The assassination happened at a time when tensions were rising and political violence was becoming more common in the United States. It got a lot of attention from public leaders in the US and throughout the world. There was a manhunt right away, which ended on the morning of September 12 when Donald Trump said on Fox News that "someone close to him" had turned in a suspect.Charlie Kirk was an American conservative political activist, author, and media personality. He was the co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA. Kirk was a close ally of US President Donald Trump and used his skills in social media and campus organizing to become a very important person in the "hard-right movement." The New York Times called Kirk "something of a kingmaker." He was able to get people to back Trump cabinet choices who were in trouble and against Republican Party members he thought weren't supporting Trump enough. The Washington Post called him "one of the most prominent voices on the right" in the last several years. Axios called Kirk a "driving force" behind Donald Trump's presidential campaigns.
Kirk's death happened at a time when American politics were becoming more divided and violent more often. It came after a number of violent political events, such as the shooting deaths of two Minnesota legislators and their spouses in June 2025, the deaths of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C. in May 2025, the arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's home in April 2025, the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, and assassination attempts on Donald Trump in July and September 2024. In the last few years, there have been other acts of political violence, such as the hammer assault on Paul Pelosi in 2022, the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, and the shooting at the Congressional baseball game in 2017.
Event and safety
Kirk's previous political rally before the one at Utah Valley University was in Kentucky, where he was with Nate Morris, who is running for the US Senate. This was the first stop on Kirk's American Comeback Tour for the autumn at UVU. He had private security accompanying him, and university police and municipal officials also helped keep him safe. There was a petition going around asking the institution to cancel his lecture, but the university said it would let him speak because of its principles on free speech and open discussion.
About 3,000 people came to the event, which was protected by six police officers and Kirk's own security team. People who went to the event afterward said that the security was too loose because there was no ticket needed to get into the amphitheater and no metal detectors were deployed.
Richard D. & Joann B. Losee Center in 2005. The shot came from the roof.
Investigators looked at security camera footage and saw that the suspect arrived on campus at 11:52 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time and then went up a stairway in the Losee Center to the roof. The gathering where people spoke started at noon. While giving a speech at an American Comeback Tour event at 12:23 p.m., Kirk was shot in the neck.
Kirk was sitting beneath a tent with the tour title on it, and he and a UVU student were talking back and forth about mass shootings in the US. During the fight, one shot was fired, and it wounded Kirk in the neck. The university said that the shot originated from the roof of the Losee Center, which is 200 yards away. After the inquiry found the shooter's location, this was changed to 142 yards. Emma Pitts, a reporter for the Deseret News who was there, said National Public Radio, "I saw so much blood come out of the left side of Charlie's neck, and then he went limp."
Jason Chaffetz, a former U.S. representative who was there, said, "As soon as the shot went out, everybody hit the deck and everybody started scattering and yelling and screaming." Another witness told The New York Times that "no one really got down until the people in front of the stage did" and that "people got down in waves." An eyewitness told CBS News that "blood was pouring everywhere."
There was additional video of the accused shooter rushing from the south corner of the Losee Center roof, where he allegedly shot Kirk, to the north corner, where the ground was higher and he could hang from the edge of the roof and drop to the earth. This happened at 12:24 p.m. Later, palm prints were found on the edge of the roof, along with smudges from which samples were taken to test for DNA. A footprint was also found on the ground, which proved that he was wearing Converse tennis shoes. He then went to a forested area north of the campus, where the rifle was eventually located.
Police say that the initial report of the gunfire came in at 12:26 p.m. At 12:31 p.m., an officer said, "Gunshots heard near the library." At 12:35 p.m., the officer added, "Maybe the CS building," and then described the shooter as "wearing jeans, a black shirt, a black mask, and a long rifle." A minute later, the officer said, "On top of the building on the far north side, just east of the library."
After having emergency surgery at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, Kirk was declared dead. Donald Trump said he was dead around 2:40 p.m. on Truth Social.
The investigation and the school's response
The day of the incident, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives helped out at the site. Authorities sought for the suspect, which led to a manhunt.
School's answer
The university told everyone to leave at 12:37 p.m. and closed the campus. At 2:01 p.m., the university told everyone still on campus to "stay put until police officers can safely escort you off campus." All classes and activities at all campuses, including satellite locations, were canceled until September 15.
Movies
Within minutes of the shooting, violent recordings of the murder that people who were there took began to spread on social media, where they were seen millions of times. Some sites put up warnings or age limits, while others sought to get rid of the videos. Some others said that the broad internet sharing of recordings revealing the murder of such a well-known person was unusual and would have long-lasting effects. Emerson Brooking, the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab's director of strategy, said, "This is the first time a well-known person has been killed in such a public way and shared this way on social media."
First arrests
After the incident, two persons were apprehended, but both were let go. Authorities eventually said that none of them was the gunman. George Zinn, a conservative-libertarian activist, was detained on campus after he said he shot Kirk. Authorities eventually made it clear that Zinn's detention was for possible obstruction of justice and that he had previously been freed. It was also revealed that Zinn has a history of mental health problems and causing problems at public gatherings.
FBI director Kash Patel said on social media that "the subject" in Kirk's homicide had been caught within a few hours after the murder. Utah governor Spencer Cox said that a "person of interest" had been caught. Patel said the individual had been "released after an interrogation by law enforcement" just two hours after his first declaration.
Authorities said that the gunman ran away from the Losee Center's roof. At a news conference on September 11, police announced they had "good video footage" and were using face recognition to try to find the killer. The FBI released pictures of a person of interest later that day. This showed that their attempts to identify him using facial recognition had failed. They also offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information. Law authorities found a Mauser-type bolt-action hunting rifle from the 1960s in a forested area near the incident. It had engraved bullets and "footwear impression, a palm print, and forearm imprints for analysis."
There were bullets at the scene that had different slogans and online memes on them. The used case has the words "Notices bulge OwO what's this?" written on it. " a reference to furry roleplaying games on the internet. There were three unfired rounds with the words "Hey fascist!" on them. Catch! ?????', the arrow symbols being a reference to a sequence of controller inputs used to release a bomb in the video game Helldivers 2; 'Oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao', a reference to the Italian antifascist song 'Bella ciao'; and 'If you read this, you are gay LMAO.' The slogans have variously been interpreted by commentators as left-wing anti-fascist memes and catchphrases of far-right Groyper culture. Early reports, especially in The Wall Street Journal, wrongly said that the messages were "pro-transgender," based on an internal memo from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. People called for caution when the accusations were made, and when the specifics of the texts were made public, they called for an apology. Later, the Wall Street Journal took back what it said.
The police looked for the suspect, who was thought to be a man in his 20s or 30s, and a manhunt began. At 6:05 MDT, the Utah Department of Public Safety put out pictures of a person they were interested in. Utah governor Spencer Cox called the killing an assassination. But the reason why the person did it is still not understood. Cox and Donald Trump both said they wanted the death punishment for the person who did it.
Trump said on September 12 that the suspect was in police custody after his father talked him into turning himself in.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, talked to the country about the incident from the Oval Office on September 10, 2025.
Politicians from all parties condemned the shooting. Many Republicans, including President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and former President George W. Bush, sent messages of sorrow. Former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar were among the Democrats who spoke out against the massacre.
Some politicians used the incident as a way to talk about bigger political issues. Some Republicans in Congress blamed Democrats and said that liberals were "inciting violence with rhetoric." Some Democrats and news organizations pushed back against the idea, saying that Trump's divisive language was equally to blame for the decline of public discussion and that political violence had hurt both parties. Democrats also used the gathering to talk more about laws that would make guns safer. Some Republicans also exploited the tragedy to say that leftist ideas and beliefs are bad.
President Trump said that the "radical left" was to responsible for Kirk's and other recent killings because they "compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis." Journalists like Jonathan Allen and Jonathan Chait criticized the answer because Trump accused his political opponents of being accomplices to murder and there wasn't enough homage paid to recent Democratic victims of violence. The Guardian remarked in an editorial, "Mr. Trump himself has normalized vicious attacks on opponents." The next day, Trump declared, "We have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them," but later indicated he hoped his followers would not be violent.
Johnson conducted a 30-second moment of quiet in the U.S. after the incident, even though Kirk was still thought to be in serious condition. House of Representatives for Kirk, which all House members saw. After there were arguments on the floor, the event turned into partisan anger and accusations from both sides. Trump told everyone to fly their flags at half-staff until 6 p.m. on that Sunday. in honor of Kirk; subsequently, he made a video tribute to him. The next day, Trump said that Kirk will get the Presidential Medal of Freedom when he died.
Christopher Landau, the US Deputy Secretary of State, advised people on social media to report any foreigners living in the US who made fun of or cheered Kirk's death. The US State Department said it will look into the legal status of immigrants who were "praising, rationalizing, or making light" of Kirk's death.
Politicians from other countries
World leaders and officials from other countries also sent words of condolence after Kirk's passing. The leaders of the UK, Israel, Canada, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Australia, Georgia, Argentina, Poland, New Zealand, and Mexico all sent their condolences and condemned the shooting. Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, said that the media did a bad job of covering the event. During a speech marking the 138th anniversary of the ruling Colorado Party, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña paid respect to Kirk.
The European Conservatives and Reformists Group and the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group, which are the right-wing and far-right political groupings in the European Parliament, suggested that everyone take a minute to remember Kirk on September 11. Parliament president Roberta Metsola turned down the proposal, although ECR Group MEP Charlie Weimers was allowed to speak on Kirk's shooting before the vote began. Parliament Vice President Katarina Barley stopped Weimers from giving up some of his time for a moment of silence.
MSNBC dismissed analyst Matthew Dowd after he called Kirk "one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups." And I always remember that "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions." A reporter in Florida was punished for asking Congressman Randy Fine if the shooting would make him change his mind on gun control.
Fox News commentator Jesse Watters claimed, "They are at war with us," and also added, "We're going to avenge Charlie's death in the way he would want it avenged," and "Charlie would want us to put as much pressure on these people as possible."
Hasan Piker, a progressive streamer who was supposed to debate Kirk later in September, described the death a "terrifying incident" and added, "The reverberation of people seeking vengeance in the aftermath of this violent, horrible incident is going to be genuinely worrisome."
Martin Luther King III, the son of martyred civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., spoke out against the violence on CNN and said that politics should "show a different kind of tone."
People also spoke about Kirk's passing on social media. The New York Times said that social media has sincere remarks from both sides, people upset over political violence, and very partisan and political opinions. After the massacre, Kirk's comment on the 2023 Nashville school shooting, "It's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights," was shared on social media.
Some right-wing leaders called for violence against Democrats and saw the tragedy as a way to get new members. Laura Loomer and other right pundits have shared the identities and postings of people they think are happy about Kirk's murder, frequently calling for revenge. "Expose Charlie's Murderers" was another website that asked people to send in links to anyone who were happy about his death. Libs of TikTok, a right-wing social media account, said "THIS IS WAR" after the incident.
Culture that is popular
Comedy Central said on September 11 that it will no longer air any planned re-runs of the South Park episode "Got a Nut," in which Eric Cartman played a parody of Kirk. This came after an internet effort to stop the program because of its "critical" portrayal of Kirk so close to his death. Kirk himself said he liked the spoof in the episode and called it "hilarious."
DC Comics said that it has canceled Gretchen Felker-Martin's Red Hood series just one day after it came out. This was because Felker-Martin made a number of remarks on Bluesky that were seen as celebrating Kirk's murder.