Charlie Kirk was shot dead at a college event in Utah Wednesday.
The 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder was speaking at Utah Valley University as part of his American Comeback Tour when he was struck in the neck by a single bullet. Videos taken by attendees at the event show Kirk bleeding profusely out of the side of his neck after the shot rang out.
Kirk, a college dropout, had become one of the most prominent conservative activists in the country, attracting droves of young people to the Republican cause by meeting and debating them on college campuses across the nation. He was one of the few conservative personalities to maintain regular contact with Donald Trump, and was credited with playing a critical role in reelecting Trump in 2024.
He was a staunch activist against abortion, transgender care, and, notably, gun control.
Trump wrote Kirk a brief obituary on Truth Social Wednesday, announcing that he had not survived the attack.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote. “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!”
The president also ordered that flags on government buildings be lowered to half staff until Sunday at 6:00 p.m. to honor Kirk, whom he described as a “great American patriot.”
Andrew Kolvet, Kirk’s spokesman, also confirmed Kirk’s death. Kirk is survived by his wife Erika Frantzve and his two children.
Moments before he was killed, Kirk was debating the issue of gun violence in America with an audience member on the campus green.
“Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” the attendee asked.
“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responded, seconds before he was struck.
The conservative firebrand became well-known for his fervent and often extreme arguments against gun regulation. In 2023, Kirk said he believed it was “worth it” for people to die from gun violence so long as the current iteration of Americans’ Second Amendment rights remained untouched.
“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,” Kirk said at the time. “That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe.”
Kirk’s 2023 comments came a week after three children and three adults were killed at Christian Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
This story has been updated.
The post MAGA Pundit Charlie Kirk Shot Dead at University Speaking Event appeared first on New Republic.
