a tweet.
“It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones.
Jack Schlossberg, whose grandfather, President John Kennedy, was assassinated in November 1963, wrote on X, “Charlie Kirk was assassinated today. we are all weaker because of it. A tragedy. I am thinking of his family.”
Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, a Democrat who was shot in the head by a gunman in Tuscon, Arizona, in 2011, said, “The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends.”
“Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence. Attacks against political or ideological opponents are cowardly and un-American, and must be universally condemned,” Giffords said.
“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,” former President Barack Obama tweeted.
” Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie’s family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children,” Obama wrote.
Minutes after Kirk was shot, multiple people were shot in a separate attack at Evergreen High School, located west of Denver, Colorado.
Three juveniles were in critical condition after the shooting, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said. One of those juveniles is the suspected shooter, according to the office.
Kirk’s slaying comes nearly three months after a gunman killed Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortmann, a Democrat who previously served as speaker, her husband Mark Hortmann, and shot and wounded Minnesota state Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman.
The suspect in that case, Vance Boelter, faces pending state and federal criminal charges.
— CNBC’s Erin Doherty contributed to this story.
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