Right-Wing Activist Charlie Kirk Assasinated in Utah

By Paulina Mann

On Sept. 10, while speaking at a Utah Valley University (UVU) event, Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political activist and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed. Kirk was answering a question about mass shootings when a single bullet was fired from a rooftop, striking him in the neck. Chaos ensued as students ducked or ran to find safety, and Kirk was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly after being shot.

A manhunt to find the gunman who fled a rooftop after the fatal shot followed, and after 33 hours, with the help of family, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson surrendered to police. Text messages sent to his partner, before the shooting occurred, revealed confessions saying that he had the chance to kill one of the nation’s major conservative voices, “and I’m going to take it.” 

Robinson has since been charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering, and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child. Robinson’s family, many of whom are registered republican voters, disclosed that Robinson “had become more political in recent years.” Robinson later explained that he killed Kirk because he “spreads too much hate.”

Kirk, a conservative political activist, author, and media personality, known for co-founding and serving as CEO of Turning Point USA, was 35 when he died. He was known for his right-wing beliefs, including anti-abortion, anti-immigration, anti-LGBTQ, and pro-Second Amendment ideologies.

The UVU event was part of his “American Comeback Tour,” which included a “Prove Me Wrong” table, allowing college students to debate Kirk on issues from transgender rights to gun violence. Kirk’s college visits, strong social media presence, and even a talk radio program titled “The Charlie Kirk Show” aimed to create an increase in young conservative voters. 

Following Kirk’s death, Trump said that he was “filled with grief and anger,” and posted on his Truth Social 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.” Days before a memorial service for Kirk was held, the Senate declared Oct. 14, 2025, Kirk's birthday, a "National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk."

Kirk’s death was not the first example of politically motivated violence in 2025. In June, Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed in front of their home. Kirk’s death was also not the only act of gun violence on Sept. 10; a Colorado school shooting on the same day left two in critical condition and the shooter dead, after a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

Following Kirk’s death, the power of social media became clear. Graphic videos of him getting shot circulated just minutes after it occurred, and hundreds of thousands of posts related to the shooting were published in the hours following his death. Among the circulating posts were ironic statements Kirk had made regarding gun violence, as he considered it “worth it” to have a “cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year” to preserve the Second Amendment and “other god-given rights.” 

Some social media users celebrated Kirk’s death, saying that he preached “hate, bigotry, and division,” and thus “deserved to die,” but many members of opposing political parties agree that no one, regardless of political affiliation, deserves to die. 

Kirk’s unexpected public assassination left America disturbed, with political divisions and gun violence at the forefront of the media worldwide.