Who was Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist fatally shot at Utah Valley University?

(NEXSTAR) – Charlie Kirk, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump and the co-founder of conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was fatally shot Wednesday during a college event in Orem.

A video

that circulated on social media shows Kirk, sitting with a microphone in hand under a tent with the slogan “Prove Me Wrong,” speaking to a large audience when a single shot can be heard. Kirk reaches up with his right hand as blood shoots from the left side of his neck.

President Trump announced Wednesday afternoon that Kirk, who was initially hospitalized in critical condition, had died.

The event at Utah Valley University was part of Turning Point’s “American Comeback Tour,” which featured debates between Kirk and attendees on topics such as abortion, immigration, religion and more.

Who was Charlie Kirk?

The 31-year-old, who grew up in the tony Chicago suburb of Prospect Heights, was an early proponent of tea party conservatism, according to a New York Times profile.

In 2010, Kirk was a high school junior when he started listening to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, admitting that he went “all in on Rush.”

By the following year, Kirk was giving speeches at Illinois tea party rallies, according to the Times.

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.

Kirk is also known for his podcast and radio program, “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which is nationally syndicated on the Salem Radio Network, according to his website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.