In a moment haunted with grim irony, Charlie Kirk was talking about shootings in the US when he became the victim of one.
The popular conservative activist was shot in front of 3,000 horrified attendees by a rooftop sniper at the Utah Valley University.
Charlie even shared an eerie post on social media hours before he was violently slain at the age of 31.
Highlights
- Charlie Kirk was talking about shootings in the US when he became the victim of one.
- The conservative activist was shot in front of 3,000 horrified attendees by a rooftop sniper at the Utah Valley University.
- Charlie shared an eerie post on social media hours before his violent slaying at the age of 31.
In a moment of grim irony, Charlie Kirk's final words were about shootings in the US
Image credits: Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
The harrowing incident unfolded shortly after 12 p.m. on Wednesday, September 10.
Charlie had just kick-started his “The American Comeback Tour,” and he was conducting his very first stop at Utah Valley University.
The event saw the conservative pundit inviting attendees to debate with him during his signature “Prove Me Wrong” segment.
Image credits: Charlie Kirk/YouTube
The Turning Point USA co-founder was answering questions about mass shootings in the US when the sniper targeted him with his long black firearm.
“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an attendee asked Charlie.
“Too many,” he responded.
The Turning Point USA co-founder was in the middle of his signature “Prove Me Wrong” segment when a bullet tore through his neck
Image credits: Non_user87/X
“Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” the activist was asked, to which he replied: “Counting or not counting gang violence?”
Within seconds, a bullet ripped through Charlie's neck and sent attendees running for cover. Blood gushed out of his wound as the political commentator collapsed from his chair.
Charlie fell to the ground before his security team rushed him to a hospital. His passing was confirmed shortly after.
Image credits: Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
“I saw a bunch of blood come out of Charlie,” Justin Hickens, who was standing about 20 yards away, told NBC News.
“I saw his body kind of kick back and go limp, and everybody dropped to the ground,” he added.
A shadowy figure, believed to be the assailant, was captured running across the roof of a campus building moments after the assassination.
“There’s somebody on the roof right there,” one clip captured someone in the crowd saying. “He just ran from over there, ran in, now he’s right there.”
“I saw his body kind of kick back and go limp, and everybody dropped to the ground,” a witness said
Image credits: mrserikakirkcharliekirk
Charlie had shared an eerie post on social media hours before his passing.
The conservative activist addressed the brutal stabbing of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed on a train last month, in his last post.
Image credits: WBTV News
Charlie’s last post highlighted concerns about the criminal justice system, especially when it came to repeat offenders like DeCarlos Brown Jr., who is facing charges for Iryna's stabbing.
“If we want things to change, it's 100% necessary to politicize the senseless m****r of Iryna Zarutska because it was politics that allowed a savage monster with 14 priors to be free on the streets to k*** her,” he wrote on X.
Charlie’s last post hours before his assassination was about the stabbing of Iryna Zarutska
Image credits: charliekirk11
Image credits: charliekirk11
Meanwhile, his wife Erika Kirk had shared a bible verse ahead of her husband’s passing.
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” she wrote on X, quoting Psalm 46:1.
Charlie is survived by his wife and their two kids, a 3-year-old daughter and a 16-month-old son.
He was not only a close ally of the US president but was also one of the most high-profile conservative activists with a massive fan-following online.
Image credits: Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images
The activist has strongly advocated for the preservation of Second Amendment rights in the US, which relates to the right to keep and bear firearms.
Back in 2023, he said it was “worth it” to lose a few innocent victims to shootings as long as Second Amendment rights were preserved.
“It's worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some g** d**ths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights...That is a prudent deal,” he said while speaking at the Salt Lake City campus of Awaken Church on April 5, 2023.
The person behind Charlie’s assassination still remains at large.
The anti-abortion campaigner said it was “worth it” to lose a few innocent victims to shootings every year
Image credits: Charlie Kirk/YouTube
The sniper “is believed to have fired from the roof of a building down to the location of the public event in the student courtyard,” officials said.
Police interrogated two suspects but eventually released both of them from custody.
The first suspect was identified as 71-year-old George Zinn, and the second was Zachariah Qureshi. Cops found no connection between them and the shooting.
“There is no current ties to the shooting with either of these individuals,” the FBI and Utah Department of Public Safety said in a joint statement.
“There is an ongoing investigation and manhunt,” the statement added.
“He got what he fought for,” one commented online
