Police also dismissed video circulating online showing an older man being hauled away by police on Utah Valley’s campus Wednesday.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot in the neck around after 12:20 p.m. local time Wednesday as he was speaking on campus south of Salt Lake City .AP The man in the clip apparently told police he had shot Kirk, but law enforcement later confirmed he is not a suspect.
Kirk was rushed to a nearby hospital after the shooting and taken into surgery in critical condition, but later succumbed to his injuries.
President Trump confirmed the death personally on TruthSocial.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote just after 4 p.m.
“No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” he said of Kirk, a married father of two young girls.
Horrifying footage from the event – where Kirk was debating with attendees opposed to his conservative opinions – showed a single gunshot ring out as he recoiled from the hit.
He had just been asked a question about transgender mass shooters when the bullet was fired.
Kirk has often been credited for galvanizing young Republican voters through his immensely popular conservative group, Turning Point USA, which focused on traveling to college campuses to promote its values.
Utah Valley University’s campus has been placed on lockdown as law enforcement continues combing the buildings room by room, a spokesperson confirmed to the New York Times.
“There is no suspect in custody, it is an active investigation,” the school told the outlet.
Officers from at least four law enforcement agencies involved in the manhunt, including the FBI, the Orem Police, the Utah Department of Public Safety and the Utah Valley University Police.
