President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Wednesday after conservative speaker and activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on a Utah campus earlier in the day.
“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!” Trump wrote in a post announcing that Kirk had passed away from his wound.
He added in another post: “In honor of Charlie Kirk, a truly Great American Patriot, I am ordering all American Flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Sunday evening at 6 P.M.”
Earlier, Kirk’s spokesperson announced, “Charlie Kirk has been shot at Utah Valley University. Condition unknown.”
Video footage from the event seemed to show Kirk being shot while he addressed the crowd from underneath a white pop-up tent.
After the shot, the crowd dispersed, with onlookers shouting “Run, run, run!”
In a statement to Fox News, Ellen Treanor, Associate Vice President of Strategic Communication Management at Utah Valley University, stated that the shooting occurred at approximately 12:20 p.m.
“We had a speaker, Charlie Kirk, who was invited by a student group, Turning Point USA, who was speaking on campus today at noon,” the statement said.
“At about 12:20 shots were fired from a building about 200 yards from the speaker. To the best of our knowledge, the individual was hit and was taken away immediately by his security personnel,” Treanor said. “The campus is closed for the rest of the day and our campus police has a suspect and custody.”
