(NEXSTAR) – Charlie Kirk, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump and the co-founder of conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was fatally shot Wednesday during a college event in Orem, Utah.
A video that circulated on social media shows Kirk, sitting with a microphone in hand under a tent with the slogan "Prove Me Wrong," speaking to a large audience when a single shot can be heard. Kirk reaches up with his right hand as blood shoots from the left side of his neck. He was rushed into a nearby vehicle, video showed, and taken to the hospital in critical condition.
At a 3:30 p.m. MT news conference, authorities announced that they had a person of interest in custody, but that the investigation was ongoing.
Later in the afternoon President Trump announced that Kirk had died, writing in a Truth Social post: "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 added that he would be ordering all American Flags to be lowered to half mast until 6 p.m. Sunday.
The event at Utah Valley University was part of Turning Point's "American Comeback Tour," which featured debates between Kirk and attendees on topics such as abortion, immigration, religion and more.
Who was Charlie Kirk?
The 31 year-old, who grew up in the well-to-do Chicago suburb of Prospect Heights, was an early proponent of tea party conservatism, according to a New York Times profile.
In 2010, Kirk was a high school junior when he started listening to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, admitting that he went "all in on Rush."
Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk shot at Utah Valley University
By the following year, Kirk was giving speeches at Illinois tea party rallies, according to the Times.
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 appearing regularly 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.
Kirk also remained a regular presence on college campuses. Last year, for the social media program “Surrounded,” he faced off against 20 liberal college students to defend his viewpoints, including that abortion is murder and should be illegal.
Behind the TikTok clips and confrontational style, Kirk valued debate and the opportunity to exchange ideas with others, many of his fans believed.
“His entire project was built on reaching across the divide and using speech, not violence, to address and resolve the issues!” William Wolfe, executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership, posted on X.
An evangelical Christian, Kirk often spoke about his faith and maintained that his religious beliefs mixed fluidly with his political views, arguing that there was no separation of church and state. He was also a proponent of the Seven Mountain Mandate, which outlines seven areas in which Christians should lead: politics, religion, media, business, family, education and the arts, and entertainment.
Kirk is also known for his podcast and radio program, "The Charlie Kirk Show," which is nationally syndicated on the Salem Radio Network, according to his website.
Kirk is survived by his wife, podcaster and former Miss Arizona Erika Lane Frantzve, and their two children.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
