Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the youth organization Turning Point USA, was s*høt at an event at a Utah college, Turning Point said

FILE – Charlie Kirk speaks during a town hall meeting on March 17, 2025, in Oconomowoc, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)

Jeffrey Phelps/AP

OREM, Utah — Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was s*høt Wednesday at an event at a Utah college, Turning Point said.

“We are confirming that he was s*høt and we are praying for Charlie,” said Aubrey Laitsch, public relations manager for Turning Point USA.

Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single s*høt rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The AP was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.

Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. The event had been met with divided opinions on campus. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

President Donald Trump offered prayers for Kirk on social media.

“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been s*høt. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at the event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one s*høt and saw Kirk go back.

“It seemed like it was a close s*høt,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke.

He said there was a light police presence at the event and Kirk had some security but not enough.

“Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”

The shooting comes amid a spike in political violence in the United States. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of President Donald Trump during a campaign rally last year.

Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government.