OREM, Utah \u2014 Charlie Kirk, conservative political figure and CEO of Turning Point USA, was assassinated at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kirk, 31, was speaking at a Turning Point USA event on the university’s campus, debating a student about transgender mass shootings, when he was shot, according to videos of the assassination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A person of interest was in custody and interrogated before being released Wednesday evening. The FBI created a digital tip line looking for information about the shooting soon after it happened. As of Wednesday night, the FBI does not have a suspect named or in custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our investigation continues, and we (FBI) will continue to release information in interest of transparency,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X at 7:59 p.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kirk rose to fame by hosting events on college campuses, encouraging discussions about controversial political topics. The Turning Point USA cofounder often debated students with opposing views, hoping to make students reconsider their opinions. Kirk also helped rally young voters to elect President Donald Trump in November’s presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said during a Wednesday afternoon press conference. “I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wednesday’s event at the university was part of Turning Point USA’s “American Comeback Tour.” Kirk and the organization had traveled nationwide to promote conservative values since 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“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,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OREM, Utah \u2014 Charlie Kirk, conservative political figure and CEO of Turning Point USA, was assassinated at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. Kirk, 31, was speaking at a Turning Point USA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[27,30],"class_list":["post-951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national","tag-editorial","tag-issue-2025-09-12"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"OREM, Utah \u2014 Charlie Kirk, conservative political figure and CEO of Turning Point USA, was assassinated at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. Kirk, 31, was speaking at a Turning Point USA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2453,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions\/2453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}