Charlie Kirk has died after he was shot during a political event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, TMZ reported. He was 31. Kirk, a right-wing media personality and the co-founder of conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA, was speaking at the university as part of his America Comeback Tour on Wednesday (Sept. 10).
He was shot in the neck one time before being rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. There were no other injuries or fatalities reported in the shooting.
President Donald Trump posted about Kirk's death on Truth Social.
"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead," Trump tweeted on Wednesday afternoon. "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!"
Charlie Kirk shooting: What we know
FBI Director Kash Patel tweeted on Wednesday evening that a suspect connected to the shooting was in police custody.
"Thank you to local and state authorities in Utah for your partnership with [the FBI]," Patel wrote. "We will provide updates when able."
Earlier in the day, videos had shown an elderly man being escorted by police. A person who had reportedly been taken into custody immediately following the shooting was not the suspect.
Videos circulating online on Wednesday showed Kirk being struck in the neck while speaking into a microphone and then falling backward as blood gushed from a wound.
The crowd immediately dispersed, and Utah Valley University announced it was closed for the remainder of the day.
Videos circulating on social media showed that Kirk was answering a question about mass shootings in the U.S. when he was shot.
“Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America in the last 10 years?” a person asked.
“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responded in the seconds before a shot rang out, and he was hit by a bullet.
According to The Daily Beast, a bystander said Kirk also responded to a person who asked "how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years."
"Too many," Kirk replied.
Kirk, who's known to hold political debates during Turning Point USA events, has fervently advocated for Second Amendment gun rights. Videos of Kirk speaking on the issue have been widely shared across social media following the shooting. In a video from April 2023, one week after three children and three adults were killed in a shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Kirk said deaths are the "cost" of gun rights at a Turning Point USA Faith event.
"You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death," Kirk said at the time. "That is nonsense. It's drivel. But I am—I think it's worth it.
"I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights," he continued. "That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe."
Kirk married former Miss Arizona USA pageant winner Erika Frantzve in 2021. The couple welcomed a daughter in 2022 and a son in 2024. His family was attending the event where he was shot, according to the BBC.