By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder who helped mobilize the youth vote for Donald Trump, has died Wednesday after being shot during a college event in Utah, Trump announced on Truth Social. Kirk was 31.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote on Wednesday afternoon. “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!”
Kirk was attacked at about 12:10 p.m. while speaking with Utah Valley University students on his “American Comeback Tour.”
A bullet penetrated his neck as he was answering a student’s question about mass shooters. He was immediately rushed to the hospital by his security. Graphic videos of the shooting circulated on social media as Republicans and Democrats shared prayers for Kirk on social media.
An initial suspect was put in handcuffs but later released, as police continue to look for the shooter. The FBI has launched an investigation alongside local law enforcement agencies.
Born in the Chicago suburbs, Kirk was a right-wing media personality and the CEO of Turning Point Action, a nonprofit political advocacy group that helped elect Trump to his second term.
Connecting religious leaders with local politics, Kirk founded the spinoff organization Turning Point Faith, and he also developed Turning Point Academy with the mission of “reviving virtuous education.”
In the lead-up to Trump’s reelection in 2024, Kirk became one of the most recognizable faces in the MAGA movement and one of the key operators in the effort to swing the youth vote red.
His prominence in modern political culture is epitomized by a recent parody of his “Prove Me Wrong” concept on “South Park.”
