Charlie Kirk dead: Trump ally shot in Utah college attack

Trump ally Charlie Kirk has been killed in a shooting at a Utah University. The 31-year-old CEO and co-founder of conservative youth organisation, Turning Point USA, was speaking at the university when reports said he was shot in the neck.

Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Mr Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong”.

A single shot rings out and Mr Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away.

The AP was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Centre courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus. The college said a “single shot” had been fired at Mr Kirk and a suspect was in custody.

President Donald Trump and a host of Republican and Democratic elected officials decried the shooting and offered prayers for Kirk on social media. “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social.

Then, the President later posted the activist had died, saying: “The great, and even legendary, Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.

He went on: “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.”

Who was Charlie Kirk?

Charlie Kirk rose to prominence after becoming a popular right-wing podcaster and political commentator. He founded Turning Point in 2018 at the age of just 18, and quickly became a leading voice among the youth alt-right movement.

He had long been a champion of Donald Trump’s Make America Great Movement (MAGA) and achieved notoriety as an outspoken critic of the Democrat party and ‘the left’, appearing on broadcasters such as Fox News, NewsMax, and his own popular podcast channel.

In May 2021, he married fellow podcaster Erika Frantzve, a former Miss Arizona. They couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, in August 2022, and a son, in May 2024.

What is Turning Point?

Turning Point was founded in Chicago in 2012 by Mr Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytise on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success. But Mr Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.

Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Mr Trump after he clinched the Republican nomination in 2016. Mr Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.

Soon, Mr Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Mr Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.