Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Thursday at a Utah college event in an act that drew renewed attention to the threat of political violence across the United States.
The death was announced on social media by Trump, who praised the 31-year-old Kirk, the co-founder and chief executive of the youth organisation Turning Point USA, as "Great, and even Legendary".
"No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie," Trump posted on his Truth Social account.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the suspected shooter was now in custody.
In a post to his Truth social account, Trump said: "The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.
"He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!" Trump wrote.
US President Donald Trump and a host of Republican elected officials offered prayers for Kirk on social media. (Source: Breakfast)
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 shot 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 Centre courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.
"We are confirming that he was shot and we are praying for Charlie," said Aubrey Laitsch, public relations manager for Turning Point USA.
Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organisation. The event had been met with divided opinions on campus. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1000 signatures.
Trump ally Charlie Kirk shot dead in front of crowd at university event - watch on TVNZ+
The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its "commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue."
The college said a "single shot" had been fired at Kirk.
Trump and a host of Republican elected officials offered prayers for Kirk on social media.
"We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!" Trump posted on Truth Social.
Vice President JD Vance said Kirk was "a genuinely good guy and a young father".
The shooting comes amid a spike in political violence in the United States across all parts of the ideological spectrum.
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.
Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at the event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk go back.
“It seemed like it was a close shot," 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."
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. 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 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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