Witnesses react to Charlie Kirk being shot and killed at UVU campus

OREM, Utah (ABC4) — Charlie Kirk, a conservative influencer, was shot and killed while at a rally on the Utah Valley University campus on Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses shared with ABC4 their harrowing experiences.

Earlier today, conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was shot while at a speaking event on the Utah Valley University campus.

FBI Director Kash Patel later confirmed that the suspect is now in custody, and local officials have said that there is a person of interest in custody. The incident is being investigated by Orem Police, UVU police, the FBI, and the Utah Department of Public Safety.

Robert, a mathematics professor at UVU said that he was on campus when the event took place. He was in shock to hear that Kirk has succumbed to his injuries.

“I watched Charlie Kirk on YouTube a few times. He had these controversial things, but that’s no excuse for gun violence,” Robert said.

Robert said that this event is traumatizing for everyone involved. “When I saw students running off from the campus over the bridge, they were, a lot of them were crying. It was traumatizing for everyone,” he said.

A witness, who was only 10-15 feet away from Kirk, spoke on the traumatic event saying that “as soon as the gun went off, we kind of hit the floor, started praying. Everyone was screaming.”

The witness said that there was not good security at the event. He said that no one was checking for tickets— for which people were supposed to register beforehand.

“They weren’t even looking for tickets. Anyone could just walk in. It was at, probably, the worst place on campus because there is just so many areas where anyone can just walk in,” the witness said.

The witness said that he did not see any attendees get injured, but he did see people celebrating after Kirk was shot. “I did see a select group of students who stood up and cheered after that fact,” he said.

Another witness spoke to ABC4.com about her experience watching Kirk collapse, struggling to recount the events through tears. “You just see his neck like open up, and there’s just so much blood that came out. It was horrible, and all I felt was everybody bringing me down to the ground…” she said. “All I hear is screaming, and I see people running, and I’m like ‘It’s not safe to run, it’s not safe to get up, it’s not…’ And all I’m saying is ‘Please God, please God,’ cause I don’t want to die, I don’t want anybody else to die, and I think I just saw a guy die.”

She got up, and then about 20 to 30 seconds later, she ran inside with other witnesses who were close by. “We’re all just crying and seeing people posting the video on social media. It was horrifying, it was horrible. I looked to see if there was a shooter, I didn’t see anything. All I could see was Charlie was taken right away, and we were just still on the ground, freaking out,” she described.

Oliver, a UVU student, said that he lives right across the street, and after the shooting, he saw a lot of people coming down towards his building, confused and worried, trying to find somewhere to go.

“A lot of political views aside, people need to realize, someone today… Someone died. It’s a bummer. There’s a lot of people out here, most cop cars I think I’ve ever seen ever in one single place,” Oliver said. “Everyone just needs to take a step back and process a little bit.”

Charlie Kirk, a conservative influencer and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was appearing for the American Comeback Tour hosted by the Turning Point USA chapter at UVU. The event was being held at 12 p.m. in the UVU Courtyard. A petition was previously created to prevent Charlie Kirk from appearing at the university.

According to a UVU spokesperson, at 12:20 this afternoon, “a single shot rang out in the quad near the food court” at the UVU Orem campus as Charlie Kirk began speaking at his event. Initially, Utah Valley University said that a suspect was in custody, but told students to leave the campus and to shelter in place. Additionally, they cancelled all classes and closed the campus.

Orem Police Department first took a suspect into custody, but they later cleared and released that individual. At this time, a different person of interest is now in custody, local officials confirmed.