31-year-old Charlie Kirk, co-founder and executive director of the right-wing think tank and activist group Turning Point USA, was shot in the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, 10 September. He passed away at the hospital shortly after.
President Trump, in whose winning campaign he was very actively involved during the 2024 US presidential election, announced his tragic passing on Truth Social, writing:
‘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 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!’
Vice President JD Vance has shared a screenshot of President Trump’s condolences on X, along with the prayer ‘Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.’
Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz was in attendance at the event on campus and called in to Fox News to give his eyewitness testimony. According to him, Kirk was answering a question about transgender mass shooters when shots rang out. Video footage shows him being hit in the neck by one round, then arterial blood appears to be sprouting out.
The question was asked in the context of a 22-year-old biological man identifying as a woman, Robin (born Robert) Westman, shooting two Catholic school children at church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last month.
Kirk was known to discuss controversial topics with right-wing and left-wing students alike on college campuses across the US in the recurring segment of his speeches, ‘Prove Me Wrong’.
He was born on 14 October 1993 in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He co-founded Turning Point USA with his partner Bill Montgomery in 2012, at just 18 years old. By 2024, they had built an operation that had field offices in 3,500 high schools and college campuses in the US and had been bringing in around $80 million in revenue annually.
Kirk had a wife, Erika Frantzve, with whom he had two children.
The killer, alas, is still at large, and no suspect has been named in press reports yet. His motive, given their target and the scene of his crime, is likely connected to far-left extremism.
May God let Charlie Kirk rest in peace.
UPDATE: Person of Interest in Shooting Caught
FBI Director Kash Patel has announced in a post on X that a 'subject' in the killing of Charlie Kirk, who was later referred to as a 'person of interest' by law enforcement officials at a press conference, has been caught and is now in custody. Their identity is yet to be revealed.
