Orem, Utah (AP) — A brand new report on Charlie Kirk’s assassination final yr says his Turning Level USA group insisted he converse open air regardless of safety issues, whereas the college the place he was killed didn’t correctly assess risks like the potential for a rooftop shooter.
These have been among the many key findings in an after-action report launched Friday by Utah Valley College. The exterior, impartial evaluation assessed safety procedures for the conservative firebrand’s September 10, 2025, speak on the Orem campus, the college mentioned. Investigators examined planning conversations between Turning Level and college officers, and the college’s response to the capturing.
The college didn’t conduct a proper safety evaluation, didn’t create a written occasion motion plan and deferred important determination making to Turning Level USA, the report mentioned.
Kirk was killed by a sniper perched on a rooftop greater than 400 ft away, authorities mentioned. Kirk, 31, had been debating college students in an out of doors courtyard surrounded by tall buildings and with a number of thousand individuals in attendance.
Earlier this month, Kirk’s household despatched a wrongful dying discover — a precursor to a lawsuit — to Utah officers claiming Utah Valley College officers had made a string of “reckless” selections that resulted in Kirk’s dying by leaving him weak to the rooftop sniper.
In response to the report launched Friday, a Turning Level consultant insisted at an August 2025 planning assembly that Kirk converse at a courtyard on campus as a result of he had been there beforehand and the group was accustomed to the placement. Some college officers expressed reservations about holding the occasion in an out of doors house with tall buildings round, however in the end allowed the occasion to proceed.
“In our evaluation, these selections have been consequential,” the report mentioned.
The out of doors location “created important protecting operations issues,” the report mentioned, however the planning course of failed to incorporate a documented line-of-sight evaluation, pre-event briefing or walk-through with safety stakeholders. Nor was there clear coordination with the speaker’s personal safety workforce and exterior legislation enforcement companions, the report mentioned.
Utah resident Tyler Robinson turned himself in to authorities a day after the capturing. Prosecutors say he advised his romantic accomplice that he “had sufficient of his (Kirk’s) hatred.” Robinson has pleaded not responsible to aggravated homicide, a cost that might make him eligible for the dying penalty if convicted. A choose on September 1 ordered the case to proceed towards trial. A date has not but been set.
An Related Press evaluation confirmed the campus in Orem didn’t use a number of public security practices which have grow to be normal at occasions across the nation. Campus police staffing was far beneath really useful ranges for a college of that dimension. In addition they didn’t fly a drone to observe rooftops or coordinate with native legislation enforcement to safe the occasion attended by about 3,000 individuals. There have been no bag checks or metallic detectors.
