Trump ally and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk shot dead at US university

Turning Point USA co-founder, Trump ally was killed during live debate with students at Utah Valley University. (Photo/Reuters)

Right-wing youth activist Charlie Kirk, a major ally of President Donald Trump, has been shot dead at a US university.

Kirk was at Utah Valley University on Wednesday when the incident happened, US networks and local media reported, adding the suspect was in police custody.

Footage posted on social media appeared to depict Kirk sitting under a canopy addressing hundreds of assembled students at Utah Valley University when sounds like a gunshot ring out, Kirk recoils, and students began fleeing en masse.

A separate video taken from close to where Kirk was speaking appeared to show a bullet striking Kirk's neck, followed by a sudden, massive blood loss.

FBI Director Kash Patel said that the suspect was in custody.

"The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody," Patel said on X. "We will provide updates when able."

Later, Patel said the suspect was released, and the investigation continues.

"The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement," Patel wrote on X. "Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency.”

President Donald Trump has ordered US flags flown at half-staff through the week to honour Kirk.

"In honour of Charlie Kirk, a truly Great American Patriot, I am ordering all American Flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Sunday evening at 6 PM," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Former president Joe Biden joined many other US politicians in condemning the fatal shooting of Kirk, calling for a halt to violence.

"There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk's family and loved ones," Democrat Biden said on social media.

The 31-year-old and staunchly pro-Israel activist personified the pugnacious, populist conservatism that has taken over the Republican Party in the age of President Trump.

Kirk, who has defended Israel's genocide in Gaza, had long focused on energising young conservatives with speaking events like the one at Utah Valley University where the shooting occurred.

He launched his organisation, Turning Point USA, in 2012, targeting younger people and venturing onto liberal-leaning college campuses where many GOP activists were nervous to tread.

A backer of Trump during the president's initial 2016 run, Kirk took Turning Point from one of a constellation of well-funded conservative groups to the center of the right-of-center universe.

Democrats 'stand for everything God hates'

Turning Point's political wing helped run get-out-the-vote for Trump's 2024 campaign, trying to energise disaffected conservatives who rarely vote.

Trump won Arizona, Turning Point's home state, by five percentage points after narrowly losing it in 2020.

The group is known for its flamboyant events that often feature strobe lighting and pyrotechnics. It claims more than 250,000 student members.

Kirk showed off an apocalyptic style in his popular podcast, radio show and on the campaign trail.

During an appearance with Trump in Georgia last fall, he said that Democrats "stand for everything God hates."

Kirk called the Trump vs. Kamala Harris choice "a spiritual battle."

"This is a Christian state. I’d like to see it stay that way," Kirk told the 10,000 or so Georgians, who at one point joined Kirk in a deafening chant of "Christ is King! Christ is King!"

Culture wars

Kirk also defended Americans' right to possess weapons, arguing during that gun deaths in exchange for the preservation of Second Amendment rights is part of America's reality.

"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. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe," Kirk told a gathering in 2023.

Kirk also remained a regular presence on college campuses.

Last year, for the social media programme "Surrounded," he faced off against 20 liberal college students to defend his viewpoints, including that abortion is murder and should be illegal.

Kirk, who is married with two young children, remained a regular presence on college campuses.

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

It was not an immediate success.

But Kirk's zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.

Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.

Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president.

Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.

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Source: TRT