Charlie Kirk, a conservative influencer and supporter of US President Donald Trump, was fatally shot while addressing students at the University of Utah, Reuters reports.
Although it was initially reported that the perpetrator had been arrested, it was later reported that the search for the killer was ongoing. The event at the University of Utah on the 10th of September was attended by about three thousand people. The gunman, who acted alone, is still at large. Kirk, 31, is believed to have been shot from the roof of a building further away. On Wednesday evening, Utah State Police announced that two men had been detained, one of whom was being questioned, but both were later released.
Trump has vowed to find the attacker: “My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.”
Cellphone footage shows Kirk addressing a large crowd on campus when a gunshot sounded at around 12:20 p.m. local time. The influencer reportedly raised his hand to his neck before falling from his chair, sending the audience running. Jeff Long, the head of the university’s police department, said six officers were on the scene and that everything was being coordinated with Kirk’s private security team.
The US president has called for all flags across the country to be flown at half-staff until Sunday.
The influencer’s killing is the latest attack on a US political figure; there have been two assassination attempts on Trump.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, said at a news conference that it was a dark day for the state and a tragic day for the entire country. He stressed that this was a politically motivated killing.
The motive for the crime remains unclear until the killer is caught.
Trump, who regularly calls his critics and political opponents radical leftists and lunatics, and warns of the threat left-wing politicians pose to the country, has condemned violent political rhetoric. He said that for years, the radical left has compared “wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the worst mass murderers and criminals in the world.”
TO MY GREAT FELLOW AMERICANS… pic.twitter.com/oRsrE5TTHr
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2025
He added that it is this kind of rhetoric that is causing the terrorism we are now seeing in the country.
In Washington,
an attempt to hold a moment of silence in memory of Kirk degenerated into shouting and insults.
Kirk’s speech on the 10th of September was the first of 15 planned events in a series of American Comeback Tour, in which the influencer had planned to visit universities across the country. Kirk had previously hosted such events, which usually drew large crowds to encourage debate.
Moments before the shooting, Kirk was asked if he knew how many mass shootings had occurred in the United States over the past decade, to which he countered with, “Including gang violence or not?” The fatal shot rang out seconds later.
Kirk and his co-founder of Turning Point USA, the nation’s largest conservative youth organization, played a major role in swaying young voters to support Trump.
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