Influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated Wednesday during a campus speaking event in Utah. He was 31.
Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, was a close ally of President Trump and a powerful surrogate and adviser to his political movement.
Trump, 79, announced Kirk’s death in a post 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!”
Shortly before confirming Kirk’s death, Trump told The Post in a brief phone interview: “He was a very, very good friend of mine and he was a tremendous person.”
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Kirk was shot by a sniper shortly after noon local time while taking questions from attendees during a well-attended outdoor event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem.
No one was immediately in custody in connection with the murder.
Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 and rapidly built it into a national network of campus groups eclipsing traditional college Republican clubs.
Kirk is survived by his wife Erika Frantzve, whom he married in 2021, and two young children.
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