Following the vicious assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, multiple witnesses in attendance told Blaze News that there weren’t enough security measures in place at the event.
Kirk was shot in the neck at Utah Valley University on Wednesday before he was rushed to a vehicle and driven to a nearby hospital. Sources initially told Blaze News that he was in critical condition but later confirmed that he had passed away.
FBI Director Kash Patel stated Wednesday night that a “subject” who had been in custody “has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.”
Kirk was 31 years old and is survived by his wife, Erika, and their two beautiful children.
‘All of the students dropped to the ground, including me.’
Two brothers, Tyler and Seth Teasdale, are both UVU alumni and attended the Kirk event on Wednesday. In the chaotic aftermath, the two witnesses told Blaze News that the security measures in place were insufficient.
Tyler, 27, was immediately met with the chaos of the scene when he was pulling into a parking lot and saw a black SUV speeding away.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but as I was pulling into this parking lot right near where the event was being held, a black SUV pulled out going 70 miles per hour down a 20 mile per hour road,” Tyler told Blaze News.
“The back door was wide open, like 90 degrees, and it was the vehicle that had Charlie Kirk in it.”
Tyler noted the disarray at the scene, saying that “everyone was screaming” as he watched the SWAT teams arrive.
“There was not enough security there,” Tyler told Blaze News. “There was four bodyguards, basically only Charlie’s team.”
“There was not one police officer in sight.”
When a police officer did arrive, Tyler spent over an hour helping law enforcement find and speak with witnesses. Law enforcement initially apprehended an older man in work clothes who was originally believed to be the suspect, but UVU later confirmed that “a suspect” was still at large.
Everyone Tyler spoke with theorized that the older man who was first arrested took the fall for the actual shooter, who they say shot from higher up. A UVU spokesman also confirmed that the shot was taken from roughly 200 yards away from the stage.
Seth was on the ground when Kirk was shot. The 23-year-old told Blaze News he was roughly 30 feet center-left from the fountain in the lawn area when the shot rang out.
Seth told Blaze News that people remained standing at first, wondering if it was a firecracker. He recounted that a few men started yelling, “Get on the ground! Take cover!”
“All of the students dropped to the ground, including me,” Seth told Blaze News.
The students stayed there for five to 10 seconds before people started panicking, Seth said. He also saw people jumping into the nearby fountain, which is only a few feet deep, because “it was the fastest escape.”
“I thought about jumping in,” Seth told Blaze News.
“There’s so many rooftops around Charlie, I was thinking how easy it would be,” Seth told Blaze News. “I was a bit concerned because of what happened with Trump.”
“I didn’t see any cops on the rooftops,” Seth added. “Around 10 minutes before it happened, I noticed that there wasn’t anybody on the rooftops.”
In the moments after, Seth described all the attendees flooding into the cafeteria soaking wet and crying. Amid the mayhem, Seth reflected on Kirk’s character.
“Charlie is an amazing guy,” Seth said.
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The post Witnesses say ‘there was not enough security’ prior to horrific Charlie Kirk assassination appeared first on TheBlaze.
