Re: Conservative activist Charlie Kirk in critical condition after being shot at Utah college event

On 9/10/2025 1:36 PM, slothe wrote:
> OREM, Utah (AP) — Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative
> youth organization Turning Point USA, was in critical condition at a Utah
> hospital Wednesday after being shot at a college event, a law enforcement
> official told The Associated Press.

He's dead.
https://wapo.st/4m8mE6c

> 
> Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show 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 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
> Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.
> 
> “We are confirming that he was shot and we are praying for Charlie,” said
> Aubrey Laitsch, public relations manager for Turning Point USA.
> 
> Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political
> organization. The event had been met with divided opinions on campus. An
> online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from
> appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a
> statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its
> “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive
> dialogue.”
> 
> Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit to Utah
> colleges was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”
> 
> The college said a “single shot” had been fired at 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!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
> 
> The shooting comes amid a spike in political violence in the United States
> across all parts of the ideological spectrum. The attacks include the
> assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house
> in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release
> hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is
> Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of
> Trump during a campaign rally last year.
> 
> Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at the event,
> said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw
> Kirk go back.
> 
> “It seemed like it was a close shot,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as
> he spoke.
> 
> He said there was a light police presence at the event and Kirk had some
> security but not enough.
> 
> “Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just
> don’t have these types of things.”
> 
> Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18,
> and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college
> campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate
> success.
> 
> But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over
> an influential set of conservative financiers.
> 
> Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump
> after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal
> aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general
> election campaign.
> 
> Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the
> culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son
> were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.
> 
> https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-conservative-activist-shot-
> 546165a8151104e0938a5e085be1e8bd