OREM, Utah – Charlie Kirk, a conservative firebrand and founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah Valley University event in Orem, Utah.
“We are confirming that he was shot, and we are praying for Charlie,” said Aubrey Laitsch, public relations manager for Turning Point USA. Later, President Donald Trump confirmed that Kirk had died.
Who is Charlie Kirk?
According to Kirk’s LinkedIn account, Kirk was the founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, one of the largest national student conservative organizations in the country.
Turning Point USA is a “movement dedicated to identifying, organizing, and empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets, and limited government,” his page says.
FILE – Conservative political activist and founder of Turning Point Action Charlie Kirk takes the stage during a Turning Point Action ‘United for Change’ campaign rally for former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Tho
Since the inception of Turning Point USA in 2012, Kirk, then 18, grew Turning Point USA to have representation on over 2,000 high schools and college campuses nationwide and over 260,000 student members.
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.
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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.
He appeared on Fox News, CNBC, and FOX Business News over 200 times, according to his account.
Featured in Forbes’s “30 Under 30” list, Kirk was the youngest speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention and the opening speaker at the 2020 RNC. He also authored several books, including “The MAGA Doctrine,” a New York Times and Amazon bestseller.
He also hosted “The Charlie Kirk Show,” a nationally syndicated daily radio show on Salem Radio Network and news podcast on Apple Podcasts.
Charlie Kirk’s family
Kirk married Erika Frantzve in 2021. Frantzve is a former NCAA Women’s Basketball athlete and a graduate with a Juris Master’s Degree in American Legal Studies. She was also honored to be crowned Miss Arizona USA in 2012.
They have two children, a daughter born in August 2022 and a son born in May 2024.
Charlie Kirk shot
What we know:
According to the university, shots were fired from a nearby building around 1:20 p.m. local time, about 20 minutes after he started speaking.
“We believe that he was shot,” the university told FOX TV Stations.
Graphic video posted to social media shows Kirk on stage, sitting in a chair, talking into a microphone. A single gunshot was heard and Kirk’s head thrust back as he fell. People started screaming and running away, the video shows. Kirk was on campus for the first stop of his American Comeback Tour.
Later on Wednesday, President Donald Trump confirmed that Kirk had died.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “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!”
What we don’t know:
Earlier, the university said there was a suspect in custody, but later the university confirmed to FOX Local that a suspect was not in custody.
