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Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead at a university in Utah on Wednesday, Donald Trump has said.
The close ally of the US president was speaking with students at an outside event at Utah Valley University, a public university in Orem, south of Salt Lake City, when he was struck in the neck.
Trump announced his death on Truth Social: “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!”
The president later ordered all US flags lowered to half-mast in his honour.
Kirk’s killing comes at a time of deepening division and increasingly frequent violence in American political life. Trump survived two assassination attempts during his run for the White House last year.
Kirk, who was 31, was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, a grassroots organisation that promotes conservative politics at secondary schools and universities. The group and its campaign arm, Turning Point Action, rallied support for Trump and the Republican party in recent years, especially among younger voters.
He also hosted The Charlie Kirk Show, an influential daily talk radio programme. A Turning Point spokesperson last year told NBC News the podcast was being downloaded between 500,000 and 750,000 times a day.
Kirk is survived by his wife and two young children.
His appearance in Utah was billed as the start of an “American Comeback” tour of college campuses. He regularly drew large crowds for what he described as a “prove me wrong table”, where he engaged in often combative question-and-answer sessions with the audience.
Minutes before the shooting, Kirk posted pictures and videos from the event to social media.
“WE. ARE. SO. BACK,” Kirk wrote on X. “Utah Valley University is FIRED UP and READY for the first stop back on the American Comeback Tour.”
Many details surrounding the shooting remained unclear on Wednesday afternoon and there were conflicting reports about whether a suspect was in custody.
FBI director Kash Patel said the agency was “closely monitoring” events at the university.
US attorney-general Pam Bondi said FBI and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were “on the scene”. Deputy attorney-general Todd Blanche said the justice department was “actively investigating this senseless act of violence”.
Utah governor Spencer Cox said those “responsible” for Kirk’s shooting would be “held fully accountable”, adding: “Violence has no place in our political life.”
Mike Lee, the Republican senator from Utah, said no students or other attendees at the event had been reported injured.
The attack on Kirk was roundly condemned by Republicans and Democrats.
Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House said political violence had “become all too common in American society”.
“This is not who we are. It violates the core principles of our country . . . it must stop,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill. “We can settle disagreements and disputes in a civil manner, and political violence must be called out.”
Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman who was severely injured in an assassination attempt in 2011, said on X: “Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence.”
Additional reporting by Stefania Palma
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