LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Charlie Kirk visited Kentucky this summer, where he said at a Republican campaign event in Shepherdsville that what he did wasn't always safe or easy.
Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was killed in broad daylight Wednesday while speaking about social issues at a Utah Valley University campus courtyard. The attack was captured on grisly videos circulating on social media that show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone when suddenly a shot rings out. Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.
Campaigning for U.S. Senate candidate Nate Morris in June, Kirk moderated a discussion in front of a large crowd in Kentucky, touching on a range of topic including immigration, inflation, spirituality and gun rights. He also thanked people for supporting his organization Turning Point USA.
"We're on the front lines where it's not always safe," Kirk said. "It's not always easy, but we know that it's right. In some ways, you would call it mission work but it's different than traditional mission work. I did 100 hours of campus debates this last semester."
Wednesday's event in Utah was the first stop of Kirk's American Comeback Tour. He was scheduled to return to the Louisville area on Oct. 21 to speak at Indiana University in Bloomington.
The sniper who assassinated Kirk is believed to have jumped off a roof and fled into a neighborhood after firing one shot and has not been identified, authorities said Thursday. Authorities also disclosed they have recovered a high-powered, bolt-action rifle they believe was used in the attack and are reviewing video footage of the person they believe was responsible.
The shooter appeared to be of college age and blended in on the university campus where Kirk was killed Wednesday, said Beau Mason, the commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety. It remained unclear how far the shooter has traveled, though law enforcement officials said nearby woods where the rifle was found have been secured.
Even as law enforcement officials revealed new details about an attack they called targeted, much remained unclear nearly 24 hours later, including the sniper's identity, motive and whereabouts. Two people detained Wednesday were released after neither was determined to be connected to the shooting, but by Thursday, officials expressed confidence they had tracked the shooter's movements on campus in the run-up to it.
The circumstances brought renewed attention to the escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. Kirk's killing drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.
Trump said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S.
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