Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative activist and Trump ally, dies after shooting at Utah campus event.

Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, has died after being shot at an event at Utah Valley University, President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He was 31. As Trump remade the Republican Party, Kirk embodied the party’s newfound populist conservatism in the social media age. Trump has credited Kirk with galvanizing and mobilizing the youth vote for him. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” the president wrote. “He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.” Kirk’s sudden death Wednesday sent shockwaves across the political spectrum, with Republicans and Democrats calling for an end to political violence at a time of heightened concern about deadly attacks and the targeting of public officials. Last year, a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump at a Pennsylvania rally. In April, a man was arrested in connection with an arson at the Pennsylvania governor’s house as Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside. In June, a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband were assassinated in their home. Kirk, himself a college dropout, was influential with college students and young voters — not only in helping to elect Trump to the presidency but also to inspire a new movement of conservative activists. His involvement began in the wake of the tea party movement and grew with Trump’s https://accompanimentwoody.com/nzqpwk4vse?key=5cc961fcda6ba28c1f5beebbaa4487dd. Having co-founded Turning Point in 2012 at the age of 18, Kirk was a prominent supporter of Trump who courted young voters and used his network of nonprofits to seek to turn out voters on campuses and churches for Trump in 2024. Kirk https://accompanimentwoody.com/nzqpwk4vse?key=5cc961fcda6ba28c1f5beebbaa4487dd traveled to college https://accompanimentwoody.com/nzqpwk4vse?key=5cc961fcda6ba28c1f5beebbaa4487dd, speaking and taking questions from audience members in exchanges that often led to viral videos. Kirk’s appearance at Utah Valley University on Wednesday https://accompanimentwoody.com/nzqpwk4vse?key=5cc961fcda6ba28c1f5beebbaa4487dd

Tour.” He was answering a question about mass shootings when https://accompanimentwoody.com/nzqpwk4vse?key=5cc961fcda6ba28c1f5beebbaa4487dd rang out.