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  • Conservative activist Charlie Kirk assassinated at Utah university; shooter still at large

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    Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination.Authorities say Kirk was killed with a single shot from a rooftop on Wednesday. Whoever fired the gun then slipped away amid the chaos of screams and students fleeing the Utah Valley University campus. Federal, state and local authorities were still searching for an unidentified shooter early Thursday and working what they called “multiple active crime scenes.”“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”Two people were detained Wednesday but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, Utah public safety officials said.Authorities did not immediately identify a motive, but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away.Kirk was taking questions about gun violenceKirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political youth organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, at the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.Then a single shot rang out.The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away.Madison Lattin was watching only a few dozen feet from Kirk’s left when she said she heard the bullet hit Kirk.“Blood is falling and dripping down and you’re just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety,” she said.She said she saw people drop to the ground in an eerie silence pierced immediately by cries. Lattin ran while others splashed through decorative pools to get away. Some fell and were trampled in the stampede. People lost their shoes, backpacks, folding chairs and water bottles in the frenzy.When Lattin later learned that Kirk had died, she said she wept, describing him as a role model who had showed her how to be determined and fight for the truth.Trump calls Kirk ‘martyr for truth’Some 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk’s own security detail, authorities said.Trump announced the death on social media and praised the 31-year-old Kirk who was co-founder and CEO of Turning Point as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later Wednesday, he released a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.Utah Valley University said the campus was immediately evacuated after the shooting, with officers escorting people to safety. It will be closed until Monday.Meanwhile, armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for any information residents might have on the shooting. Helicopters buzzed overhead.Wednesday’s event, billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour,” had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”Condemnation from across the political spectrumThe shooting drew swift condemnation across the political aisle as Democratic officials joined Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.“The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last March hosted Kirk on his podcast, posted on X.“The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major parties. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, who was at Wednesday’s event, told the Fox News Channel that he didn’t believe Kirk had enough security.“Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”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 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.

    OREM, Utah —

    Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination.

    Authorities say Kirk was killed with a single shot from a rooftop on Wednesday. Whoever fired the gun then slipped away amid the chaos of screams and students fleeing the Utah Valley University campus. Federal, state and local authorities were still searching for an unidentified shooter early Thursday and working what they called “multiple active crime scenes.”

    “This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”

    Two people were detained Wednesday but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, Utah public safety officials said.

    Authorities did not immediately identify a motive, but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.

    Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away.

    Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images

    Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025 in Orem, Utah. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot in the neck and killed.

    Kirk was taking questions about gun violence

    Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political youth organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, at the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.

    “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”

    The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

    “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.

    Then a single shot rang out.

    The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away.

    Madison Lattin was watching only a few dozen feet from Kirk’s left when she said she heard the bullet hit Kirk.

    “Blood is falling and dripping down and you’re just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety,” she said.

    She said she saw people drop to the ground in an eerie silence pierced immediately by cries. Lattin ran while others splashed through decorative pools to get away. Some fell and were trampled in the stampede. People lost their shoes, backpacks, folding chairs and water bottles in the frenzy.

    When Lattin later learned that Kirk had died, she said she wept, describing him as a role model who had showed her how to be determined and fight for the truth.

    Trump calls Kirk ‘martyr for truth’

    Some 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk’s own security detail, authorities said.

    Trump announced the death on social media and praised the 31-year-old Kirk who was co-founder and CEO of Turning Point as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later Wednesday, he released a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.

    Utah Valley University said the campus was immediately evacuated after the shooting, with officers escorting people to safety. It will be closed until Monday.

    Meanwhile, armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for any information residents might have on the shooting. Helicopters buzzed overhead.

    Wednesday’s event, billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour,” had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

    Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

    Condemnation from across the political spectrum

    The shooting drew swift condemnation across the political aisle as Democratic officials joined Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.

    “The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last March hosted Kirk on his podcast, posted on X.

    “The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.

    The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major parties. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.

    Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, who was at Wednesday’s event, told the Fox News Channel that he didn’t believe Kirk had enough security.

    “Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”

    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 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.

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  • Room for hope despite political violence says director of U.Va. Center for Politics – WTOP News

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    Well-wishers pay their respects at a makeshift memorial at the national headquarters of Turning Point USA after the shooting death…

    Well-wishers pay their respects at a makeshift memorial at the national headquarters of Turning Point USA after the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, CEO of the organization, during a Utah college event Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)(AP/Ross D. Franklin)

    In the horrifying moments after Turning Point USA founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot, Larry Sabato said he was stunned to see comments on social media praising the act that took Kirk’s life.

    Sabato took to his own X account to say, “Anyone who dares praise this despicable act should be shunned right off the political stage.”

    In an interview with WTOP, Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said the U.S. is a particularly violent country when it comes to politics.

    “I hate to say that. … You do see an awful lot of political shootings — and not just of well-known political figures, but also of people at polling places and people at political rallies,” he said.

    Sabato cited two factors: “The easy availability of guns almost certainly plays a role in this,” and the growing divide that’s making the nation more “polarized politically.”

    “We have been for a long time, and it’s become more intense,” he said.

    The political assassinations of the 1960s — from Medgar Evers to John F. Kennedy, to Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X — are well documented, Sabato said, but political violence didn’t end there.

    Sabato ticked off other attempts in the following decades, “President Reagan’s shooting; two attempts on President Ford’s life; an attempt on Jimmy Carter’s life.”

    He was also quick to point out that violence connected to politics is not a modern phenomenon.

    “Political polarization was even worse at the turn of the 19th into the 20th century. There are lots of studies on that,” Sabato said. “I always tell people who say ‘it’s worse than it’s ever been,’ two words: Civil War.”

    However, Sabato said despite the sentiment that “things are bad” now, he doesn’t see the nation on a path toward another civil war. But referring to the current climate he said, “We have to do something about it.”

    While Sabato is a staunch defender of political debate, “Those who are extreme and willing to use violence, they have to be put away. I mean, that’s what we have prisons for, I’m sorry. I’m not an old softie on things like that.”

    While Kirk’s death took place on a university campus as he was set to engage in debate, Sabato said he does believe that more political debate, not less, is required.

    “We have to make an effort to do it,” Sabato said. “You bring people together of differing political philosophies and give them the opportunity to express themselves and to do so vigorously … then to try to find points of agreement.”

    Tyler McGettigan was in the crowd in at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, hoping to ask Kirk a question when he was shot.

    “It’s unconscionable that someone would do this, first of all, but what does this mean going forward?” he told WTOP’s Nick Iannelli. “People are going to be scared to put on political events where they’re literally just talking. It’s ridiculous that that’s kind of the direction we’re going in, that people are essentially being silenced.”

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    Kate Ryan

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  • Utah college where Charlie Kirk was killed is a lesser-known school but the state’s largest

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    THE EVENT. LISA. SO WE ARE HEARING FROM MORE PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THAT RALLY TODAY. KCRA 3’S ANAHITA JAFARY IS IN THE NEWSROOM WITH WHAT THEY SAW. YEAH. CURTIS. LISA, FEAR IS THE WORD ECHOING ACROSS UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY. STUDENTS TELL ME THEY NEVER THOUGHT THEY’D EXPERIENCE SOMETHING LIKE THIS AT THEIR SCHOOL. ONE STUDENT TELLS US SHE FELT THE EVENT WASN’T VERY SECURE, SAYING SHE DIDN’T NOTICE MANY SAFETY MEASURES IN PLACE. ESPECIALLY WITH HOW PACKED IT WAS NOT ONLY WITH STUDENTS, BUT FAMILIES, LARGE CROWDS, AND EVEN PROTESTERS. ONE COUPLE WE SPOKE WITH SAYS THE LOUD BANG DIDN’T SOUND LIKE A GUNSHOT AT FIRST, BUT ONCE PEOPLE STARTED SHOUTING AND RUNNING, THEY KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG. HERE’S WHAT THEY REMEMBER FROM THOSE TERRIFYING MOMENTS. WE’RE JUST TALKING FOR A LITTLE BIT, AND WE HEARD A BIG LOUD. WE HEARD A LOUD NOISE. AND AT FIRST I DIDN’T THINK IT WAS A GUNSHOT. I THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE LIKE A SOMEONE. I DON’T KNOW, SETTING OFF LIKE A FIREWORK OR SOMETHING. I DON’T KNOW. BUT EVERYONE STARTED RUNNING AND WE HEARD PEOPLE SAY THAT THEY SAW BLOOD. AND SO THAT’S WHEN IT STARTED TO GET SCARY. SO WE WERE RUNNING OUT OF THERE. IT WAS KIND OF LIKE A SKETCHY ENVIRONMENT BECAUSE THERE WAS NO LIKE METAL DETECTORS OR ANYTHING. LIKE PEOPLE COULD JUST WALK IN. AND SO THERE WERE A LOT OF FAMILIES THERE TO. BUT AFTER WE HEARD IT, I WAS SO SCARED. I DIDN’T THINK, I DIDN’T WANT TO THINK IT WAS A GUN OR A SHOOTING. BUT I REALIZED, LIKE, THERE WAS NO WAY IT WASN’T GOING TO BE, THAT. STUDENTS SAY THEY’RE NOW UNEASY ABOUT RETURNING TO CAMPUS AND UNCERTAIN ABOUT WHAT THE UNIVERSITY WILL DECIDE FOR UPCOMING CLASSES. LIVE IN THE NEWSROOM. I’M ANAHITA JAFARY KCRA THREE NEWS. THANK YOU. AND HERE IS MORE ABOUT CHARLIE KIRK, THE CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST WAS 31 YEARS OLD, A FATHER OF TWO. HE FOUNDED TURNING POINT USA IN 2012. THE NONPROFIT ADVOCATES FOR CONSERVATIVE POLITICS ON HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES, AND PRESIDENT TRUMP CREDITED KIRK AND HIS GROUP FOR GALVANIZING A

    Utah college where Charlie Kirk was killed is a lesser-known school but the state’s largest

    Updated: 10:29 PM PDT Sep 10, 2025

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    The Utah college where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot Wednesday is the state’s largest public university after years of rapid enrollment growth, but is lesser known than other colleges in the state.Related video above: Utah Valley University students recount terror after the assassination of Charlie KirkUtah Valley University was founded under a different name in 1941 as a vocational school focused on providing war production training. It didn’t begin offering four-year degrees until the 1990s, a move that fueled a fivefold increase in enrollment over the next three decades. It now has nearly 47,000 students, according to the university website.Nearly nine out of 10 students at the school in Orem are from Utah, and 18% of students are 25 years old or older. Business and psychology are among the most popular majors.Utah Valley University’s campus is right off a major highway about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, where the state’s flagship school, the University of Utah, is located.Utah Valley is also just a few miles away from Brigham Young University, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church.Related video below: Witness to assassination of Charlie Kirk recounts chaosUtah is one of 14 states that allow some level of concealed carry of firearms on public college and university campuses. FBI Director Kash Patel initially said on social media that a “subject” had been taken into custody, only to later say that the person had been released after being questioned.A person of interest in Wednesday’s shooting was in custody, officials said, but no information has been released about whether that person was legally carrying a weapon.The Utah Valley University Wolverines have several athletic teams, including men’s and women’s basketball teams that play in the Western Athletic Conference.Related video below: Utah officials give first news conference after Charlie Kirk shooting

    SALT LAKE CITY —

    The Utah college where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot Wednesday is the state’s largest public university after years of rapid enrollment growth, but is lesser known than other colleges in the state.

    Related video above: Utah Valley University students recount terror after the assassination of Charlie Kirk

    Utah Valley University was founded under a different name in 1941 as a vocational school focused on providing war production training. It didn’t begin offering four-year degrees until the 1990s, a move that fueled a fivefold increase in enrollment over the next three decades. It now has nearly 47,000 students, according to the university website.

    Nearly nine out of 10 students at the school in Orem are from Utah, and 18% of students are 25 years old or older. Business and psychology are among the most popular majors.

    Utah Valley University’s campus is right off a major highway about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, where the state’s flagship school, the University of Utah, is located.

    Utah Valley is also just a few miles away from Brigham Young University, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church.

    Related video below: Witness to assassination of Charlie Kirk recounts chaos

    Utah is one of 14 states that allow some level of concealed carry of firearms on public college and university campuses. FBI Director Kash Patel initially said on social media that a “subject” had been taken into custody, only to later say that the person had been released after being questioned.

    A person of interest in Wednesday’s shooting was in custody, officials said, but no information has been released about whether that person was legally carrying a weapon.

    The Utah Valley University Wolverines have several athletic teams, including men’s and women’s basketball teams that play in the Western Athletic Conference.

    Related video below: Utah officials give first news conference after Charlie Kirk shooting

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  • MSNBC fires Matthew Dowd after Charlie Kirk assassination comments

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    MSNBC has issued an apology and fired political consultant Matthew Dowd after comments he delivered shortly after the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk that the broadcaster deemed inappropriate.

    The statement was posted to the MSNBC Public Relations X account rather than the company’s main account, which has drawn some backlash from X users.

    Newsweek reached out to MSNBC via email outside of normal business hours for additional comment.

    The Context

    Kirk was fatally shot during a question-and-answer session on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday afternoon. Video captured the moment when Kirk was shot and the crowd that had gathered to see him speak instead scattered in fear.

    A federal investigation is ongoing, with official details about any persons of interest and potential motive still limited on Wednesday night.

    In a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety and FBI Salt Lake City office posted to X by NBC News correspondent Tom Winter, the agencies said that two persons of interest had been taken into custody and later released.

    One man, George Zinn, was charged with obstruction, while the second, Zachariah Qureshi, was merely interrogated, according to the statement. Neither individual has any current ties to the shooting, the agencies confirmed.

    What To Know

    Dowd, appearing on the channel after the shooting, responded to a question about “the environment in which a shooting like this happens.”

    In response, Dowd said that Kirk has “been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”

    “And I think that is the environment we are in,” Dowd continued. “You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we are in.”

    Dowd also said that details remained scarce and that “we don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration. So we have no idea about this.”

    MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler said in her statement that Dowd’s comments were “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable.”

    “We apologize for his statements, as has he,” Kutler wrote. “There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”

    Not long after that initial statement, Deadline reported that MSNBC had cut ties with Dowd, citing the “furor over remarks he made in the aftermath of the shooting.”

    Political commentator Matthew Dowd stands on the convention floor during day three of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 3, 2008.

    Max Whittaker/Getty Images

    Dowd released his own statement on Bluesky, in which he wrote that he “in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack. Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind,” additionally apologizing for his “tone and words.”

    Dowd is best known as chief strategist for the George W. Bush–Dick Cheney 2004 presidential campaign and is a former ABC News political analyst.

    What People Are Saying

    Kutler, in a statement posted to X: “During our breaking news coverage of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Matthew Dowd made comments that were inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable. We apologize for his statements, as has he. There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”

    Dowd, in a statement posted to Bluesky: “My thoughts & prayers are w/ the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. On an earlier appearance on MSNBC I was asked a question on the environment we are in. I apologize for my tone and words. Let me be clear, I in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack. Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind.”

    President Donald Trump, in a post to 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!”

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  • What horrifying videos tell us about the killing of Charlie Kirk

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    Multiple videos from the scene show graphic details about the killing of conservative commentator and political organizer Charlie Kirk at a university in Utah on Wednesday.

    Authorities are now poring over the video as part of the investigation into Kirk’s killing. They are still looking for the gunman after briefly detaining and then freeing two people of interest.

    Charlie Kirk speaks before he is fatally shot during an event Wednesday at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

    (Tess Crowley / Deseret News / AP)

    The shooting

    Kirk drew a large crowd to the event at Utah Valley University. He was gunned down at 12:20 p.m. while talking about mass shootings.

    “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” an audience member asks.

    “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responds.

    Almost immediately, Kirk is shot in the neck. One video shows blood pouring from the wound as he falls over. As the crowd realizes what has taken place, people are heard screaming and running away.

    “This incident occurred with a large crowd around. There was one shot fired, one victim,” Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, said on Wednesday afternoon. “While the suspect is at large, we believe this was a targeted attack toward one individual.”

    People run off on a lawn.

    Members of the crowd screamed and ran after a gunshot was heard and Kirk toppled from his chair.

    (Tess Crowley / Deseret News / AP)

    The shooter is believed to have fired from the roof of a building at Kirk as he participated in the public event in the student courtyard, where around 3,000 people were gathered, according to the Department of Public Safety.

    A source familiar with the investigation told The Times that a bullet struck Kirk’s carotid artery.

    Moments later, many in the crowd begin running.

    Jeffrey Long, chief of the university’s Police Department, said six of the force’s officers, including some plainclothes officers embedded in the crowd, were working with members of Kirk’s personal security team to manage safety at the event.

    The shooter

    Several videos show a person who appears to be dressed in black moving on the roof of university’s Losee Center moments before the gunfire.

    Mason, of the Utah Department of Public Safety, said authorities were analyzing campus security video that showed a suspect in dark clothing who might have shot at Kirk from a roof.

    The gunman is believed to have killed Kirk from at least 200 yards away using some type of sniper rifle, law enforcement sources told The Times.

    A woman covers her mouth with one hand.

    Allison Hemingway-Witty cries after the shooting.

    (Tess Crowley / Deseret News / AP)

    Some experts who have seen videos believe that the assailant probably had experience with firearms, given the precision with which the single shot was fired from a considerable distance.

    Witness Seth Teasdale told the Salt Lake Tribune that the gunshot was so loud it echoed across the pavilion where Kirk was speaking.

    Brynlee Holms told the Tribune the shot was “super loud,” which added to the panic in the crowd.

    “I just heard a clear shot, ‘Boom!’ And that was it,” another witness told KUTV.

    Police detained George Zinn and Zachariah Qureshi as suspects and later released them after determining they had no ties to the shooting, according to the Department of Public Safety. The manhunt for the shooter continues.

    What is not shown

    No videos have surfaced showing the gunman firing the shot or fleeing the scene.

    Mason said authorities were reviewing closed-circuit television video. “We’re analyzing it, but it is security camera footage, so you can kind of guess what the quality of that is,” Mason said. “We do know [the suspect was] dressed in all dark clothing. We don’t have a much better description.”

    Utah Gov. Stephen Cox called the attack “a political assassination” and said Wednesday was “a dark day for our state” and “a tragic day for our nation.”

    Law enforcement was working “multiple active crime scenes” including the area Kirk was shot as well as the locations where the suspect and victim traveled, according to the Public Safety Department. They did not provide any further information on the suspect.

    The FBI created a tip line to gather information that may lead to the shooter’s arrest.

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  • WATCH: Dems and Republicans clash on House floor following moment of silence for Charlie Kirk

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    A moment of silence for Charlie Kirk on the House floor Wednesday devolved into a shouting match after a Republican representative demanded a prayer be said out loud for the conservative who was shot earlier in the day. 

    As lawmakers stood silently in a mostly filled House of Representatives chamber during a moment of silence for the conservative who was shot and killed at Utah Valley University during an on-campus event Wednesday, Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert demanded a spoken prayer.

    “Please rise for a moment of prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said. Lawmakers obliged for several seconds, before returning to regular order. However, once that started to happen, Boebert spoke up.

    CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION SPARKS BIPARTISAN UPROAR OVER POLITICAL VIOLENCE AS UTAH MANHUNT UNDERWAY

    Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., speaks with reporters as she leaves the U.S. Capitol for the weekend on May 17, 2024, in Washington, D.C. ( Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

    “Silent prayers get silent results,” Boebert said. She could also be heard asking for a prayer to be said “out loud.”

    The Colorado Republican’s comments resulted in shouts from Democrats. Some reportedly began shouting back about how Republicans had ignored a school shooting that happened Wednesday as well, according to the New York Times.

    Meanwhile, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., stood up and began shouting back. “You all caused this,” she said.

    CHARLIE KIRK KILLED WHILE LAUNCHING TURNING POINT USA CAMPUS TOUR

    House of Representatives after moment of silence for Charlie Kirk

    Lawmakers turn and look to see where the commotion is coming from after Rep. Lauren Boebert began requesting a prayer be said out loud following a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk.  (U.S. House of Representatives)

    Speaker Johnson attempted to quell the crowd multiple times, banging his gavel and asking for order. Eventually, he said: “We will join for prayer right after this, OK?”

    Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking to a sizable crowd at Utah Value University, located in Orem, Utah, from underneath a tent in the middle of the school’s outdoor quad. Kirk was transported to a local hospital, but was later pronounced dead. He was at the university for an event as part of Turning Point USA’s “American Comeback Tour” that launched this spring.

    Charlie Kirk in a t-shirt with arms folded

    Charlie Kirk was murdered on Sept. 10, 2025, at Utah Value University. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)

    Kirk was the founder of Turning Point USA, established in 2012. The political nonprofit built its name by engaging youth people on university campuses about politics. Kirk frequently went around the country to campuses to speak at events. 

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  • Charlie Kirk’s death comes almost a year after Trump assassination attempt in Florida

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    Charlie Kirk’s death comes almost a year after Trump assassination attempt in Florida – CBS News










































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    Charlie Kirk’s death comes nearly a year after a man attempted to gun down President Trump on his Florida golf course. CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman has more on rising political violence.

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  • Trump ally Charlie Kirk fatally shot in Utah as ‘person of interest’ in custody

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    Charlie Kirk, the powerful rightwing activist, Trump ally and executive director of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was killed on Wednesday afternoon, shot in the neck while speaking at a university campus event in Utah.

    In video posts circulating on social media, Kirk, 31, can be seen being struck by a bullet while speaking and sitting beneath a tent in the Utah Valley University (UVU) courtyard in Orem, Utah. Kirk was there as part of The American Comeback Tour, which is hosted by the TPUSA chapter at UVU. Video footage also shows students on campus running away from the sound of gunfire.

    In a post on X on Wednesday afternoon, the university said the campus was closed.

    After initial reports that a suspect had been apprehended, this turned out not to be the case shortly afterwards and then, around four hours after the incident, the FBI director, Kash Patel, posted on X that “the subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.”

    At a press conference shortly after, Utah governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, added that law enforcement had “a person of interest” in custody who was being interviewed. The authorities did not reveal a name.

    Utah director the department of public safety, Beau Mason, said at the press conference that there were security camera images of the suspect and that the shooter was dressed in dark clothing and had potentially fired from a roof.

    A spokesperson for Utah Valley University earlier told the New York Times that Kirk was struck by a suspect who had fired from a building about 200 yards away.

    Interactive

    “The incident is currently being investigated by four agencies: Orem police, UVU police, FBI and Utah department of public safety,” Treanor added.

    In an internal email to staff members that was posted online on Wednesday evening, the Turning Point USA COO, Justin Streiff, said: “It is with a heavy heart that we, the Turning Point USA leadership team, write to notify you that earlier this afternoon Charlie went to his eternal reward with Jesus Christ in Heaven … However, in the meantime, Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action will be closed for business until Monday, the 15th – likely longer.”

    Writing on Truth Social on Wednesday evening, Donald Trump mourned Kirk’s death, saying: “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 echoed similar sentiments to ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl. Trump told Karl: “It’s horrific. It’s one of the most horrible things I’ve ever seen. He was a great guy … He was an incredible guy. Nobody like him.”

    Eyewitnesses told the Guardian that Kirk was being questioned about mass shootings when he was shot in the neck.

    Related: ‘A lot of blood’: local reporters describe moment when Charlie Kirk was shot

    A Deseret News reporter, Emma Pitts, who was at the event, said that Kirk was on his second question and that it was “regarding mass shootings”.

    “The person he was debating had asked about if he knew how many mass shootings had involved a transgender shooter to which Kirk responded,” Pitts said. Then, “he asked how many mass shootings had [there] been in the last couple of years” and “before he could even answer, we heard a gunshot and we just saw Charlie Kirk’s neck turn to the side and it appeared that he had been shot in the neck”.

    “There was blood, immediately a lot of blood,” Pitts said. “After the shots were fired, everyone immediately took to the ground … we were just trying to stay hidden.”

    Then, Pitts said, “everyone started running away”.

    Videos circulating on social media showed an attender asking Kirk: “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” In response, Kirk says: “Too many,” as the crowd clapped.

    In a follow-up question, the attender asks: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” Kirk replies: “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Seconds later, Kirk could be seen struck in the neck as he falls back in his chair.

    Eva Terry, another Deseret News reporter who was at the event, said the direction of the shot looked like it “came from the middle to the right side of the audience”.

    Describing the suspect, Terry said that he looked like “an older gentleman, probably in his late 50s to 60s, wearing what looks like a worker’s uniform”.

    In response to Kirk’s death, the Utah governor, Spencer Cox, wrote on X: “I just got off the phone with President Trump. Working with the FBI and Utah law enforcement, we will bring to justice the individual responsible for this tragedy. Abby and I are heartbroken. We are praying for Charlie’s wife, daughter, and son.”

    The US vice-president, JD Vance, also tweeted, saying: “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.”

    Utah senator Mike Lee wrote: “Charlie Kirk was an American patriot … This murder was a cowardly act of violence, an attack on champions of freedom like Charlie, the students who gathered for civil debate, and all Americans who peacefully strive to save our nation. The terrorists will not win. Charlie will. Please join me in praying for his wife Erika and their children. May justice be swift.”

    Shortly before gunfire rang out, Kirk tweeted: “WE. ARE. SO. BACK. Utah Valley University is FIRED UP and READY for the first stop back on the American Comeback Tour.”

    On Wednesday evening, Trump released a statement ordering the the American flag to be flown at half-mast until sunset, 14 September.

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  • How Charlie Kirk left his mark on the Republican Party

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    Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has died after being shot at an event in Utah on Wednesday. Molly Ball, a longtime political reporter; Olivier Knox, senior national correspondent for U.S. News and World Report; and Robert Costa, CBS News chief Washington analyst, join “The Takeout” to unpack Kirk’s impact on the Republican Party.

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  • Turning Point USA’s Arizona headquarters blocked off after Charlie Kirk shooting

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    Turning Point USA’s Arizona headquarters blocked off after Charlie Kirk shooting – CBS News










































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    Turning Point USA’s Arizona headquarters were blocked off and employees were sent home early following the shooting of co-founder Charlie Kirk. CBS News’ Kris Van Cleave has more.

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  • Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative activist and Trump ally, dies after shooting at Utah campus event

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    (CNN) — Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was killed Wednesday after being shot at an event at Utah Valley University, President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He was 31.

    As Trump remade the Republican Party, Kirk embodied the party’s newfound populist conservatism in the social media age. Trump has credited Kirk with galvanizing and mobilizing the youth vote for him.

    “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” the president wrote. “He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.”

    Kirk, himself a college dropout, was influential with college students and young voters — not only in helping to elect Trump to the presidency but also to inspire a new movement of conservative activists. His involvement began in the wake of the tea party movement and grew with Trump’s ascendance.

    Having co-founded Turning Point in 2012 at the age of 18, Kirk was a prominent supporter of Trump who courted young voters and used his network of nonprofits to seek to turn out voters on campuses and churches for Trump in 2024.

    Kirk frequently traveled to college campuses, speaking and taking questions from audience members in exchanges that often led to viral videos. Kirk’s appearance at Utah Valley University on Wednesday was the first of a 14-city fall “American Comeback Tour.”

    Kirk was answering a question at the event when a single pop was heard. Video taken by attendees shows the crowd screaming as Kirk recoiled in his seat and appeared to reach for his neck.

    The scene after Charlie Kirk was shot on Wednesday. Credit: Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune / Reuters via CNN Newsource

    Among those in attendance was former US Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican. He said on Fox News he was at the event with his wife, daughter and son-in-law. He said Kirk “came out, he was throwing hats, riling up the crowd,” and then started taking questions before the shot rang out.

    “I was watching Charlie. I can’t say that I saw blood. I can’t say that I saw him get hit, but I did see him fall immediately backwards into his left,” he said.

    The American Comeback Tour had Kirk’s signature “Prove Me Wrong Table,” where he would urge those who disagreed with him to debate an issue.

    Kirk traveled with a private security contingent, a Turning Point USA aide traveling on the tour told CNN, whether he was speaking to large rallies like the one in Orem, Utah, or at smaller events.

    Kirk most recently appeared in the Oval Office in May, attending the swearing-in ceremony of Judge Jeanine Pirro as US attorney for Washington, DC.

    The president and dozens of other Kirk allies – as well as Democrats who had sharp disagreements with him – posted well-wishes and calls for prayer online in the wake of the shooting.

    President Donald Trump shakes hands with moderator Charlie Kirk during a Generation Next White House forum in Washington, DC, on March 22, 2018. Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP via CNN Newsource

    Kirk argued Trump was saving the American dream

    Kirk was known for debating college students about abortion rights, which he opposed; climate change, which he downplayed; and transgender rights, which he rejected. He frequently sought to rally young people around traditional gender roles. He also backed Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

    Kirk spoke at the last three Republican conventions. In 2024, he said that marriage and home ownership were elusive for too many young Americans, and faulted former President Joe Biden.

    “Under Biden, our young people own nothing and they are miserable. Donald Trump refuses to accept this fake, pathetic, mutilated version of the American dream,” he said. “Donald Trump is on a rescue mission to revive your birthright, one your grandparents and those before them gave everything to hand down to you.”

    Kirk was an outspoken advocate for gun rights.

    At an April 2023 Turning Point USA Faith event, he said that “you will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won’t have a single gun death.”

    But, Kirk added, “I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”

    Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk speaks before Donald Trump arrives at the Turning Point Believers’ Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, in July 2024. Credit: Alex Brandon / AP via CNN Newsource

    He started in politics as a teenager

    Kirk got his first experience in politics as a student at Wheeling High School in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, when he volunteered for the winning 2010 Senate campaign of Republican former Sen. Mark Kirk.

    He earned national attention in 2012 when, as a high school senior, he wrote in Breitbart News that high school students were being indoctrinated by liberal textbooks. He briefly attended Harper College, but dropped out to become a full-time conservative activist, and went on to argue that college is unnecessary for many people.

    Kirk and retired businessman and conservative activist Bill Montgomery co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012. The two had met when Kirk was 18, at a speaking engagement at Benedictine University that followed his Breitbart piece. The organization was quickly backed by a roster of major Republican donors, including Foster Friess.

    He went on to become a best-selling author and well-known media personality who hosted a daily three-hour show.

    In 2021, Kirk married Erika Frantzve, with whom he shared two young children.

    This story has been updated with additional details.

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  • Charlie Kirk Dead After Shooting At Utah College Campus Event – KXL

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    OREM, Utah (AP) — Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, died Wednesday after being shot at a college event, Trump said.

    The co-founder and CEO of the youth organization Turning Point USA, the 31-year-old Kirk is the latest victim in a spasm of political violence across the United States.

    Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The AP was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.

    “We are confirming that he was shot and we are praying for Charlie,” said Aubrey Laitsch, public relations manager for Turning Point USA.

    A person who was taken into custody at Utah Valley University was not the suspect, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly. It was not clear if authorities were still searching the campus for a suspect.

    Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions for an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.

    “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an audience members asked. Kirk responded: “Too many.”

    The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

    “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.

    Then a single shot rang out.

    The event had been met with divided opinions on campus. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

    Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit to Utah colleges was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

    Trump and a host of Republican and Democratic elected officials decried the shooting and offered prayers for Kirk on social media.

    “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

    The shooting comes amid a spike in political violence in the United States across all parts of the ideological spectrum. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.

    Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at the event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk go back.

    “It seemed like it was a close shot,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke.

    He said there was a light police presence at the event and Kirk had some security but not enough.

    “Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”

    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 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.

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    Jon Eric Smith

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  • Leaders across the political spectrum denounce Charlie Kirk shooting, political violence

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    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration and the conservative movement were stunned Wednesday by the shooting of Charlie Kirk, a disruptive leader in GOP politics who accomplished what was once thought a pipe dream, expanding Republican ranks among America’s youth.

    Inside the White House, senior officials that had worked closely alongside Kirk throughout much of their careers reacted with shock. It was a moment of political violence reminiscent of the repeated attempts on Donald Trump’s life during the 2024 presidential campaign, one official told The Times.

    “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!”

    Kirk, a founder of Turning Point USA, was instrumental in recruiting young Americans on college campuses to GOP voter rolls, making himself an indispensable part of Republican campaigns down ballot across the country. That mission made his shooting on a college campus in Utah all the more poignant to his friends and allies, who reacted with dismay at videos of the shooting circulating online.

    His impact, helping to increase support among 18- to 24-year-old voters for Republican candidates by double-digit margins in just four years, has been credited by Republican operatives as driving the party’s victories last year, allowing the GOP to retake the House, Senate and the presidency.

    Democrats have recognized his prowess, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom hosting him on his podcast earlier this year in an appeal to young, predominantly male voters lost by the Democrats in recent years.

    “The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form,” Newsom said on X in response to the news.

    As videos of the shooting circulated online, a number of prominent Republicans, including senior members of the Trump administration, reacted to the news by asking the public to pray for the young activist.

    “Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father,” Vice President JD Vance said in a post on X.

    Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said federal agents were at the scene of the shooting in Utah. FBI Director Kash Patel added the FBI will be helping with the investigation.

    Wilner reported from Washington, Ceballos from Tallahassee, Fla.

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    Ana Ceballos, Michael Wilner

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  • Turning Point USA confirms CEO Charlie Kirk shot at Utah college event

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    Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot Wednesday at an event at a Utah college, Turning Point said.The event was taking place on Utah Valley University’s campus in Orem, Utah. University police confirmed that a single shot was fired toward a “visiting speaker.”The police alert added, “Police are investigating now, suspect in custody.”President Donald Trump put out a statement on Truth Social, acknowledging the situation.”We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Trump wrote.”I am tracking the situation at Utah Valley University closely,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said in a post on X. “Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there.”This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

    Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot Wednesday at an event at a Utah college, Turning Point said.

    The event was taking place on Utah Valley University’s campus in Orem, Utah. University police confirmed that a single shot was fired toward a “visiting speaker.”

    The police alert added, “Police are investigating now, suspect in custody.”

    President Donald Trump put out a statement on Truth Social, acknowledging the situation.

    “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Trump wrote.

    “I am tracking the situation at Utah Valley University closely,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said in a post on X. “Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there.”

    This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

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  • The feds own half the western U.S.—and can’t take care of it

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    The federal government owns about a third of America.

    Since we’re on a path to bankruptcy, it would be smart to sell some unused property.

    President Donald Trump’s Interior Secretary says it may be worth as much as $200 trillion. Selling just a fraction of it would reduce our enormous debt.

    Not just that—since government doesn’t manage things well, selling or leasing some would leave it in better condition.

    Federal bureaucrats have been slow to do controlled burns and remove deadwood that becomes fuel for fires.

    “Fires on federal lands accounted for more than half of the acres burned,” says the Congressional Budget Office.

    But whenever a politician suggests selling any land, environmental activists freak out.

    Jennifer Mamola of The John Muir Project says the government must hold on to every bit of land it owns “to solve our biodiversity crisis.”

    “What is a biodiversity crisis?” I ask her in my new video.

    “Human fingerprints are on the scale, and we are out-tipping it!”

    Like many activists, she’s not knowledgeable about science.

    “We are in very tumultuous weather times,” she tells me. “The fact that Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina is just unprecedented!”

    No, it’s not. Hurricanes hit North Carolina all the time.

    “I guess I mean the travel trajectory, right?…[Helene] started in the Gulf and then it went all the way up. Seems pretty unprecedented—going inland.”

    Actually, lots of hurricanes go inland. Floyd caused catastrophic flooding; almost every river basin in eastern North Carolina surpassed 500-year flood levels. Matthew brought record flooding. Florence caused about $17 billion in damages.

    Still, Mamola sees weather changes. “It’s really not that predictable anymore because we have our thumb on the scale….In the nearly 40 years I’ve been alive, we’re definitely seeing a shift!…D.C., I’ve lived there 10 years. We had a drought last summer!”

    But drought isn’t more common. The Environmental Protection Agency says the last 50 years have actually been wetter than average.

    If government sells any land, Mamola says, loggers and mining companies will destroy it.

    Climate media company The YEARS Project peddles a deceitful video that says, “Imagine the Grand Canyon filled with oil rigs. That’s the world Pendley wants to live in.”

    “Pendley” is William Pendley, who ran the government’s Bureau of Land Management during Trump’s first term.

    I confront him with what the activists say:

    “Picture Yellowstone being strip mined for coal. These are the kinds of policies he advocates for.”

    “Absolutely not!” he replies. “We’re not going to do parks. They made it up!”

    He wants to sell, as Congress has done for decades, “multiple-use” land: “It’s supposed to be used [for] oil and gas, mining, grazing.”

    He says private lease holders would manage it better.

    Also, says Pendley, “The best forest managers are tribes and states because they’ve got skin in the game.”

    The governors of Utah and Nevada agree. They, too, want the feds to release some land.

    Most of Utah is federally owned. Utah sued the feds for the right to buy some of it. But so far, no success.

    In Nevada, 80 percent of land is federally owned and controlled. Gov. Joe Lombardo wants “immediate and systematic release of federal land.”

    “Why should it be controlled by the federal government?” I ask Mamola. “What if Utah or Nevada say they can do it better?”

    Mamola replies, “They’re not going to be able to maintain it.”

    But the feds don’t maintain it! The Park Service is $23 billion behind on repairs.

    Despite the incompetence of federal management, Mamola wants the feds to buy even more land.

    “They own 50 percent of the West. Isn’t that enough?” I ask. “What would be enough?”

    “I’m happy to give up some of the East Coast,” she replies.

    Yikes.

    But the silly people win. They’ve convinced voters that no land should ever be sold. Sen. Mike Lee (R–Utah) saw which way the political winds were blowing. He withdrew his proposal to sell public lands.

    Too bad. We’re deep in debt. The feds should at least lease unused land.

    Washington bureaucrats don’t need to control half the West.

    COPYRIGHT 2025 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.

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    John Stossel

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  • Keeler: Coach Prime shouldn’t dream of starting any other CU Buffs QB at Houston than Ryan Staub

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    BOULDER — Julian Lewis couldn’t cross the Delaware.

    Not the Delaware 35-yard line, at any rate.

    Kaidon Salter couldn’t throw on the run.

    Or past the sticks.

    CU’s Big 12 opener is Friday night. Dink and dunk in Houston, under the lights, and the Cougars will have you for brisket.

    Which means the best option head coach Deion Sanders has at QB1, right now, is the guy nobody had on their bingo cards on Saturday morning.

    Welcome to the party, Ryan Staub.

    Sorry.

    “Martin Luther Staub,” Coach Prime called him during a postgame chat with FOX Sports after the sophomore powered CU to a 31-7 rout of Delaware at Folsom Field.

    Staub is one of those O.B.s — “Original Buffs,” Karl Dorrell holdovers who stuck it out while Deion portaled in people to push them off the roster.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Colorado sheriff’s deputy who alerted ICE to Utah student resigns; AG drops lawsuit

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    A Mesa County sheriff’s deputy resigned Tuesday, almost three months after he was accused of violating state law by sharing information with federal officials that led to a Utah college student’s immigration arrest, according to court records.

    Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on Thursday dropped the lawsuit he filed against Investigator Alexander Zwinck over the incident because of the deputy’s resignation, according to court records. Weiser agreed to dismiss the case because the law no longer applies to Zwinck after his resignation, according to a motion filed last week.

    A larger investigation into whether other state law enforcement officers in the region collaborated with federal officials in a Signal group chat for the purposes of federal immigration enforcement will continue, said Lawrence Pacheco, spokesman for the attorney general’s office.

    “Because the laws he is accused of violating apply only to state and local employees, the attorney general’s office is dismissing the lawsuit against Mr. Zwinck but retaining the right to re-file the case if Mr. Zwinck becomes a state or local employee in the future,” Pacheco said.

    Weiser alleged in the lawsuit that Zwinck knowingly assisted in federal immigration enforcement by sharing information about 19-year-old Caroline Dias Goncalves in the Signal group chat during a June 5 traffic stop on Interstate 70 near Loma.

    Colorado law prohibits local law enforcement officers from carrying out civil immigration enforcement and largely blocks local police agencies from working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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  • Week 1 picks against the spread: Texas, Clemson, Notre Dame look enticing as West Coast schedule carries limited intrigue

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    Week 1 features a series of marquee matchups, all of them in the eastern half of the country. On the West Coast, the intrigue level is low.

    Subscribe to continue reading this article.

    Already subscribed? To log in, click here.

    Originally Published:

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  • Utah judge strikes down Republicans’ congressional maps in gerrymandering case

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    A judge ordered the Utah legislature on Monday to redraw its congressional maps in time for next year’s midterm elections, finding the state legislature unlawfully gerrymandered its districts in favor of Republicans.

    Judge Dianna Gibson said in a 76-page order that the legislature must pass a “remedial congressional map” by the end of September. State lawmakers have already signaled they plan to appeal, meaning the case is likely headed for the Utah Supreme Court and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court.

    Gibson’s order comes after a fight between two of the country’s largest states, Texas and California, thrust gerrymandering into the national spotlight. Gerrymandering is the practice of changing the boundaries of a congressional district in a state to benefit one political party, which critics say dilutes votes.

    TRUMP URGES TEXAS REPUBLICANS TO SWIFTLY PASS REDISTRICTING MAPS WHILE NEWSOM, CALIFORNIA DEMS COUNTER

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks about the “Election Rigging Response Act” at a press conference on August 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

    The lawsuit in Utah arose from redistricting changes that began in 2018. Utah voters passed Proposition 4, also known as the “Better Boundaries” initiative, that year to reform the redistricting process and create an independent commission to oversee it.

    But the state legislature passed a bill two years later that overrode that measure and stripped the commission of its power by reducing it to an advisory body. Lawmakers then bypassed the commission entirely by drawing congressional maps seen as strongly favoring Republicans.

    The new map split Salt Lake City four ways, which voting rights groups, including the League of Women Voters of Utah and the Mormon Women for Ethical Government, alleged illegally broke up the state’s only blue-leaning urban region in violation of the standards set forth by Proposition 4.

    TRUMP, ABBOTT VS. NEWSOM: MAD DASH TO REDO CONGRESSIONAL MAPS IN CALIFORNIA, TEXAS

    Utah Capitol Building

    State Capitol Building overlooks Salt Lake City skyline and Wasatch Mountain range with snow, Utah. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

    Sen. Mike Lee

    Sen. Mike Lee speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing at Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

    Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, warned Monday ahead of Gibson’s ruling that “almost anything promoted as an ‘independent commission’ is often a strategy to give Democrats an edge they can’t win through fair elections.”

    “We the people need to halt this trend. To do so, we must first grasp what these independent commissions truly represent,” Lee wrote in a lengthy X post. “In a state like Utah, they’re essentially a mechanism for the left to grab power they can’t get through democratic elections.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Utah’s redistricting dispute comes after Texas’ legislature passed new maps this month that give Republicans an advantage in the upcoming midterms. President Donald Trump encouraged the move and celebrated it as a “BIG WIN,” while state Democrats temporarily fled the state in protest over the new map.

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, responded to what he said was a Trump-led power grab by advancing a hasty plan to suspend his own state’s map, drawn by an independent commission, and pass a new one in a special election this year to offset Republicans’ gains in Texas. In a press conference, Newsom said Democrats need to “play hardball” to stand a chance against a Republican Party led by Trump. Trump vowed on Monday to sue Newsom over the map.

    Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business, covering the Justice Department and legal affairs. Email story tips to ashley.oliver@fox.com.

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  • 2 police officers killed, 1 wounded in Utah shooting; suspect taken into custody

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    Two police officers were shot and killed in a northern Utah city, and a man was taken into custody, authorities said Monday. A third officer was wounded in the shooting, they said. No civilians were harmed.

    The officers were responding to a domestic disturbance call late Sunday in a neighborhood in Tremonton. The wounded officer, a sheriff’s deputy, was released from the hospital on Monday, and a police dog that was also shot while in a car with the sheriff’s deputy was hospitalized in fair condition, police said.

    The officers who were killed were identified as Sgt. Lee Sorensen and Officer Eric Estrada of the Tremonton Garland Police Department. The name of the wounded deputy has not been released.

    “These officers are definitely heroes,” Police Chief Chad Reyes in neighboring Brigham City said during a news conference Monday morning.

    “We really don’t know what we’re walking into,” he said of domestic disturbance calls. “And they are one of the most dangerous events that we can be dispatched on.”

    Police said they received multiple 911 hang-up calls from a home in the city. A single officer from the Tremonton-Garland Police Department arrived first and was speaking to someone at the home when a man came out with a gun, police said in a news release.

    Reyes said he believed the man lived at the house.

    “The male opened fire on the officer, striking and killing the officer,” the news release said. A second officer from the department who responded “was immediately fired upon by the same male suspect” and was killed, police said.

    “Upon arrival, they immediately began taking fire,” Police Detective Crystal Beck of neighboring Brigham City told reporters. “They requested additional units. And then stopped answering their radio.”

    In this image made from video provided by KTVX, police respond to a shooting in Tremonton, Utah, Aug. 17, 2025.

    KTVX via AP


    After the officers were shot, bystanders persuaded the suspect to put down his weapon, police said. SWAT teams responded to clear the home and verify that there was no further threat, police said.

    Beck said that once additional police arrived, “they were able to locate the subject of the shooting and take him into custody.” He was in custody at the Box Elder County Jail, according to the detective.

    The man was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, police said in a news release. His name was not immediately released.  

    “I think it leaves a big impact when any officer is involved in something like this,” Beck said. “It affects not only the officers here in our community but also all over Utah, all over the nation.” 

    Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called what happened “a terrible and tragic night.” He posted online that he joined the state in mourning the loss “of these courageous law enforcement officers.”

    Tremonton, with a population of about 13,000 people, is located roughly 75 miles north of Salt Lake City. 

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