What we know about fatal shooting of conservative US activist

Charlie Kirk, an effective conservative activist and a close ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot and killed while talking at an event at a university in Utah.

There’s a lot that is still unclear about the incident, but here is what we know.

31 -year -old Kirk, who was invited to speak at Utah Valley University (UVU), sat under a white gazebo with an open bowl courtyard to a crowd of about 3,000 people.

According to eyewitnesses and videos at the scene, he answered a question about the weapon violence at that time.

“Do you know how many transgender American mass shooters in the last 10 years?” A viewer asked.

“Too much,” Kirk replied.

The question then said that it was five in 10 years and asked Kirk how many mass shooters were at that time.

“Considering the intensity of the gang or counting?” It was Kirk’s answer.

Then a single shot came out.

Local was 12:20.

Kirk can be seen in the horrified crowd running back in his neck, before he starts running blood.

“I heard a loud shot, a high explosion, and then I saw your body really – slowly move – when I fell a little.”

“We all fell to the ground and I want to say that we lived like this for about 30 to 45 seconds, and then everyone around us got up and started to run.” He said.

Kirk was hospitalized in a private vehicle. Hours later, Trump confirmed his death in an article on Social.

His wife Erika and his two young children sat nearly while watching his speech.

Authorities say this is an assassination – but we don’t know who hit Kirk yet.

Two people were arrested and then released. Utah officials said that there were no “current bonds” with shooting.

“This shooting is still an active investigation,” he said in his last update, covering the law enforcement officers in the state.

A big human hunt continues for the shooting. BBC’s Regan Morris reports from the campus are locked and go to the door as part of the search for heavy armed police.

The law enforcement officers say that the killer is believed to fire the roof of a building near the courtyard of the deadly shots of Kirk.

They say they’ve been through CCTV footage and believe that the suspect is “dressed in dark clothes”.

BBC Verify examines videos published on social media, which people claim to show a figure on the roof of a university building after the attack.

He was sent to X after the shoot, but we cannot verify when it was withdrawn.

The low quality of the video makes it difficult to determine what the dark shape depicted in it can be. Based on the characteristics of the building, the BBC was able to define it as UVU’s Losee center – a campus spokesman said that the shooting came from there.

The figure on the roof was about 130m (142 yard) from where Kirk was sitting.

Kirk was one of the highest profile conservative activists and media personalities in the United States and was a reliable ally of President Trump. He was a guest for the opening of Trump’s presidency and a regular visitor to the White House.

In 2012, as a 18 -year -old child, he founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a student organization aimed at spreading conservative ideals to liberally prone US colleges.

It was well-known for organizing open-air debates on campuses around the country, and rapid fire questions, as he did on Wednesday, as he was shot on Wednesday.

Social media feeding and daily Podcast presented a momentary image of what they often argued – the problems ranged from arms rights and climate change to faith and family values.

Kirk had many critics who saw him as a controversial and sometimes divisive figure that encouraged conspiratorial beliefs, such as the wrong claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

But at the same time there were fans of the Free Speech Champion. In the last year’s elections, they give him a loan to play a key role in persuading young voters to come to Trump. The Grassroots Maga (make America again wonderful) was valued under Trump administration because it understands the movement.

The political range had shock, grief and anger.

“Great and even legendary Charlie Kirk died. He did not understand or had no better understanding of the heart of the youth in the United States than Charlie,” Trump said. He said.

“He was particularly loved and admired by me,” the President added, all flags ordered to fly at half a country.

Former US presidents wished condolences. Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden said, “There is no room for such violence in our country,” Barack Obama called it a “inferiority action” to shoot and said that his family prayed for Kirk’s loved ones.

A few key White House officials, Health Secretary RFK JR and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, including their sorrow, said.

British Prime Minister Kier Starmer presented his sympathy in a statement: “We should all be free to discuss clearly and freely without fear.”

Italy’s Prime Minister Girogia Meloni said that the “brutal murder is” a deep wound for democracy “, while the Argentine President Javier Milei praised Kirk as a” challenging distributor of the West’s freedom and loyal advocate ideas. “

In the first six months of this year, the United States experienced approximately 150 political motivates.

In a statement to an expert Reuters News Agency, this is almost twice the same period last year.

Mike Jensen of the University of Maryland, which has been following political violence in a database for more than 50 years, said the United States is “at a very dangerous point right now”.

“This can definitely serve as a kind of shine point that inspires more.”

Kirk’s murder is the latest in a high -profile series. During the 2024 election campaign, Trump attacks on political leaders in the United States, including two assassination attempts.

The President was wounded in the ear after he was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania last July, and the authorities said that two months later they had made a second attempt in his life on West Palm Beach Golf.

“Radical Left political violence has damaged too many innocent people,” Trump said on Wednesday night.

Such comments that he made regularly led to controversy. Critics say they neglect to admit that the increase in violence also affects left -leaning politicians and can provoke more attacks against Trump’s political opponents.

In June, Minnesota’s senior democratic legislator and her husband were killed in their homes.

In April, the house of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s house was burned in a swaddling attack, and the Democrat and his family slept inside.

Other events this year include fire attacks on Tesla dealers and the murder of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington.

In 2022, the husband of the home speaker Nancy Pelosi was Bludgeoned with a hammer after entering the house of the couple looking for the highest -level Democrat in order to get the hostage of a man.

“Today, the terrible attraction at Utah Valley University can be understood in an article on Wednesday, Pelosi. He said.

During a meeting with the founders in 2011, former US representative Gabby Giffords, who survived in the head, condemned the attack.

“Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we should never allow America to be a country facing these disagreements.”