Right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah on Wednesday.
Video from bystanders on social media shows Kirk sitting on an outdoor stage during a question-and-answer event with students moments before a single loud crack can be heard, sending the crowd into panic. Video from the scene shows Kirk bleeding from neck before falling backward.
A spokesperson for Kirk’s Turning Point USA said he has been hospitalized and is in critical condition but “it doesn’t look good.”
A suspect is not yet in custody following initial campus alerts stating that a suspect had been arrested, according to a university spokesperson.
The Department of Justice is investigating, and the FBI is “closely monitoring reports,” according to FBI director Kash Patel.
“Our thoughts are with Charlie, his loved ones, and everyone affected,” Patel said. “Agents will be on the scene quickly and the FBI stands in full support of the ongoing response and investigation.”
The campus has been closed, classes have been canceled, and students and others on campus have been instructed to leave the university “immediately,” according to a university announcement.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said he is being briefed by law enforcement.
“Those responsible will be held fully accountable,” he said. “Violence has no place in our public life. Americans of every political persuasion must unite in condemning this act. Our prayers are with Charlie, his family, and all those affected.”
Kirk, a 31-year-old political activist and media personality who founded influential right-wing advocacy group Turning Point USA, is well known for his campus appearances and debates surrounding hot-button issues.
He formed the group in 2012 when he was 18 years old and has emerged as an influential voice among Trump’s supporters with an audience on his social media channels and streaming video networks that reach millions of followers.
Kirk has also developed a close relationship with the president and other prominent Republican figures and has helped shape Trump’s Cabinet while leading get-out-the-vote campaigns that mobilized thousands of Turning Point members in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election.
He had recently launched the American Comeback Tour with visits to college campuses across the country.
“This is an ongoing situation. We can confirm that Charlie Kirk has been shot. He is in the hospital, and we are praying for him at this time," Turning Point USA spokesperson Aubrey Laitsch said in a statement.
Kirk was answering a question about “transgender shooters” when a shot rang out, according to former Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz, speaking to Fox News Channel’s America Reports.
President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and a host of administration officials and allies urged Americans to pray for Kirk following news of the shooting.
“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. “A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!”
Democratic officials have also offered prayers for Kirk and condemned the shooting and acts of political violence.
Wednesday’s shooting follows a streak of political violence across the country in recent months, including the assassinations of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota in June and two attempted assassinations targeting Trump in 2024.
Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who was targeted in a 2011 assassination attempt that nearly killed her, said she was “horrified” to hear news of the shooting.
“Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence,” she wrote Wednesday.
Former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said she is “deeply disturbed” by news of the shooting.
“Let me be clear: Political violence has no place in America,” she wrote on social media. “I condemn this act, and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson is leading a moment of silence in the chamber for Kirk.
“Political violence has become all too common in American society, and this is not who we are,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill. “We need every political figure, we need everyone who has a platform to say this loudly and clearly. We can settle disagreements and disputes in a civil manner, and political violence must be called out, and it has to stop.”
This is a developing story
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