Some 3,000 people gathered Wednesday morning at Utah Valley University to hear the truths of Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old ultra-conservative evangelical and influential debater. The MAGA activist was launching his new tour of higher education institutions to debate whoever stood in front of him under the slogan: “Prove me wrong.” What the audience actually saw in the city of Orem was a horrific political murder that has shaken American society, which is once again seeing political violence incarnated in its most extreme form: gun violence.
Who was Charlie Kirk?
In just over a decade, Kirk, 31, became one of the most influential activists in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, waging a cultural war against woke values in the public spaces of college campuses, hiding behind freedom of expression. He thus became one of the most followed provocateurs in the MAGA world, defending the traditional role of women, rejecting abortion, staunchly defending the Second Amendment (which enshrines the right to bear arms), and staunchly opposing reforms favoring minorities.
Charlie Kirk (2023): "I think it's worth to have a cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the 2nd Amendment. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe."
— Ron Smith (@Ronxyz00) September 10, 2025
His influence went beyond opinion. At 18, he founded Turning Point, an ultra-conservative political action organization. He did so with William Montgomery, a supporter of the Tea Party, a far-right populist movement that served as a prelude to Trumpism.
Turning Point is now a powerful platform with more than 20 million followers on social media and 3,500 branches at universities across the United States (around 250,000 students, according to the organization itself). But the association is also a significant fundraising force among young activists of the new right: it allocates 100% of its donations to candidates in the Trumpist camp.
Last year, Kirk and Turning Point spent seven million dollars on the toughest battles in Congress. And their work was key to Trump's capture of Arizona, one of the swing states in the presidential election and where the activist had his headquarters.
Where did the murder occur?
Kirk was shot in the neck seconds after 12:20 p.m., while debating with a student about gun violence in the country. The influencer and activist was surrounded by heavy security in an outdoor amphitheater at Utah Valley University, the largest public university in the state, with 47,000 students. He was taken to Timpanogos Regional Hospital, where his death was confirmed.
More than 8,000 students from that and other state universities had signed a petition to prevent Kirk from appearing at the school, located 45 minutes south of Salt Lake City, the state capital.
This was Kirk's first date on his The American Comeback tour, which would take him to 14 higher education institutions in Colorado, Virginia, and Minnesota. Utah is one of the states with the most lax gun regulations, which has put its death rate above the national average. In May, state officials made it easier for employees to carry handguns on school property.
What is known about the murderer?
The FBI is leading the manhunt for Kirk's killer. Local authorities have provided few details about the shooter's identity, but Thursday morning they released two photographs of someone they consider a"subject of interest." He was wearing dark clothing, sunglasses, and a black cap.
The suspect opened fire from the roof of the Losee Center, a building located 121 meters away from where the controversial figure was speaking. The man was traveling with a large number of armed bodyguards. The local police had also sent six officers to join the security operation. Only one shot can be heard in the images recorded by the students present.
An old .30-caliber hunting rifle was discovered wrapped in a towel in a wooded area near the university. Inside the chamber were three bullets bearing anti-fascist and transgender messages, according to The Wall Street Journal.
We are asking for the public's help identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.
— FBI Salt Lake City (@FBISaltLakeCity) September 11, 2025
1-800-CALL-FBI
Digital media tips: https://t.co/K7maX81TjJ pic.twitter.com/ALuVkTXuDc
Moments after the murder, investigators questioned George Zinn, an older man who had been present on campus. The man was released but charged with obstruction of justice by local police. Hours later, authorities arrested and questioned Zacharian Qureshi, a Turning Point supporter of Arab origin. As of Wednesday evening, police reported that the two men had no connection to the homicide.
"Our investigation continues," said FBI Director Kash Patel. The agency has set up a website to receive information and tips that could lead to the arrest of the shooter. The government is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest.
Local Utah press has revealed police radio audio claiming that university cameras captured the moment the suspect left the scene. The school has suspended classes until Monday.
What reactions has Kirk's death provoked?
Donald Trump was the one who announced the death of Kirk, whom he considered a friend and called"almost legendary" on his own social media platform, Truth. The president's message was followed by hundreds of condemnations and messages of condemnation of the political violence in the United States. It was a nearly unanimous tone shared by Republican and Democratic politicians.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who interviewed Kirk on his podcast in March, called the episode “disgusting, vile, and reprehensible.” “These despicable acts have no place in our politics,” former President Barack Obama said. Former President Joe Biden and former candidate Kamala Harris wrote similar notes.
“Our country is broken. We’ve suffered recent political assassinations in Minnesota. There was an attack on the governor of Pennsylvania. And there was another attack on a presidential candidate and former president. Nothing I can say will unite us as a country, fix what’s broken,” reflected Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of Utah, in the afternoon.
Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, said Kirk’s killing “broke her heart.” “The attacks on our political and ideological opponents are cowardly and un-American. They must be universally condemned,” wrote Giffords, who became a gun rights activist after surviving the shooting.
By late afternoon, however, the divisions that reign in American politics had finally prevailed. “The Democrats are to blame for what happened today,” MAGA Congresswoman Nancy Mace asserted outside the Capitol.
That was the same tone Trump used in a recorded message from the Oval Office. “This is a dark moment for the country,” the president said. “For years, left-wing lunatics have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the worst criminals. This rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism we are seeing today.” Trump promised to find the perpetrator and the “funding and support” organizations that aided the attack.
