Charlie Kirk Shot and Killed Utah 09/10/25

[NottaYutz]

IMO if the shooter used a bolt action rifle, the casing wouldn't be ejected without further manipulation/cycling the bolt.

Thank you for this reminder. I had forgotten about a bolt action only ejecting a shell when a live shell is loaded into the chamber. Been a long time since I was at a shooting range.

EDIT: So a bolt-action would be idiot proof (in a sense) to keep the shell casing secure.

 

[GumshoeX]

Thank you for sharing your personal insights about the campus and the geographical/physical landscape there.

It makes one inclined to think the assassin had a fair level of familiarity with the layout, to be able to navigate around seemingly with ease and undetected.

How long ago was CK's scheduled visit to the campus publicized, does anyone know?
Is this something that had been planned months in advance, or just weeks?
Did Turning Point post CK's scheduled tour stops online?

I'm guessing the event has been public for at least a couple weeks. There was a petition going around here to try to keep him from visiting a couple schools here (USU & UVU).

There are plenty of vantage points to be honest. The campus not only has roof tops, but open walk-ways and balconies that face that same direction. We even had one student attempt suicide off one of the balconies a few years ago, which is falling 4 levels. The event was held in a large courtyard/amphitheater space near the food court. I used to grab lunch there and sit next to the cascading water features which you may have seen in videos of people running through. The courtyard has large steps that act as seating. I can only imagine the horror people experience being in that space and hearing a gun shot.

During the Covid shutdown I remember them making use of the campus for active shooter trainings. It makes me wonder how well this really prepared them for this incident.

The video you see of the shooter running across the roof is from someone capturing a video from behind where CK was sitting. The video is looking out the east the windows of "The Hall of Flags", one of those hallways that connects buildings together.

Here is an article about the petition.

https://www.abc4.com/news/wasatch-front/charlie-kirks-tour-sparks-controversy/

 

[Linda7NJ]

Thought it was window? But might be mistaken. Very different shooters I think.

No window, it was definitely the roof.

 

[Magic8Ball]

I’m a wait and see kinda gal. You said “taken a page out of another shooter’s book” effectively. Whatever you meant, and it wasn’t clear to me anyway, it seems a bit early to say he’s anything like the PA shooter or that the shootings have much in common. I’ll wait and see what comes out.

Common features between PA and today's shootings:

Victimology: Both victims were nationally influential conservative figures
Location of shootings: Both were in outdoor, open-air environments
Location of shooter: Shooter was positioned on the rooftop of a nearby building in both instances
Weapon: Rifle was used in both shootings

Key differences:

Shooter was killed in PA, shooter escaped today.
Victim (DJT) survived in PA, CK was killed today.

Basically, the only difference so far between the PA scenario and today's is that the outcome was the worst possible today.

It's early hours in the investigation, but as Yogi Berra once famously said, "It's getting late early."

I've seen enough to draw some preliminary conclusions.

 

[NuttMegg]

Yes, I agree with you. My point was not the equivalence of souvenir stealing to murder. My point was that the gunman would not be on camera in front of thousands and so won’t be as easily identified.

If there are pertinent films of him on campus, if he lives there and has been waiting for revenge due to losing his government job, or having his 80 year old gramma deported after living there for 40 years, then there will be films of him all over town to compare, to jolt a memory. And that effect will apply regionally. If there are no films at the college, well that's bad and heads should roll if there is any security team.

 

[Arkay]

Common features between PA and today's shootings:

Victimology: Both victims were nationally influential conservative figures
Location of shootings: Both were in outdoor, open-air environments
Location of shooter: Shooter was positioned on the rooftop of a nearby building in both instances
Weapon: Rifle was used in both shootings

Key differences:

Shooter was killed in PA, shooter escaped today.
Victim (DJT) survived in PA, CK was killed today.

Basically, the only difference so far between the PA scenario and today's is that the outcome was the worst possible.

I agree, but I think there’s another very key difference.

Kirk was not entitled by law to have the extensive security granted to a former president/presidential candidate such as Trump received by having Secret Service agents on hand. Even if all they managed was to surround him after the shooting and hustle him away.

Apparently Kirk had six campus police there, as well as his own security team, according to the posts earlier by LE.

It’s a blessing that, although the gunman found his mark, no one else was killed or wounded. Another key difference, this one for the better.

IMO

 

[NottaYutz]

I wonder if the shooter could hear from that far away. Depending on the audio setup they had going on at the event, it is awfully coincidental the topic being discussed at the time the shot was fired.

Also..after the release of the POI, is it no longer the belief of LE that the shooter acted alone? How would they know something so soon, without executing search warrants and conducting interviews? Seems to be a quick and possibly incorrect assumption.

IMO it was just a wild coincidence that topic was being discussed when he was killed. I don't grok that the shooter waiting for a specific mention by Kirk in order to pull the trigger. Again, stressing MOO in this.

Upthread, someone linked an article whereby a military sniper was commenting on the sound of bolt-action fire vs. the sound of AK47 fire, citing more of a bass sound for the former (if I am remembering correctly). The shooter was in position and waiting for a clean shot, MOO, because it was a clean shot that occurred. No bystanders injured.

 

[Tricia]

Let me try this again.
Kirk was right-wing. His politics were very conservative.
We DO NOT need to discuss his politics. If we could allow people to discuss his politics without melting down we would. We can't. Tomorrow I am going to post the videos of Kirk getting shot and shown from different angles so you can discuss more.
These videos WILL NOT be from mainstream media. They will be from people we would normally never allow but it is the only place we can get the videos.
If you do not want to see them, then do not click on them. I will post as soon as I can tomorrow.
In the meantime, please, NO POLITICS.
Tricia

 

[MassGuy]

Common features between PA and today's shootings:

Victimology: Both victims were nationally influential conservative figures
Location of shootings: Both were in outdoor, open-air environments
Location of shooter: Shooter was positioned on the rooftop of a nearby building in both instances
Weapon: Rifle was used in both shootings

Key differences:

Shooter was killed in PA, shooter escaped today.
Victim (DJT) survived in PA, CK was killed today.

Basically, the only difference so far between the PA scenario and today's is that the outcome was the worst possible today.

It's early hours in the investigation, but as Yogi Berra once famously said, "It's getting late early."

I've seen enough to draw some preliminary conclusions.

The offenders are going to be very different I think.

The Trump shooter did scout the area extensively, and picked an excellent spot to give himself a view of the stage. He had absolutely no reasonable expectation of successfully pulling it off however, and had zero chance of escape. He used a semi automatic rifle, and managed to miss a relatively easy shot on multiple occasions (Trump turning his head shouldn't have been a factor).

This guy did have a reasonable expectation of pulling off the murder part, and fired a single shot. He clearly knew exactly where to set up, and how to make his escape.

The trump shooter had an assassin mindset, which basically means he was a psychological mess.

As John Miller said on CNN earlier, this guy appears to be a "sniper," which means he is organized, and methodical.

So I think we're going to be talking about two very different psychological profiles. More Luigi Mangione, than Thomas Crooks.

 

[MassGuy]

I don't normally watch these videos, but I was on Twitter and happened to see a short clip. It was horrifying, and I instantly knew that he would not survive. A doctor that was interviewed that knew him said that he probably was deceased before he even left the stage.

I know nothing, but I have to think that this was an experienced gunman who could have been paid to do this job. Charlie was becoming more popular with the younger crowd. I have read that young males are leaning more towards being conservative while females are leaning towards being more liberals.

Perhaps, "someone" felt that Charlie was becoming too influential, which is very sad. What I have seen of Charlie he was never hateful or mean. He was always uplifting to the college kids and always debated them with respect. He was such a smart guy on so many topics. He was a strong Christian, and he often shared those beliefs. Such a loss.

JMO.

These things are just always motivated by some sort of personal grievance, at least in the United States. I can't think of an event like this that has ever been some sort of paid thing. No one is going to take that kind of risk for money. I do agree that he was experienced though, at least to an extent.

I'm open to it of course, but it would be one of those paradigm shifting things.

 

[GumshoeX]

Zachariah Qureshi was a name
He was questioned and released according to reports I've seen like this one.
[Mod edit rumor]

https://www.abc4.com/news/wasatch-front/suspect-at-large-uvu-shooting/

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

These things are just always motivated by some sort of personal grievance, at least in the United States. I can't think of an event like this that has ever been some sort of paid thing. No one is going to take that kind of risk for money. I do agree that he was experienced though, at least to an extent.

I'm open to it of course, but it would be one of those paradigm shifting things.

I learned with Luigi Mangione that you were right on target, and, of course, I was wrong! So, I'm going to go with what you say...for now!

JMO.

 

[NuttMegg]

The offenders are going to be very different I think.

The Trump shooter did scout the area extensively, and picked an excellent spot to give himself a view of the stage. He had absolutely no reasonable expectation of successfully pulling it off however, and had zero chance of escape. He used a semi automatic rifle, and managed to miss a relatively easy shot on multiple occasions (Trump turning his head shouldn't have been a factor).

This guy did have a reasonable expectation of pulling off the murder part, and fired a single shot. He clearly knew exactly where to set up, and how to make his escape.

The trump shooter had an assassin mindset, which basically means he was a psychological mess.

As John Miller said on CNN earlier, this guy appears to be a "sniper," which means he is organized, and methodical.

So I think we're going to be talking about two very different psychological profiles. More Luigi Mangione, than Thomas Crooks.

Also Crooks killed another person and seriously wounded 2 more. Meaning no discipline. For all we know this new guy might never have fired had he not isolated his one victim clearly. He might have just continued to the next venue until succeeding.

 

[squareandrabbet]

I don't normally watch these videos, but I was on Twitter and happened to see a short clip. It was horrifying, and I instantly knew that he would not survive. A doctor that was interviewed that knew him said that he probably was deceased before he even left the stage.

I stumbled into a Twitter thread with a couple dozen people with self-proclaimed expertise in military, trauma units, so on and so forth (this was before it was definitively proclaimed that he had died); and every one of those people said some variant of, "he didn't stand a chance".

Apparently too many veins and arteries are clustered in that area of the neck to be able to hold out much hope... the blood doesn't spurt out from that kind of wound... it drops/floods out, all at once. Like the effect when someone playing around in/with water tries to trap a bunch of water atop/in their arms; only to find that when you but drop your arms, all the water comes crashing down in a literal instant.

One person said the tensile strength required to keep that kind of wound closed in a trauma situation, involved people having to press down so hard upon the neck they were lucky to be able to last 30 seconds at a time before needing to be swapped out for another pair of rescuer hands; and they also noted that the 30 seconds of applied massive pressure made the hands of the rescuers clamping down hurt like hell, to the point where they could barely hang on for said 30 seconds before the new pair of hands tapped in.

 

[NottaYutz]

The offenders are going to be very different I think.

The Trump shooter did scout the area extensively, and picked an excellent spot to give himself a view of the stage. He had absolutely no reasonable expectation of successfully pulling it off however, and had zero chance of escape. He used a semi automatic rifle, and managed to miss a relatively easy shot on multiple occasions (Trump turning his head shouldn't have been a factor).

This guy did have a reasonable expectation of pulling off the murder part, and fired a single shot. He clearly knew exactly where to set up, and how to make his escape.

The trump shooter had an assassin mindset, which basically means he was a psychological mess.

As John Miller said on CNN earlier, this guy appears to be a "sniper," which means he is organized, and methodical.

So I think we're going to be talking about two very different psychological profiles. More Luigi Mangione, than Thomas Crooks.

Remember that Crooks didn't use a scope. That's probably why he injured bystanders instead of his alleged intended target. And he was killed before he could be interrogated so we'll never know his motive.

 

[Susjay]

Unfortunately, this stuff is going to be out there forever. I can’t think of a single fatal event captured up close like this, with so many different videos and angles.

Excluding 911.

Plastering this everywhere on random social media is I think really disrespectful to him and those mourning him. Sure people want information but this is someone’s life. Take some time to mourn the victim. LE can look at all the vids. - they are the experts. That’s their job. Think of his wife and family. I won’t be viewing but that’s my choice.

 

[MassGuy]

Remember that Crooks didn't use a scope. That's probably why he injured bystanders instead of his alleged intended target. And he was killed before he could be interrogated so we'll never know his motive.

He had an optic attached, which makes it incredibly easy to shoot accurately. It’s not like he was using iron sights or anything.

 

[JaxFlaGal]

I wonder if the shooter could hear from that far away. Depending on the audio setup they had going on at the event, it is awfully coincidental the topic being discussed at the time the shot was fired.

Also..after the release of the POI, is it no longer the belief of LE that the shooter acted alone? How would they know something so soon, without executing search warrants and conducting interviews? Seems to be a quick and possibly incorrect assumption.

I stumbled into a Twitter thread with a couple dozen people with self-proclaimed expertise in military, trauma units, so on and so forth (this was before it was definitively proclaimed that he had died); and every one of those people said some variant of, "he didn't stand a chance".

Apparently too many veins and arteries are clustered in that area of the neck to be able to hold out much hope... the blood doesn't spurt out from that kind of wound... it drops/floods out, all at once. Like the effect when someone playing around in/with water tries to trap a bunch of water atop/in their arms; only to find that when you but drop your arms, all the water comes crashing down in a literal instant.

One person said the tensile strength required to keep that kind of wound closed in a trauma situation, involved people having to press down so hard upon the neck they were lucky to be able to last 30 seconds at a time before needing to be swapped out for another pair of rescuer hands; and they also noted that the 30 seconds of applied massive pressure made the hands of the rescuers clamping down hurt like hell.

sorry, I didn't quote reply properly. A former paramedic in my family heard on Fox that Kirk was taken to Utah Valley Hospital and was in surgery there. He noted that hospital was *not* a level 1 trauma center (the closest is Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah). His opinion was that (before we'd learned of Kirk's passing) was that if Kirk weren't transported immediately to a level 1 trauma center, that was either good news and the injury was less severe than first thought, or very very bad and there wasn't enough time to get to a level 1 trauma center and they had to try to stabilize before they could life flight to a level 1.

Again, conjecture, his opinion only without info on this specific case, but as a long-retired paramedic.

 

[squareandrabbet]

Zachariah Qureshi was a name I heard on the scanners today. On the scanner He was being observed and reported as traveling to each hospital looking for CK after he was shot. He was questioned and released according to reports I've seen like this one.

https://www.abc4.com/news/wasatch-front/suspect-at-large-uvu-shooting/

I think that's the person/name whose mom I saw was talking to the NY Post earlier today; or maybe Fox.

Can't find that link, but here is a different one:

Charlie Kirk Shooting: Person of Interest Not a Suspect, Shooter Still at Large

No details about the suspect have been made public and the FBI has established a tip line

ca.news.yahoo.com

 

[steeltowngirl]

Excluding 911.

And here we are. Today is the 24th anniversary of 9/11.

The pain of violence never ends.

"If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short, and there is no time for hate."— Sandy Dahl, wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl.