Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk shot at Utah Valley University event

Ruben Vives, Jenny Jarvie and Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times on Sep 10, 2025

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Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot Wednesday during an event at Utah Valley University.

Video shared on social media shows Kirk sitting under a white canopy, talking, when he suddenly falls back as the sound of a loud pop is heard. A spokesperson for Kirk told the Associated Press that he was shot. Kirk’s condition is unknown.

Utah Valley University police said in an alert that “a single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker” and that it was investigating the shooting. The department said a suspect was in custody.

Another video on X shows an older man in handcuffs who witnesses claimed was the gunman. Police have not identified the suspect.

On Tuesday afternoon, President Trump posted a message about the incident on Truth Social.

“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” he said.

Mike Lee, a Utah senator, posted on X shortly after videos circulated online that he was “tracking the situation at Utah Valley University closely.”

“Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there,” he said.

The shooting drew immediate words of support and calls for prayers for Kirk from America’s leading conservative politicians.

“Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father,” Vice President JD Vance posted on X.

Leading Democrats also moved swiftly to condemn the attack.

“The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on X. “In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form.”

Kirk, a conservative political activist, was in Utah for his “The American Comeback Tour,” which began at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

The tour, like many of his events, has drawn both supporters and protesters. Kirk’s wife and children were at the university when he was shot, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin posted on X.

Kirk, 31, is one of the Republican Party’s most influential power brokers.

The founder of the influential conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, Kirk has a vast online reach: 1.6 million followers on Rumble, 3.8 million subscribers on YouTube, 5.2 million followers on X and 7.3 million followers on TikTok.

During the 2024 election, he rallied his online followers to support Trump, prompting conservative podcast host Megyn Kelly to say: “It’s not an understatement to say that this man is responsible for helping the Republicans win back the White House and the U.S. Senate.”

Just after Trump was elected for a second time to the presidency last November, Kirk frequently posted to social media from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he had firsthand influence over which MAGA loyalists Trump named to his Cabinet.

Kirk is known for melding his conservative politics, nationalism and evangelical faith, casting the current political climate as a state of spiritual warfare between a righteous right wing and “evil” liberals.

He has declared that God is on the side of American conservatives and that there is “no separation of church and state.” And in a speech to Trump supporters in Georgia last year, he said that “the Democrat Party supports everything that God hates” and that “there is a spiritual battle happening all around us.”

Kirk is known for his memes and college campus speaking tours meant to “own the libs.” Videos of his debates with liberal college students have racked up tens of millions of views.

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