Trump ally and MAGA pundit Charlie Kirk was shot and killed as he was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University, President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday.
“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. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.”
Video of the shooting shows Kirk, seated and speaking into a handheld microphone under a tent before a single shot is heard. Blood gushes from what appears to be his neck.
In the moment leading up to the shooting, Kirk, 31, is asked: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America in the last 10 years?”
“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responds right before he is shot.
A spokesperson for Utah Valley University told reporters the suspect fired their weapon from a building about 200 yards away from where Kirk was seated, per the New York Times.
FBI Director Kash Patel initially said that a “subject” had been taken into custody, but later wrote on social media that the individual had “been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.”
Politicians on both sides of the aisle immediately condemned Wednesday’s shooting. House Speaker Republican Mike Johnson called Kirk a “close friend and confidant,” and added that “every political leader must loudly and clearly decry this violence.” Republican Governor Ron DeSantis called Kirk’s killing “a tragedy for our nation.”
Former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said she was “deeply disturbed” and that “we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom – who hosted Kirk on his podcast this year – called the attack, “disgusting, vile, and reprehensible.” And New York Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani also reacted, writing on Twitter that he was “horrified by the shooting” and that “political violence has no place in our country.”
Meanwhile, some far-right commentators immediately attempted to blame Democrats for Wednesday’s shooting, despite widespread condemnation from the party.
“The Left is the party of murder,” Elon Musk wrote on Twitter.
Far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer called on the Trump administration to “shut down, defund, & prosecute every single Leftist organization.”
Democrats themselves have been targeted in deadly political violence. In June, a Trump supporter shot and killed the former Democratic leader of the Minnesota state House, Melissa Hortman, and her husband, according to police. The suspect is also accused of shooting and wounding another Democratic lawmaker and his wife.
The far-right youth organization Kirk co-founded, Turning Point USA, played a huge role in rallying support for Trump on college campuses, gaining its initial prominence during Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Kirk was known for his many controversial statements. In 2021, he called for militias to go to the border and prevent the “diminishing and decreasing [of] white demographics in America.” Earlier this year, he accused Muslims of having “conquest values,” calling Islam a “threat to America.” He has also repeatedly urged women to get married at a younger age in order to have more children, and said women who don’t “lash out on the rest of society by voting Democrat.”
In the wake of a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2023, Kirk said the cost of “some gun deaths” is “unfortunately” worth it in order to preserve Second Amendment rights, calling it a “prudent deal.”
This is a breaking story and may be updated.
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