Charlie Kirk, a well-known conservative activist in the United States and staunch ally of President Donald Trump, was shot dead at an event at Utah Valley University (UVU). Credit: BBC

Charlie Kirk, an influential conservative activist, author and a close ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot dead while speaking at an event at a university in Utah.

Kirk, 31, who had been invited to speak at Utah Valley University (UVU), was seated under a white gazebo addressing a crowd of about 3,000 people in the quad, an outdoor bowl courtyard.

According to eyewitnesses and videos taken at the scene, Kirk had been responding to a question about gun violence.

Kirk briefly clutched his neck before collapsing from his chair, sending attendees fleeing.

Kirk was on a speaking tour, and his stop at UVU was the first of at least 15 scheduled events at universities around the country as part of his “American Comeback Tour”.

Before the shooting, he was seated at his “Prove Me Wrong” debating table, taking questions from an audience outdoors.

Videos show that Kirk was going back and forth with a student about mass shootings and transgender people when he was shot.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” Kirk was asked.

“Too many,” Kirk responded as the crowd clapped.

According to multiple reports, Kirk was shot about 20 minutes after he began speaking at approximately 12:10pm (18:10 GMT).

In footage from the event, Kirk can be seen moving his hand towards his neck as he falls from his chair, sending the attendees running. In another clip, blood can be seen gushing from his neck immediately after he was shot.

No one else was shot during the event.

Kirk’s wife and children were present during the incident.

Where did the shooting happen?

The scene after US right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk was shot at a Utah Valley University event in Orem on September 10, 2025. Credit: Reuters

The shooting took place in the UVU courtyard, about 64km (40 miles) south of Salt Lake City.

A spokeswoman for the university said Kirk was shot from the roof of the school’s Losee Center, a campus building 100-200 yards (roughly 90-180 metres) from the event area.

It was not clear whether the shot was fired from a rooftop or an open window.

Founded in 1941 as a vocational school for war production training, UVU enrolled more than 46,800 students in 2023.

Who was Charlie Kirk?

Cofounder and president of Turning Point, Charlie Kirk, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2024. Credit: Reuters

Kirk was one of the most prominent conservative activists and media personalities in the US, and a trusted ally of President Trump.

He cofounded Turning Point USA, a nonprofit conservative advocacy group, when he was just 18.

Kirk’s group grew into the country’s largest conservative youth movement, and over the years, he became a central player in a network of pro-Trump influencers, often described as the face of the “Make America Great Again” movement.

Trump often credited Kirk with bringing many young voters and voters of colour over to his side during the 2024 presidential campaign.

He was also a sharp critic of mainstream media and threw himself into culture-war battles over race, gender and immigration.

His provocative style won him a loyal support base but also fierce opposition.

Kirk became a close friend of the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, and the two travelled together to Greenland in January. He also emerged as an early supporter of Vice President JD Vance as Trump was deciding whether the senator would be his running mate.

Kirk had 5.5 million followers on the platform X and hosted The Charlie Kirk Show, a podcast and radio programme that reached more than 500,000 listeners each month. He made regular appearances on Fox News, including a recent guest cohosting slot on Fox & Friends.

According to a report by The New York Times, Kirk never pursued a role within the administration. His aim was to reshape the Republican Party and, more broadly, US politics.

 Some of Kirk’s most controversial positions?

Kirk made several controversial statements on issues including gun laws, Black Americans and Islam.

Black Americans

He had, on some occasions, criticised the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement, and aired his belief that whites are disproportionately attacked by Black people in the US.

On September 9, the day before he was killed, Kirk appeared on Fox News, accusing US Democrats of pushing a “false narrative” that Black Americans are under attack in the US, when in reality he said, white people were being targeted. He was speaking regarding the unprovoked murder of a Ukrainian woman last week by a Black man on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“White individuals are actually more likely to be attacked, especially even per capita, by Black individuals in this country,” he said.

Islam

Kirk once compared Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with the child sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, referring to the prophet’s marriage to Aisha at a young age. In an interview with GB News in May, he also said Islam was “at odds” with Western values. “Islam does not believe in freedom of speech, Islam does not believe in freedom of religion, and Islam does not believe in separation of mosque and state,” Kirk said.

Gun laws

Kirk was a staunch supporter of the right to own guns in the United States. Speaking at an event in April 2023 at the Salt Lake City campus of Awaken Church in Utah, Kirk said a few gun deaths every year were an acceptable price to pay for the right to own guns.

“It’s worth it 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 said. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution grants Americans the right to bear arms.

“That is a prudent deal. No one talks about that,” Kirk added. He also said schools should be protected by armed guards to reduce school shootings, rather than by passing anti-gun laws.