is a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget.
Charlie Kirk, the influencer and activist who co-founded right-wing group Turning Point USA, has died at the age of 31 after being shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University, according to his spokesperson Andrew Kolvet, speaking to the New York Times. Deseret News had earlier reported Kirk’s death, according to Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, and President Donald Trump said Kirk is dead in a post on Truth Social at 4:40PM ET.
At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said that “we have a person of interest in custody,” minutes after FBI Director Kash Patel tweeted an announcement that “The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.”
According to media reports, he appeared to have been hit in the neck. A spokesperson for the university, Ellen Treanor, said in a statement that “shots were fired from a building about 200 yards from the speaker.”
Following the shooting, videos on social media seemed to show the arrest of an alleged suspect. Utah Valley University initially said that a suspect was in custody, but Deseret News reported that, according to officials, the status of the shooter is unclear. A spokesperson has also told the New York Times that a person taken into custody after the shooting was not actually the shooter.
Ellen Treanor, Utah Valley University:
It is with tremendous sadness and shock that Charlie Kirk, who was invited by the student group TPUSA, was shot at about 12:20 when he began speaking at his planned event on the Utah Valley University Orem Campus. Kirk was immediately transported by his security team to a local hospital.
Campus was immediately evacuated. Campus is closed and classes have been canceled until further notice. We are asking those still on campus to secure in place until police officers can safely escort them off campus. The incident is currently being investigated by four agencies: Orem Police, UVU Police, FBI, and Utah Department of Public Safety.
At the time of the shooting, Kirk was speaking at the first event of a scheduled 15-stop American Comeback Tour, and seated at a “Prove Me Wrong Table” taking questions from the crowd, according to the New York Times.
We will continue to update this post as the situation develops.
