Charlie Kirk, Conservative Right-Wing Activist, Is Assassinated in Utah

Mr. Kirk, 31, a personal friend of President Trump, was shot while giving a speech at Utah Valley University.

On Wednesday, Charlie Kirk, the charming leader of the country's most important right-wing student activist group, was shot and killed while giving a speech at Utah Valley University. His death made many well-known media characters sad and angry politicians from both parties, who called for a stop to violence for political reasons.

The F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, posted on social media a few hours after the shooting that the “subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.”

The influencer was well-known for getting young Republicans to vote and for arguing with others on campus who disagreed with him.

This evening, President Trump put out a four-minute video about the murder of Charlie Kirk. Sitting in the Oval Office, Trump called the killing “an assassination” and remembered Kirk as “a patriot who devoted his life to open debate and the country he loved so much.”

“I am filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk,” he said.

But Kirk's impact went beyond fights on campus. He made friends with the president and Donald Trump Jr., Trump's oldest son, and they went to Greenland together earlier this year.

Kirk established Turning Point USA in 2012, when it seemed like the youth vote was going to the left no matter what.

Since then, the group has grown into a huge conservative club that has started a political arm to openly support GOP candidates and run against Democrats.

Kirk utilized Turning Point's rising power to launch his famous podcast, where he pushed Trump's agenda and exploited his huge audience to persuade politicians to follow the president's lead.

He is survived by his wife, Erika Kirk, and two children.

Utah Valley University said its campus would remain closed through Sunday and that it was suspending all classes, campus events and administrative operations.