A new report says that Turning Point USA insisted the conservative political group’s leader Charlie Kirk speak outdoors at Utah Valley University – where he was ultimately assassinated – despite security concerns raised with his team by the school’s leaders and its police chief.
The independent report with those findings was commissioned by UVU and released on Friday. The report examined security procedures leading up to the ۳۱-year-old’s fatal shooting on ۱۰ September ۲۰۲۵ during a talk at the university’s campus in Orem, Utah.
According to the ۱۵۸-page report, school staff recommended Turning Point USA (TPUSA) move its event to a more secure location weeks before Kirk’s slaying. However, TPUSA “insisted upon” an outdoor location which “created significant protective operations considerations”, the report said.
It added that a face-to-face, pre-event briefing and walkthrough with UVU police chief Jeff Long and the TPUSA protection detail – including the organization’s security supervisor Dan Flood – “should also have occurred” on UVU’s campus hours prior to the event.
“Chief Long texted Dan Flood to meet on the Hall of Flags outdoor pedestrian walkway at ۱۱[am], however, this face-to-face meeting did not occur,” the report said.
Kirk was shot and killed by a sniper that day in the early afternoon.
According to the report, the university also asked TPUSA for an estimated attendance figure. But the organization never provided one, despite saying it would control ticketing for the event, Utah’s Salt Lake Tribune newspaper reported.
“Based on our review of all available information, that at no time during the events leading up to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, or in its aftermath, did any employee or agent of UVU act in bad faith or in willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others,” the report said.
However, it also noted UVU’s having deferred to TPUSA on various event logistics. “Several key event security decisions were deferred to the TPUSA field representative even though UVU staff members raised concerns, including concerns related to holding the event in the outdoor fountain courtyard area and using TPUSA’s ticketing process,” the university’s report said.
“Those decisions placed the event in an area that was more difficult to control and limited UVU’s ability to obtain reliable, real-time information regarding anticipated attendance and crowd size.”
The report added: “UVU should have retained decision-making authority over key security-related issues, including venue selection, ticketing, access control and other conditions necessary to support campus safety.”
In response to the report, Kirk family attorney Brett Parkinson said: “UVU hosted this event, and in doing so, assumed responsibility for the safety of all in attendance, including Charlie. The buck stopped with UVU leadership and law enforcement.
“Justice for Charlie and his family requires true accountability for UVU’s fatal shortcomings that day.”
Meanwhile, a statement from Jon Anderson, UVU’s president, said the university had a responsibility to “learn from the findings of this review, and follow through on its recommendations”.
“This requires humility, an honest examination of our policies and practices, and a commitment to act on what we learn,” Anderson’s statement also said.
Anderson, who became the university’s president in August, also said in his statement that UVU had made “meaningful progress in strengthening campus safety over the past year”.
Kirk’s family is planning to sue the university. His family alleged in a ۱۶ September legal notice presaging wrongful death litigation that UVU had placed “a politically controversial figure like Charlie Kirk in an outdoor event … surrounded by tall buildings and other elevated observation platforms” – and that the setup was like “walking him into a fishbowl”.
UVU said it was aware of the notice and said it “addresses legal matters consistent with our established processes”, according to the Tribune.
Utah resident Tyler Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder in connection with Kirk’s killing. He has pleaded not guilty, and no trial date had been set for him as of Friday.
