Candace Owens Exposes Turning Point USA's Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Utah as Preemptive PR Strike

Enjoying this? Share it with someone who needs to see it.

Up Next

Candace Owens Receives Brian Harpole Lawsuit: The Path to Subpoena Power in Charlie Kirk Investigation

Candace Owens Receives Brian Harpole Lawsuit: The Path to Subpoena Power in Charlie Kirk Investigation

26:30

Independent Review Exposes Turning Point USA's Role in Charlie Kirk Security Failures at Utah Valley University

Independent Review Exposes Turning Point USA's Role in Charlie Kirk Security Failures at Utah Valley University

1:30:52

Candace Owens Reveals What Erika Kirk Said During Four-Hour Meeting About Charlie Kirk Investigation

Candace Owens Reveals What Erika Kirk Said During Four-Hour Meeting About Charlie Kirk Investigation

1:14:01

Candace Owens Exposes Turning Point USA's Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Utah as Preemptive PR Strike

Candace Owens dissects the wrongful death lawsuit notice filed by the Kirk family against the state of Utah, Utah Valley University, and its police department. She argues the filing is a rushed, preemptive PR move designed to distract from an impending independent security review that could expose Turning Point USA's failures. Owens walks through the filing point by point, highlighting what she sees as absurd claims that blame the university for granting Turning Point USA's own security demands, including the outdoor amphitheater location and rooftop access. She questions why Charlie Kirk's 12-member security team, composed of former Navy SEALs, Marines, and SWAT commanders, showed up just hours before the event and failed to prevent the tragedy, yet faces no accountability in the lawsuit.

September 16, 2026

The Timing and Context of the Lawsuit

Turning Point USA and the Kirk family filed a notice of claim against the state of Utah, Utah Valley University Police Department, UVU police chief Jeffrey Long, former UVU president Astrid Tuminez, and others presently unknown who were allegedly involved in Charlie Kirk's death. This filing is a mandatory prerequisite before suing the government, giving the state a chance to settle before proceeding to court.

The timing raises questions. Why file now, over a year after Charlie Kirk's death? Sources indicate that Charlie Kirk's parents encouraged Erika Kirk to file a wrongful death lawsuit as early as December of last year, but Erika was reportedly not keen on doing so at that time. What changed?

An independent security review commissioned by Utah Valley University in September 2024—just 12 days after the shooting—is reportedly set to be released imminently. This review is expected to reveal devastating findings about Turning Point USA's security apparatus and communication failures. The lawsuit filing appears to be a preemptive public relations strike, designed to shift blame to the university before the independent review exposes Turning Point USA's shortcomings.

The Rushed and Sloppy Filing

The filing itself feels rushed and poorly constructed, especially considering the family had an entire year to prepare it. The document is only eight pages long and reads more like a list of grievances against the university for complying with Turning Point USA's own demands rather than a legitimate legal claim.

The filing begins by stating that Turning Point USA planned its largest-ever campus tour in 2025 and that Utah Valley University had the "distinct honor" of being the first stop. This language is revealing—it suggests hubris and narcissism rather than genuine concern for security or justice. The filing emphasizes that this honor came "against a well-known backdrop of risk," citing the attempted assassination of President Trump and the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband as examples of threats that UVU should have anticipated.

Blaming UVU for Granting Turning Point USA's Demands

One of the most absurd claims in the filing is that UVU is at fault for granting Turning Point USA's request to hold the event in an outdoor amphitheater. On August 25, 2025, during a Microsoft Teams meeting led by Turning Point USA employee Macy Crofts, the organization insisted the event take place in the amphitheater. UVU representatives warned that the amphitheater could not be secured with traffic control and that they could not shut it down. Despite these warnings, Macy Crofts insisted on the amphitheater because Charlie Kirk had recently enjoyed a similar setup at an event in Tennessee in March 2025.

The university acquiesced to this demand. Now, Turning Point USA is suing the university for not refusing their request. The filing does not dispute that Turning Point USA demanded the outdoor venue; instead, it argues that UVU should have told them no. This reads like narcissistic abuse—blaming someone else for allowing you to do what you insisted on doing.

The Security Team's Failures

Charlie Kirk brought 12 security members with him to the event—an extraordinarily large team for a college campus event. These were not ordinary security guards but highly trained former military personnel: Navy SEALs, Marines, Army snipers, SWAT commanders who had worked at the highest levels of government. This level of security is extremely expensive and is contracted specifically because organizers recognize that publicly available security will be insufficient.

The security team is expected to arrive days in advance to assess threats, coordinate with local police, and secure the perimeter. Yet, Charlie Kirk's security team did not arrive at UVU until 9:00 a.m. on the morning of September 10, 2025—just hours before the event. Leading up to that moment, communication about security was primarily handled by the Turning Point USA campus club, not the professional security team.

If Charlie Kirk sent a message the night before the event saying he thought he might be killed, and if the security team recognized that the venue could not be adequately secured, why did they not cancel the event? Why did they show up so late? Why is Turning Point USA not suing its own security team for these failures?

The Complaint About Police Staffing

The filing complains that UVU assigned only six campus police officers to the event, which attracted approximately 3,000 attendees. The filing states that this represented only 25% of UVU's police force and that Chief Jeffrey Long requested approval from President Astrid Tuminez to allocate more officers, but the request was denied.

However, basic math reveals that UVU actually over-supplied police officers relative to their capacity. UVU has a total of 50,000 students and only 24 police officers available to cover the entire campus. On a purely mathematical basis, six officers would cover 12,500 students. The event had 3,000 attendees, meaning UVU provided more police coverage than the campus typically has on a per-student basis. President Tuminez made the correct decision to deny the request for additional officers because reallocating more would have left the remaining 47,000 students on campus without adequate police coverage.

The filing also claims that first responders were not made available, but this is false. UVU's state-certified emergency medical services were on the scene with medical bags in hand, standing beside the vehicle after Charlie was shot. For reasons that remain unclear, Charlie Kirk's security team chose to drive him away in a private vehicle rather than allow the first responders to treat and stabilize him on site or call an ambulance. There was no ambulance on standby at the event, which is shocking because Turning Point USA has always had an ambulance on standby at every event in the past.

Misrepresenting the Text Message Exchange

One of the most egregious misrepresentations in the filing involves a text message exchange between Dan Flood (a Turning Point USA representative) and Chief Jeffrey Long. The filing attempts to suggest that this exchange was a general conversation about securing all rooftops on campus. In reality, the exchange was about a very specific area: the walkway above Charlie Kirk's head.

The original text message from Dan Flood reads: "Hello, Chief Long. We received this message today from the student group. Apparently the student is saying there is student roof access pretty close to where CK will be set up at Utah Valley. The Sorenson Student Center has a couple of staircases that go up to the walkways on the roof."

Chief Long responded: "You want access to that roof?"

Dan Flood replied: "I was told students have access above us. If this is true, it would be nice to either have it controlled access or allow one of my guys to be there as well if possible."

Chief Long responded: "I got you covered."

The crucial line—"I was told students have access above us"—makes it clear that the conversation was about a specific area directly above where Charlie would be sitting, not about rooftops in general. Chief Long fulfilled both parts of Dan Flood's request: Officer Bagley was assigned to monitor the rooftop walkway, and members of Charlie Kirk's security team, including Richard Brancaccio, were allowed up there as well.

In the lawsuit filing, the Kirk family's lawyers omitted the line "I was told students have access above us," making it appear as though the conversation was about rooftops more broadly. The filing then absurdly suggests that when Chief Long said "got you covered," Turning Point USA reasonably concluded that UVU would secure all rooftops on campus without Turning Point USA's involvement. This is an insane stretch—reading between the lines of a text message like a teenager analyzing her boyfriend's silence.

The Independent Security Review

Utah Valley University commissioned an independent external review of the fatal shooting on September 22, 2024, just 12 days after Charlie Kirk's death. The university stated that the review would offer valuable insights on how college campuses can improve response and preparedness. The findings of this review are reportedly due to be released imminently and are expected to be devastating to Turning Point USA's security apparatus.

The independent review is likely to include communications that reveal why certain security measures were not taken, why there was no ambulance on standby, and why Charlie Kirk's security team arrived so late. The timing of the wrongful death lawsuit filing—just days before the independent review's release—suggests that Turning Point USA is attempting to preemptively control the narrative and shift blame to the university before the public sees evidence of Turning Point USA's failures.

The 2022 Body Cam Footage of Tyler Robinson

Another suspicious element emerged regarding the release of body cam footage from a 2022 traffic incident involving Tyler Robinson. The footage was released by Scripps Media just seven days after the public learned that Tyler Robinson was the suspect in Charlie Kirk's shooting. The footage shows Tyler Robinson speaking to a police officer after a minor car accident in St. George, Utah, on May 31, 2022.

The problem is that this footage should not exist. Police departments do not retain mundane body cam footage from routine traffic stops indefinitely. State laws govern when body cam footage is automatically deleted, typically between 60 and 90 days for non-criminal interactions. In Utah, routine footage that does not involve an arrest, citation, use of force, or citizen complaint is usually purged from the system within 60 to 90 days.

The 2022 incident involving Tyler Robinson was beyond routine. No citations were issued. Nobody was arrested. The body cam footage did not capture the accident itself. Tyler Robinson spoke to an officer, was handed a report number, and both drivers exchanged insurance information. There was no dispute, no lawsuit, no reason to request or retain the footage. Yet, three and a half years later, the footage was readily available and released to Scripps Media.

Who requested and stored this footage for three years? Who submitted it to Scripps News? Scripps News became a thing in 2022, formerly known as Newsy. The founder of Scripps News is Jim Spencer, who teaches digital media and journalism at UT Austin. Turning Point USA has a strong tie to UT Austin through their number one donor, Nell Buchman, who donated a 2,300-square-foot building to UT Austin in 2022 for mixed media and artists.

The New York Post ran a story stating that the footage showed Tyler Robinson wearing sunglasses and a hat eerily similar to what he was seen wearing while on the run after allegedly shooting Charlie Kirk. This footage served to imprint upon the public's mind that Tyler Robinson always wore maroon shirts, hats, and sunglasses—despite the fact that he normally wore blue shirts. This feels like a coordinated effort to train decoys to mimic Tyler Robinson's appearance and to ensure the public would associate him with specific clothing.

Conclusion

The wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Kirk family against Utah and Utah Valley University reads like a preemptive public relations strike designed to distract from the impending release of an independent security review that is expected to reveal devastating failures by Turning Point USA's security team. The filing is rushed, sloppy, and filled with absurd claims that blame the university for granting Turning Point USA's own demands. It fails to address why Charlie Kirk's 12-member security team—composed of elite former military personnel—showed up just hours before the event, failed to prevent the tragedy, and faces no accountability in the lawsuit. The release of three-year-old body cam footage of Tyler Robinson raises further questions about coordination and manipulation of public perception. The truth about what happened to Charlie Kirk remains obscured, but the independent security review may finally shed light on the failures that led to his death.

Video Transcript

Link copied to clipboard!