Charlie Kirk, an evangelical Christian activist and social media personality, died Sept. 10 after being shot while addressing a crowd at a Utah university.
The founder of Turning Point USA and Turning Point Faith and host of the streaming “Charlie Kirk Show,” Kirk was shot while speaking in a courtyard at Utah Valley University in Orem, a city of 96,000 adjacent to Provo. He was 31.
A native of Arlington Heights, Illinois, near Chicago, Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA as an 18-year-old in 2012 with a tea party conservative, William Montgomery, who died in 2020. The nonprofit sought to educate students about “the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets and capitalism.”
With the help of Montgomery, a retired businessman who encouraged Kirk to get involved in politics after hearing him speak at a high school event, the organization grew into a conservative powerhouse. Within three years it had 800 chapters on college and high school campuses around the country.
“There are young conservatives out there, and there have been for decades. But I just feel they haven’t been plugged in correctly,” Kirk told The Atlantic in 2015, as the organization was gaining national attention. “They haven’t been cultivated, they haven’t been properly equipped or trained.”
Reports indicate a single shot was fired. No information on the suspected motive has been released, and a manhunt for the shooter continues. (TAB Media Group contributed)
