Here’s What I Saw: My Eye-Witness Account of Charlie Kirk’s UVU Campus Event and Shooting

[00:00] It has been a month now since this event

[00:03] happened

[00:05] and a lot of people have asked if I

[00:07] could share more insights how I

[00:10] experienced it and just like what I

[00:12] thought, what I recorded and why I

[00:14] recorded it and why I stopped recording

[00:17] um where I did. So, let's start from the

[00:20] very beginning. Um this is just me

[00:24] riding my bike to the event. Not very

[00:27] exciting,

[00:29] but I left it in because this is just

[00:31] what I recorded and that was part of it.

[00:36] I got to campus at around 11:22.

[00:40] And the way I heard about the event was

[00:43] a friend contacted me and told me that

[00:46] Charlie Kirk would come to UVU for a

[00:48] campus tour event. I was super excited

[00:51] to come and I immediate immediately

[00:54] looked it up online and found the like

[00:57] red registration

[00:59] which came with a QR code. This is how

[01:01] it looked like. I thought that there

[01:04] would be people scanning it um to like

[01:07] kind of keep track of who was there or

[01:09] not, but that did not happen. So, I got

[01:14] to campus

[01:16] and

[01:17] when I got here, there were kind of two

[01:21] like two guys that looked kind of

[01:23] official. So, I thought they might ask

[01:27] people like if they have the if they

[01:29] filled out the RSVP and have the QR

[01:31] code. Um, later on I understood that

[01:35] that was not the purpose of it. mostly

[01:38] because this is a an like an onampus

[01:43] event where people have classes. It's at

[01:46] 12 at noon

[01:48] and there was like no way to make sure

[01:53] that everyone who was there also has

[01:55] this QR code cuz it's just a college.

[01:59] So yeah, we got here, parked the bike,

[02:05] I put my hat on, and

[02:09] then we walked in

[02:12] in these doors. So this is a building

[02:15] south of the amphitheater, kind of south

[02:19] campus.

[02:21] And as you can see, there was no

[02:23] security or nothing that um checked

[02:27] people like there were no metal

[02:29] detectors or anything. Um I also think

[02:32] that that would have been kind of an un

[02:38] um

[02:39] like an expectation that could not be

[02:42] met on a college campus event to have

[02:45] those kind of security up.

[02:49] So yeah, we just walked in

[02:54] um and got to the amphitheater area.

[02:59] Once I got in, that was my first time

[03:02] seeing the whole scene and everything.

[03:05] So yeah, you can see people up here on

[03:07] balconies standing just waiting for

[03:10] another 354 minutes for the event to

[03:13] start.

[03:14] In the far back here, this is what kind

[03:18] of call the liberals balcony

[03:21] where um people who were not in that

[03:26] much of support of this event stood, but

[03:29] like they still wanted to hear it.

[03:32] We got there and I kind of just checked

[03:35] it out, held my camera up to kind of

[03:38] film the whole scene.

[03:41] Yeah, this is how it looked like. my

[03:43] first view of it.

[03:46] The very first thing I wanted to make

[03:48] sure was that wherever we stood was in

[03:52] the frame of where they filmed it with

[03:54] their cameras.

[03:56] So, I looked at like where the camera

[03:58] was pointing

[04:00] and for the next like two 3 minutes I

[04:03] was kind of just figuring out where we

[04:05] wanted to stand so that we would be in

[04:07] the shot. So, so that later on

[04:11] um so I I did not have to like record

[04:13] the whole thing. Um I just wanted to be

[04:16] in the frame and

[04:19] we walked around kind of checked it out

[04:23] and first we stood further like up

[04:26] further to the left side.

[04:30] So, first we stood up here and then I

[04:32] saw like where the camera was pointed at

[04:34] and it was more pointed towards the

[04:36] right and so we decided that um we would

[04:41] just go up there and stand there. I also

[04:44] thought maybe I wanted to stand inside

[04:47] um like the masses down here, but then I

[04:51] decided no, it's it's fine. I'll just be

[04:53] further in the background.

[04:56] So, yeah, we moved up there. Um up here

[04:59] you see that this this balcony area is

[05:02] um they're like no one is standing up

[05:05] here just because it was um closed off

[05:08] with tape.

[05:10] People were wondering why that was like

[05:13] was that because they did not want to

[05:15] see like have people up there checking

[05:17] like the roofs and eventually spotting

[05:20] the shooter? Um I don't think so. I

[05:23] think it was purely because people could

[05:26] throw stuff down like to um like on

[05:30] Charlie or on the team or at students.

[05:34] So they kind of like shove them further

[05:36] to the right up here um just to be

[05:41] precautious about that. I just pulled up

[05:45] Google Maps and this is Uyu Campus down

[05:48] here. This is where I got to campus and

[05:50] where I parked my bike. These are the

[05:53] doors that I went through. I walked

[05:55] through to get to the amphitheater. This

[05:57] is kind of south campus. Um, so yeah,

[06:00] this is the balcony and where it was

[06:04] shut off and closed off and people could

[06:07] not stand there. Um, and people were

[06:09] just like standing all around like

[06:11] wherever they could find a good spot to

[06:13] see and hear.

[06:15] So yeah, people were saying why was this

[06:19] closed off this part of the balcony when

[06:21] you could actually like see see the

[06:23] shooter, but it was not because of that.

[06:26] It was just because of safety reasons to

[06:28] not throw stuff at Charlie, I think. So

[06:30] yeah, this is what it looks like on

[06:32] Google Maps and from bird's eye view. So

[06:36] people are also wondering what camera I

[06:38] was filming this with. This was an Insta

[06:40] 360 1 RS with a 4K lens. Now, in just a

[06:44] second, you will see a quality change

[06:46] and time stamp change to 11:30.

[06:51] That's when I start filming filming with

[06:52] my iPhone 15 Plus.

[06:56] >> Yeah, just people are wondering.

[07:00] So, yeah, we were just kind of hanging

[07:01] out there, deciding where we want to go

[07:05] and around here. So, you can see 11:30

[07:08] um the camera is set up right here

[07:10] pointing right towards us. So I was

[07:12] pretty confident that this was a good

[07:14] spot where we would be in the background

[07:16] in the frame.

[07:19] >> Yeah. So up here to the right you can

[07:21] see a line of like people with hat like

[07:24] red hats and um so this I assume I

[07:29] believe was the line for people wanted

[07:30] to debate Charlie up here. The

[07:32] microphone is up here and people would

[07:35] not just like randomly from the crowd go

[07:37] up to the microphone but they were like

[07:38] already lined up here and like it was

[07:40] gated. So, like they were lined up um

[07:43] waiting for their turn to debate

[07:45] Charlie.

[07:47] Um and yeah, that's how they organized

[07:49] it. We were all like everyone was super

[07:53] excited and like just waiting,

[07:56] anticipating for Charlie to come out. We

[07:59] also started chanting USA and Charlie

[08:02] Kirk at some point.

[08:05] Yeah, it was just a good time filming

[08:07] the whole scene. So this this was 30

[08:10] minutes before the event started and you

[08:12] can already see how many people were

[08:13] just waiting and it just filled up way

[08:16] more within the next 30 minutes.

[08:19] >> Yeah, I was just chanting USA being

[08:23] excited for the event to start.

[08:27] >> Charlie Kirk.

[08:29] Here you can see two girls just standing

[08:31] with red shirts and white hats. This was

[08:37] I believe the TPU was a chapter

[08:41] um from UVU here in the on like

[08:44] backstage that had a little meet and

[08:47] greet like in the very backstage very in

[08:49] the background um with them.

[08:52] So you will see like here how they just

[08:55] gathered up and like they would later

[08:57] like go like back and like see Charlie

[09:01] and have all that.

[09:04] Then at some point there was a car

[09:07] pulling up here like at 12:00 there was

[09:10] a car pulling up. I thought Charlie was

[09:14] in that car and so like I filmed it

[09:19] and it took her like a long time too

[09:21] just to back up for them.

[09:24] But then eventually people came out and

[09:26] I pretty fast understood that Charlie

[09:29] was not in this car and so I stopped

[09:32] filming. People were wondering like

[09:33] where's the where's my footage from

[09:35] 12:01 to 12:05

[09:38] which you will see in just a second how

[09:40] it switches here 1201 and then it

[09:43] switches to 12:05. So people were

[09:47] wondering why that was and like where

[09:50] this those four minutes of footage were

[09:52] and I just did not record because

[09:54] Charlie was not in the car and I would

[09:55] did not just want to stand there and

[09:56] like record like something that was not

[10:00] very exciting to record.

[10:02] So yeah, we just one waiting for Charlie

[10:05] to come out. I then also kind of filmed

[10:09] the balcony again with those people.

[10:11] Mostly they were pretty peaceful to be

[10:13] honest. They had like flags and like

[10:15] signs and everything and I did not say

[10:17] the nicest things, but for the most part

[10:19] like they were not um that crazy and

[10:25] yeah, so it was peaceful most of the

[10:27] time. Um they were just there for good

[10:30] vibes, I guess.

[10:31] um just showing that they're not there

[10:33] in full support of that, but it's

[10:36] whatever.

[10:39] So yeah, then about like 2 minutes, 3

[10:43] minutes before Charlie came out, there

[10:46] was this guy who took the microphone and

[10:48] like he just pitched something

[10:52] like helping to get students um out of

[10:56] debt.

[11:00] Yeah, this guy. So, here in the

[11:01] background, you can see how those um

[11:04] like students are coming back from the I

[11:08] guess the backstage meet and greet with

[11:10] Charlie.

[11:12] And this guy, he just pitched his whole

[11:17] who is in student debt and if you need

[11:20] help, call us. Like, we hope you don't

[11:22] need a anyway. It's stack. Yeah. He just

[11:25] like pitched this thing. He was a

[11:26] sponsor of the event

[11:29] and

[11:30] then yeah this is at this point this was

[11:34] almost um as the event started and there

[11:39] were like a lot of people just like on

[11:40] balconies as you can see on roofs just

[11:43] having trying to have a good view and

[11:45] like hearing the debates.

[11:48] Yeah, as you can see, everything is

[11:49] pretty packed.

[11:54] And yeah, then Charlie came out. There

[11:57] he is

[11:59] at 12:08. So

[12:03] for the next 3 to 4 minutes, 3 minutes,

[12:07] he was throwing hats. As you can see, he

[12:09] was handed a batch of um of hats and he

[12:13] just tossed them in the in the crowd. Uh

[12:16] he had like two or three batches I

[12:18] believe of hatch um of hat stacks like

[12:21] that.

[12:23] So yeah, for the next bit he will just

[12:26] throw hats, have a good time.

[12:31] Everyone was waiting for the debates to

[12:33] start. It was was a good time. The

[12:35] liberals balcony once again.

[12:38] But yeah, so all in all it was great.

[12:43] And then Charlie sat down

[12:46] [Applause]

[12:48] getting the crowd excited.

[12:57] So yeah, this was the the scene I got to

[13:00] see um for the next 12 minutes before

[13:05] the shot went off. And the reason I

[13:09] simply did not record more than what I

[13:11] did

[13:13] is because I thought I will see this

[13:16] anyway on YouTube afterwards

[13:19] and I did not want to since like I was

[13:22] in the frame already.

[13:24] Um I did not want to like just hold up

[13:27] my camera and like film the whole thing

[13:28] in poor quality and poor audio. So there

[13:31] was no point for me to do that and I

[13:33] stopped recording.

[13:34] >> You know how it works. Question answered

[13:36] also. Thank you to Lane from Yi. That

[13:38] was great.

[13:40] >> Yeah, this is it. This is all the

[13:42] footage I have.

[13:44] So,

[13:45] >> to kind of wrap up um and kind of tell

[13:48] you guys what happened at the shot and

[13:52] after the shot, um so I looked Charlie

[13:55] right in the face as it happened and I

[13:59] saw like I heard a shot which was kind

[14:01] of high-pitched which I thought was

[14:03] weird but then

[14:08] saw blood coming out of his throat and

[14:10] he unconsciously just fell to the

[14:12] ground. his whole team ran up to him and

[14:15] carried him off as the shot went off.

[14:19] Um, and like after Charlie fell, the

[14:22] whole crow like everyone just ducked and

[14:24] like fell on the ground themselves just

[14:26] like in case it was a mass shooting. Um,

[14:30] but after like 5 seconds, 10 seconds, I

[14:33] figured like that was not the case. And

[14:36] whoever did it had the objective to do

[14:41] what he did and run.

[14:43] And

[14:45] 15 seconds after the shot, everyone just

[14:48] kind of panicked and got up and just

[14:50] bucked it and just ran wherever that car

[14:52] was and yeah, just left. I had like I

[14:56] know people and I have friends who took

[14:58] them an hour and a half or two to get

[15:01] out of traffic back to like home or

[15:04] campus, wherever. For me, it took like

[15:07] 15 to 20 minutes to get back to BYU

[15:09] campus. Um, and it was a different kind

[15:14] of universe. Like just coming from UVU,

[15:18] someone got shot, everyone just panicked

[15:20] and ran to getting to BYU and no one

[15:24] knows what just happened.

[15:28] So, it was kind of weird being on a

[15:31] different campus and not seeing anyone

[15:33] panic or even like talk about it. But

[15:36] then after like 30 minutes when I went

[15:39] to class, I heard people talk about like

[15:43] people being like on the phone and like

[15:45] their friends or boyfriends

[15:47] um they were at the event and told them

[15:50] about it. So yeah, that was kind of that

[15:55] was my side of like what I experienced

[15:58] and how I experienced it. I have no

[16:01] words for

[16:02] what happened. I am very sorry for

[16:05] Charlie and his family and his loved

[16:09] ones.

[16:12] Yeah, it's it's heavy and I just hope

[16:15] for the best and God bless them.

[16:18] I'll see you soon. Bye.