WATCH: Coverage of Charlie Kirk shot at Utah Valley University | NBC News

with rifles out here. So, it's a little a little interesting, but uh um Yeah. Yeah, man. Just >> as you as you say that, we're actually >> seeing the video. >> Yeah, we're looking at a shot now, a live a live uh shot or some video from from our affiliate KSL there that's showing just scores of police officers, uh first responders, emergency vehicles almost sort of blocking and setting up a perimeter around the school where this was. Was this sort of in the middle of the school? Is this um the central of the school or or is this kind of an outdoor pavilion? >> It's an outdoor amphitheater basically where you know he's set up is at the at the bottom level and then there's uh you know basically crescentshaped steps that kind of uh climb up and and uh continue to uh I guess rise up as you go back further and further away from the stage area. And then is this is this Charlie Kirk? I mean I don't know how much you follow him. Is this your first time seeing him live or has he had been has he had been to this university or this area for a while? >> First time seeing him live. I mean I'd seen plenty of videos um you know plenty of videos online and on acts and stuff and was excited to come attend this event. Um you know he was supposed to come back at the end of September to to Logan, Utah, which is a lot further away. So, I was excited to attend this one and and just kind of, you know, see what was going on. >> Yeah. And then if you could describe the moment again, u just because some people may be tuning in right now, Justin, you were, you said you were on the left side of where this happened, not too far from from Charlie Kirk himself. Talk to us again about what you saw when you heard that first gunshot go off. When I heard the first gunshot go off, all of a sudden, I just saw an eruption of blood, you know, come out of Charlie's chest and then kind of his whole body recoil and go limp and and uh, you know, it just took a split second and I was like, is this is this really happening? Is it, you know, and and basically everybody just screamed and fell to the floor. But uh, it looked like a lot of a lot of blood came out. A lot of blood was lost. It did not look good. It looked like, you know, loo looked like a fatal shot, but I, you know, I hope it's not. I pray that it's not. >> Yeah. As you say this, and and you mentioned prayer. Um, we have a a message now on X from the defense secretary, Pete Hagset, saying, "Prayers for Charlie Kirk, an incredible Christian American and human being. May the healing hand of Jesus Christ be upon him." You know, you you were talking about a pretty graphic scene and a pretty violent injury. I I I don't know if you're a doctor or not, but from what you saw, I I mean, how bad did this look? It sounds pretty bad. >> It looked really bad. It loo I mean, I I saw a lot of blood leave his body instantly um before. Yeah. It's not It's not like we heard a shot and we saw him fall to the ground. We We saw a lot of blood leave his body instantly instantly upon impact. >> And and and did you hear more than one gunshot or was it just one? you know, I couldn't remember if there was a second, but I definitely the one and luckily there wasn't there wasn't more than, you know, if there was a second one right away, you know, I think it was just the one, but otherwise it wasn't any more than two. Um, >> and did did it look like anybody else in the audience or anybody else with Charlie Kirk had also been hit? >> No. No, it was just him and then everybody went down and then that was, you know, as I'm sitting there with bodies laying on top of me, I'm just listening. I'm listening for more shots. That's the only thing I'm doing. I'm just like, okay, are we is are there more? Are there more? Are there more? There's none. There's none. There's none. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. And uh just kind of playing that back in my mind and just thinking I I can't I can't believe this is this is happening. How did this how did this happen? How did we let this happen? you know, just just bummed there wasn't uh metal detectors or something. Um because yeah, like I said, it was just, you know, everybody just kind of showed up and and um and it was crowded. It was my my guess is that there were probably at least three or 4 thousand people there. It was incredibly crowded. You had people on on rooftops, walkways, overpasses. >> Yeah. You know, Justin, I've asked you so many questions and I'm realizing I I haven't asked you an important question, which you you were sort of alluding to there. I mean, have you just taken a second to think about what happened? You you went there to to watch somebody talk about politics in America where there's freedom of speech, where democracy is still alive, and yet in the past couple years, we've seen some real horrific political violence and and you just witnessed it just steps from where you were. Yeah. No, it uh it's I'm just kind of taking it all in right now, you know. Unfortunately, it's uh yeah, I mean, it's uh it's it's very frustrating. Um and uh yeah, it's it's it's tragic, but um yeah, there there needs to be there needs to be freedom of speech. There needs to be, you know, toleration for for all viewpoints. And uh unfortunately, you know, this this does not look good for for a particular side. Um you know uh it's just it's just it's just sad, you know. So obviously this person who shot him was deranged, but um yeah, it's just a sad day. >> Justin, we we thank you for being with us. I'm sure our producers are going to have you stand by for us if we get any more information. We're going to kind of want want your perspective. I do want to bring in our national law enforcement and intelligent correspondents. intelligence correspondent Tom Winter. Tom, what are you hearing from your sources about either the suspect or what happened there on the campus of Utah Valley University? >> Yeah. So, Tom, it appears that one individual uh fired this shot. Uh still clearing the campus. Uh as you just heard from our eyewitness, a fairly incredible report from the scene. uh SWAT team and other law enforcement currently going through the buildings of campus. Obviously going through uh the grounds there that have now well been cleared out from the students from the shot that you're looking at there on the left which was taken moments before this shot was fired uh to the upper chest neck area of Charlie Kirk, a conservative commentator. Uh right now uh we have not received official confirmation on the name of the individual that has been taken into custody and if in fact that will ultimately be the individual that's been charged as a result of this incident. The condition of Kirk as of this hour is currently unknown. I will tell you, Tom, that everybody in law enforcement in the intelligence uh counterterrorism threat space is paying very close attention to this shooting because it is part of a disturbing trend that they've been focused on. Starting with the two assassination attempts uh against Donald Trump while he was running for office. You had the targeted assassination here in New York City of a healthcare CEO. you had an arson attack on the governor of Pennsylvania, uh a targeted shooting attack just several weeks ago, last time you and I uh were on the air talking about a shooting like this on 345 Park Avenue. Uh and right now, law enforcement, among other incidents, by the way. Uh right now, top law enforcement officials in this country, state, local, federal, all paying attention to what is a disturbing trend, and it's this that people are using violence to solve their differences or problems in these targeted shooting attacks. It is something that from a terrorism standpoint, we've used terrorists, we've seen terrorists rather do this uh in this country before and obviously abroad, but now individuals are acting out instead of trying to solve differences in a democracy are apparently trying to take it upon themselves uh to fire weapons at individuals or attempt to fire weapons at individuals. also using fire as we saw with the Shapiro attack in Pennsylvania and as we saw uh the attack on a uh group of uh of uh elderly uh Jewish uh in and is Jewish individuals in Colorado who were just supporting the hostages that were taken by Hamas a fire attack there. So this is top of mind. It's been a discussion I've been having with law enforcement officials all this week and it is something that presents a very uh steep security challenge in this country where you're on a campus uh whether you completely agree with Charlie Kirk or not uh is a place traditionally where speech has been a spot where it's happened and now law enforcement has to consider uh what type of event is going to draw this type of action and how can we possibly defend it. Tom, it's an enormous challenge. Well, yeah, and you talk a lot about the threats and we've been seeing some of the reporting come in specifically around New York City because of what's happening both with Israel and Hamas, but also as we get closer to 911. But we are talking now about Utah, a state that is a red state, a state friendly to President Trump, a state that does not have very strong gun laws uh whatsoever. Um and and a place from we heard from we heard from our eyewitness that was very friendly to Charlie Kirk, right? saying 97% if not more of the people in that crowd were supportive of Charlie Kirk. But when we talk about threats, Tom, what are there still serious threats when it comes to people like Charlie Kirk? And I guess where I'm going here is that should there have been maybe more security? But it's also at the same time he he was speaking maybe to a friendly crowd, so that wasn't necessary. >> Yeah, I think everybody needs to take a look at when a crowd is friendly or not. It only takes one person in a crowd uh to create an environment like this. as a society, we have to really have a serious discussion now on how we're going to deal with this going forward. I mean, are we going to have events where people try to speak uh at universities and they're surrounded by bulletproof glass? Could a a university afford look at the size of that crowd, Tom. Uh could they afford the ability to use magnetometers and go person by person? I mean, when when is it an event enough? We we were just talking a couple weeks ago about the shooting at the uh at the Catholic school in Minnesota. I mean there the doors locked after uh once the services started so there was even best security practices there and still the individual fired fire fired uh through the windows. The the big thing here Tom is the pace at which this is happening. You know we used to have a couple of big mass shootings a year which is obviously everybody knows is one too many but now we're seeing these events happening with increasing frequency and that also has law enforcement quite alarm. Well, besides these mass shootings, I mean, we're talking about real political violence here against either candidates for office, candidates who are, you know, lawmakers like we had in Minnesota where where they were targeted inside their homes, literally shot at their front door. What happened to President Trump when he was on the campaign trail, the second attempt on his life. And now on this conservative activist Charlie Kirk who appears to have been shot in the neck while speaking to the the vast majority of people there are friendly crowd at Utah Valley State University uh in a horrific manner that eyewitnesses are telling NBC News there was a lot of blood and it did not look good and from the tweets that we are hearing everyone across the aisle whether it be Republican or Democrat asking for people to pray for Charlie Kirk right now. Um, I do want to ask you one thing. There are so many different angles of this. We actually have an angle of when the shooting happened. We're not going to show the actual moment of of of impact, if you will, when the bullet hits Charlie Kirk, but we can actually hear it. I want to ask our control room and our director if we can play that. I want to get your your your thoughts on the other end. Let's play it now. [Applause] >> Okay. Now, five is a lot, right? I'm going to give you I'm going to give you some credit. Do you do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years? >> Counting or not counting gang violence? >> Great. >> So So we stopped it there. You can hear the crowd. The audio kept playing. You can hear the crowd there. I I mean it it is it is grossly ironic they were talking about mass shootings at the time when this actually happened, Tom. But you got to think from an investigative standpoint, they have a suspect in custody. They're going to be looking at every angle of this. And so many people were shooting this because he has a massive social media presence and people were live streaming this and posting these videos on text on on X, I should say, and Instagram and WhatsApp and everywhere else. That's exactly right, Tom. I mean, I've seen five or six different versions of this video. For obvious reasons, out of respect to Kirk or any victim, we wouldn't show the moment of impact, certainly to their family as well, and his condition is not yet known. Uh, but yes, there's a lot of evidence here uh for law enforcement. There's obviously individuals, you can see them there in front that appear to be acting in a security capacity. They were talking about uh shootings and shooting incidents uh prior to that single shot being heard. We don't hear any other shots being fired on at least on the videos that we've watched. Of course, that's not definitive. Uh so we still need to get some more information about that. And it's not clear from the video. Uh you know, witnesses can react different ways. They can look behind them, to the side of them. You got a number of buildings around there. the way that the sound travels after a shot is fired. So, I don't want to speculate. It would be ranked speculation to say where the shot came from. Uh, but obviously, uh, this is a this is an incident that certainly has people's attention. You know, you mentioned the the political violence. I I did not want to ignore or not mention obviously what we saw in Minnesota earlier this summer, state lawmakers being attacked there. So, that's something that uh that folks are definitely tuned into as well as part of this uh whole trend. And Tom, just briefly, I've talked to law enforcement officials in other countries that have dealt with these incidents before, speaking specifically about Northern Ireland. The biggest thing that they say is that once this gets into society, that you people start to think this is how they solve their differences with a Charlie Kirk, with a local lawmaker, uh, that it's takes a very long time for that to get out of society. That's really a big concern, too. I mean, just speak to anybody who lived through the 1960s and and everything this country experienced and all the loss that that that this country experienced with with the political assassinations that happened during that decade. Um, I do want to bring in something else, Tom, while I have you. Uh, because we are getting a statement. Actually, you know, I'm I'm going to hit this. We're getting a statement now from Turning Point USA. This is Charlie Kirk's organization. Here's what they say. This is a big update. They say this is an ongoing situation that they can confirm. Charlie Kirk has been shot. He is in the hospital and we are praying for him at this time. That's from a public relations manager for Turning Point USA. Uh confirming that both Charlie Kirk, which we know had been shot, he is now in the hospital and they're trying to save his life. Tom, the point I was going to bring up with you is that from the eyewitness Justin we were speaking to who who witnessed this, he had heard and and and maybe he had even seen that the suspect that was in custody had gotten there real early, had been walking around. He had been noticed by other people. He was now in custody. And I bring that up because it it it rings to what we heard during the shooting in Butler that that the shooter had sort of scoped it out a little bit. You can remember walked gotten very close and then had had positioned himself up on that rooftop. >> That's right, Tom. And that's consistent with the second attempted assassination uh of Donald Trump when a Secret Service agent spotted that individual who's going to be going to trial soon uh hiding out in the bushes along the golf course there and the Secret Service agent fires and then calls it and just didn't waste any single uh just didn't waste any time. Um yes, it is generally uh what we see these days are individuals conducting a lot of planning. um we saw that in other targeted shootings and incidents that we've seen this year. So obviously that's a big concern. But what we've noticed in in that and what law enforcement has noticed in the course of of looking at it is that they haven't prepared in a way where they've involved other individuals or they've taken actions uh where law enforcement would have known about the plot ahead of time. These are people that uh generally speaking have lawfully purchased weapons or purchased weapons in ways that would not have triggered the types of checks that would normally be done. Uh have not typically posted online ahead of time specific plans and have conducted searches and we conduct searches uh all of us every single day on our phones, computers, everything. Uh it's not the type of thing that because of the first amendment, the fourth amendment uh and the rules of this country where law enforcement can look at our searches as US citizens uh in this country real time and I think a lot of people feel strongly that that's privacy uh that American citizens should have. Nobody's advocating for a change in that at this stage. But certainly the idea that this person had arrived early to the event is consistent with other targeted political violence or targeted violence that we've seen this year. if in fact those accounts are accurate. So, it would not surprise me in the least. >> Yeah. Um I want to bring in Hi Jackson now, our senior Washington correspondent to kind of talk our viewers and walk our our viewers through Charlie Kirk and the impact he's had really over the last 10 years in American politics. You may not know the name Charlie Kirk at home. We know him because we cover the Republican party. We've covered President Trump and the MAGA movement. And he has become such a loud voice in this movement. He started out very very young working with Don Jr. launching podcast and then Turning Point USA which arguably has a lot of power on the right maybe as much maybe I'm going a little far here but it is it is it has a lot of power I was going to say almost as much as the GOP itself and and and what speaks to that is that Charlie Kirk spoke at the RNC this summer he spoke trying to get President Trump elected >> he also spoke at the 2020 RNC he was the youngest speaker at the 2016 RNC Tom as well the Republican National Convention he was named to Forbes's 30 under 30. He is somebody where even if you don't know his name, uh your kids in college might or in high school because he has led for years now what is really uh the biggest if not one of the biggest and and most quickly growing conservative activist organizations in the country. You see him on a college campus in the video that we've been showing he has visited again and again uh having these conversations rallying for people and I think that is why Tom you are now seeing this widpread uh condemnation of political violence all across the political spectrum obviously among conservatives from the level of the president of the United States to the vice president of the United States saying that they are praying for Charlie Kirk and his young family uh that they are hoping for the best as we now know he is in the hospital. it is not clear what his condition is. You are seeing cabinet members uh for example Shan Duffy saying they are horrified by the news that is emerging now out of Utah. You are also seeing Democrats again on the other end of the political spectrum saying very similar things uh condemning political violence. And I will I will tell you just to give you a sense of how it's reverberating here in Washington during a meeting of one of the House committees. Uh Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green called for a moment of silence at the House Oversight Committee to when the news emerged that Charlie Kirk had been shot. And so members of Congress sat and took a moment of silence to to pray for Charlie Kirk uh and they are hoping he is okay. Another piece of this that is emerging as we are getting reporting in from our teams all across Washington including on Capitol Hill. You have senators, members of Congress, uh House members who are friends, they are close with Charlie Kirk, and it feels like from what we've been seeing, they are so concerned that they haven't heard how he's doing. They are desperate for an update on his condition. Somebody who has two kids uh under the age of four, a three-year-old, a one-year-old. He's turning 32 next month. He's been married to his wife for about four years. Tom. >> Yeah. Yeah. A young man. Uh Hie, stand by for us. We have another witness joining our coverage right now on the phone. Tyler Mceddon was on the opposite side from the gunman uh about a 100 yards from where Charlie Kirk was speaking if if if I'm correct. Uh Tyler, tell me what you saw and heard. >> Uh well, I was just uh waiting in line to ask a question. I was in the back, you know, waiting with other people. So, I wasn't really close. Um, you know, we were just discussing, you know, the the questions that we had. Like the people next to me were they had a question about veganism, you know. Um, and I just hear I'm I'm looking at Charlie because he's answering questions. You know, the first question was um about religion and the second one that he was in the middle of answering um was about gun violence actually. Um, and we just hear a pop, just a single pop. And I I I saw um Charlie's head tilt back and he just fell backwards. And that's kind of the moment that I realized, oh my gosh, something really bad just happened. Um, and everyone else around me, like everyone in the in the crowd, you know, reacted, as you might expect, in a little bit of panic, of course. Um, for me personally, um, after I had not heard like any second shots, I wasn't immediately worried. I didn't I didn't feel like, you know, it seems clear that whoever was doing this was not really going to target other people. So, um, I stayed relatively calm after that. Um, even >> Tyler, did you see did you see did you see where the the shot had come from? Did you see the the gunman at all? >> No, I did I I did not see the gunman at all. I I literally just heard the shot and then chaos. I >> I mean, you sound pretty calm now and and you said you thought it was just one shot, but I got to think this was incredibly jarring to see somebody you came to see speak be shot in real time. >> Yeah. I mean, I'm absolutely sure that it was one shot. >> No, no, I know that. But I'm saying, were you had to be I'm just surprised this this wasn't jarring to you. Or was it? Oh, it was like in the moment it absolutely was. Um, I kind of did get a little bit of adrenaline, you know, seeing seeing what had happened, seeing seeing people, but you know, I started I started seeing people like run through bushes and along the side of the building and like people trying to crowd toward the small place to the door and it it just occurred to me that like, you know, there's a good chance of people trampling each other and that was really my bigger concern after that. So, I was trying to tell people like stay calm, you know, walk slowly. Um because that wasn't really the general vibe that I was getting from people, but after like I think that gradually that did start to set in with people that you know we're probably fine. And then we went we went to the lobby of the building um the main building at UVU. >> Tyler, did you see anybody take Charlie Kirk out of there? Did you see what he looked like after he was shot? Could you see anything in the in the seconds afterwards when he he sort of fell over, I think is the way you described it? >> No, no, I I couldn't see anything. I talked with people afterwards. Um they were saying that some of the people near the front were saying that they'd seen blood. Um another lady that I talked directly to, she said that he'd been hit on the left side of the chest potentially. Um, and this is second hand account, so I'm not like I didn't see that. >> Yeah. And then and then after he's shot, I mean, does does the crowd realize what's happening? >> Yeah, I think people realized pretty quick. There there were people who were absolutely certain that, you know, that he wasn't going to make it. Like within literally within 60 seconds, like I heard people going, "Oh my goodness, like it's over for him." like pray for him like >> because the gunshot wound was so severe. >> I'm assuming so, but also from a distance it looked again it looked pretty My initial assumption was that that he'd been hit in the head actually because I saw his head go back. >> Yeah, it sounds like it was such a a violent thing to witness. Were were you were you on um were you on campus to to just to ask him a question to debate him? Were you there just >> out of curiosity? >> I wanted to ask him a question. I I had a precuring question for him. >> And for our viewers who don't really understand the Charlie Kirk tour, I think it's called the uh the American Comeback Tour and it says prove me wrong, prove me wrong on the tent. He the the whole sort of premise of these events are that people can go and debate Charlie or ask him about something. Correct. >> Yep. That's the premise. >> And and it drew huge crowds at Utah Valley University. Tell me why. >> Um well, you know, it's Utah is a conservative state and this is Utah Valley, one of the most conservative uh I guess metropolitan areas in the country. So, we have tons of conservatives. People were excited. You know, the whole place was crowded. We had people in the, you know, the whole amphitheater was crowded. Um there was on the balconies and such like just tons of people everywhere. You had the protesters up top in the background. >> Yeah. You know, um obviously somebody got a gun into that outdoor amphitheater there. Um I should just the amphitheater, but but someone got a gun and and brought it in there for this university. Is that uncommon? Are you a student there or is this is this something that I don't know the exact laws you know or the rules on campus there? >> No, I'm I'm not a student at UVU so I don't know all their exact policies. >> Um the you did you know mention security though or at least imply security. Um it did surprise me for the event. Um they had tickets um and I I had to print out a ticket and it had like a barcode, a QR code. I was expecting when I got here that I would have to pass through some kind of security. Um but that just wasn't a thing. Uh no one checked the barcode or the QR code. Um there was no checkpoint to get in. It was just literally anyone could walk could walk in if they wanted. And then Tyler, your your thoughts having gone to a, you know, a political event to hear someone speak on a college campus and and for this violent event, you know, the shooting uh of a conservative activist to happen just steps in front of you. I mean, what are your thoughts? >> I mean, my immediate thoughts are just that, you know, this this was definitely an act of terror to to intimidate people who want to have political discourse. I mean, um, that's what Charlie was trying to do was trying to have a discussion, trying to invite discussion, have people come up and ask him questions to challenge his ideas. And, you know, I wanted to do that. And I'm I mean, obviously what I saw was is horrible. But kind of as a secondary point to that, I'm I'm disappointed I didn't get to ask my question to Charlie. You know, that that was why I was there. >> Yeah. Uh Tyler McGette again, we thank you uh for talking to us. I do want to bring in retired FBI agent and current NBC News law enforcement analyst Rob Demo. Rob, this this might be a tough question for you, but I'm sure you have some experience. The reports are that he was either shot in the neck or the chest. We're hearing that from eyewitnesses and also other reports from from people that have been out there. How much time do first responders have for a gunshot wound like that where it is near so many vital parts of the body to to try to save somebody? >> Yeah. So, I I I saw the video uh unedited and and I can tell you right now uh it is going to be tough to save him just from the amount of blood loss. I've had a friend, John, who was shot in Afghanistan through the neck and he got a few stitches in the front and a couple of stitches in the back and that was it and he was back on his feet. The neck is very a very vital in in certain parts and it looks like his corateed already was hit. Uh it was the neck. Um he did slump down, but the amount of immediate amount of blood loss that I saw, it is very very tough to to save someone from that. Not that they're not going to try, but they absolutely had to get him in the ambulance as fast as they could and get him to the surgical center. Um and then they're they're going to have to really really work uh because that amount of blood loss is unbelievable. And I've I've seen it overseas in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Uh, and it's really hard to survive. So, I I think uh there's some challenges there. Um, and I I think your witnesses talked about it. Uh, depending on their view from where they were, not sure where he was shot, but the video that they shown uh really is pretty definitive that it was the neck. >> Yeah. When you see a crowd like that, Rob, and and this is obviously going to be in hindsight and and some Monday morning quarterbacking. Um, but when you see a site like this, and again, the eyewitnesses we talked to said this was a friendly environment, but it looks like it's pretty open there, uh, should should they have done more? We can see security guards in the front. You'll notice them right there with their sort of arms by their sides. Should there have been more here? And and I know this is again hindsight. It's always one of those until it happens, you're never really thinking about even with President Trump when you looked at at his assassination attempt. Now, I I think there should have been more at that one. And I think they should have reacted a lot differently at that one. Um, but people get complacent and he's done a lot of these and he hasn't had a violent encounter like this. So again, when you're planning something like this, I think now it's really going to change the the atmosphere of these. Uh, in fact, it was a friendly environment except for obviously a person who brought a gun in. um for them to not go through any screening for weapons. Again, talks to the complacency of having done this before and a lot of people showing up, even people that were were there to to counter him, uh and no violent encounters before. So, until it happens at one time, the first time it happens, everyone's shocked. Um, but now I think it's really going to change the dynamic of everybody speaking that has political connotations uh of security for and it's really going to be a challenge because an open event like this is tough for the Secret Service and that's all they do. That's and they they have plenty of people to do it. I >> I did want to ask you this because this is not somebody who's running for office. This is not somebody who's been elected. This is somebody who is a conservative activist podcaster. Huge reach, massive presence on social media. very well known in conservative circles, has a lot of power when it comes to politics on the right, but again, he's never run for office. He's never been elected, and his life is in danger. What does that tell us? >> Well, again, we we talked about in the beginning that people are starting to take the violence into their own hands when they don't agree. And he was out there to to have these conversations with both sides, and he enjoyed that. Um but now it's it is it is people taking feeling that they have to solve things with violence is is getting on on both sides of the fence. Uh and it's going to get tougher and tougher because you said he's not running for office. So he's he's an influencer out there and someone was was angry enough to really take this out in this way and I think it's going to change the dynamics in this country uh as we've seen with some of the the other political figures. all those ran for office. So, I think those were kind of one of those like it's it's turning up. But this one not running for office, just an influencer. And these influencers out speaking all the time. And I think the security business is really going to have to start taking a look at how do we secure a person like this that has uh this influence out there that goes out and and and has likes to have these confrontational um events. >> Yeah. >> How do you secure that? Yeah, it's going to be super tough this year. >> We thank you for that. Stand by for us because I want to bring in Ray Don Deshaine. She was up near the front of the crowd when Kirk was shot. Rayon, what did you what did you see? >> Well, um I was just up there. It was second debate. Uh they were talking about guns and the transgender issue that's going on right now. And um all of a sudden we heard it just like a pop. Saw Charlie all of a sudden just kind of lean back. I thought he put his hand up, but looking at videos he didn't. But his his eyes went back, his head went back and I just saw blood and then I kind of looked back over my shoulder to look up the hill and then all a sudden I'm like that's a gun, you know. So we're all dropping. So we all get on the ground and then they're like, "Okay, you guys need to run." And we got up and by the time Charlie was already gone. So they took him off. >> Did you were Were you able to see them sort of take Charlie out after he had been shot? >> No, we were on the ground. We were on the ground. I just saw I just saw the blood in his head, you know. I saw the shot, heard it, and then um then yeah, just dropped to the ground. >> And And when you turned around, you said you looked up the hill and you saw a gun. What exactly did you see? Was it a long gun? >> Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Okay. I misunderstood you. When you turned up, what did you see up the hill? >> Um just everybody started to drop. >> Just everybody started to drop down >> because there was a lot of people there. And did it did it sound like the the the gun the gunshot had come from behind you? >> Yeah, it sound like it came from behind me. I I couldn't be 100% sure. I have a some uh permanent hearing loss. >> Yeah. >> But that's what it sound like to me that it came up from behind me. >> What did you think when you saw Charlie get hit? I mean, it's it's such a a terrible thing to have to witness. >> It seemed very um it seemed very surreal. Like like it wasn't real. I'd be like, you're like watching it from another point of view that you're not really there. >> Were you there as a supporter, somebody that wanted to talk to him, debate him? What brought you to the event? >> No, I just wanted to watch. I just wanted to watch. I love Charlie Kirk. I watch a lot of his videos. I mean, I don't agree on everything. Um, but there's a lot of points I like and then I also learn a lot from the the more of the liberal left left side. Um, because I do like to know their point of view, too, because I like to have that open mind. And so I was just kind of there to be able to see it in live and be able to hear, you know, the back and forth. >> What was the temperature of the crowd? I mean, were people excited there? We We were hearing it was a lot of supporters. Mostly supporters. >> We were Yeah, we were having a lot of fun. Yeah, there was a lot of supporters there. >> A lot of people wear the MAGA hats and >> Yeah. What kind of security presence did you notice around Charlie? Any at all? >> Uh, there was no there was no security going in. They didn't even check it for ticket look at tickets. Um he had security team and there was some police officer but it didn't feel like it was a very large presence. >> Yeah. And then after after the shot and he goes down do do police do you hear sirens? Do police say anything? Is there any kind of screaming to get out? Um, you know, the screaming I heard to get out, it sounded more like it was from the crowd. And as we were running, because normally how we came down because they had an area that was blocked off for just basic Charlie, you know, security and and that. And so we weren't supposed to be down there, but that's how we all ran out was through that way. Um, I saw um a couple cops with their their pistols kind of drawn, but they weren't like pointed at anybody and per se. They just kind of had their their guns out holding them. Um, and then as I was leaving, there was a lot of uh police coming into the campus. >> You know, some other eyewitnesses we had spoken to said they had noticed the elderly man that was taken into custody that had been uh apparently arrested for the shooting. Police have confirmed that they have a suspect in custody. Did you notice I don't know if you've seen the video on social media of the of the takedown, but had you noticed this man? >> Uh I didn't notice him. Um, I was one of the I was there when it was fairly um sparse as far as the crowd. Um, so because I got there early uh cuz I wanted to be up front. Um, so there by time I looked around there was tons of people and I I can't say that I saw him. >> Um, and then finally your friends did you go solo or were you were you there with friends or family? >> Solo. >> Solo. Did Did people seem to get out okay? It didn't look like anybody else was hurt in in the exit or cuz cuz I know there were fears of people getting trampled. >> Yeah, it was just one shot. >> No, no, but but but in the exit in the running away of the event. >> Run out. No, no, I mean I got stepped on a little bit. I had flip I had the sandals on and they they fell off, but I was able to grab them and run. Uh it was I mean it wasn't anything that was dangerous getting out of there. >> Yeah. And and then again, this this we know this area, this part of of Utah, from what we heard from other eyewitnesses, very friendly to Charlie Kirk and and to the MAGA movement, to to President Trump. How surprised were you that this happened right in front of your eyes? >> Um, you know, I I kind of had like a I was hoping that there would been better security. Um, just because you never know. Um, because there are wackadoodles out there and you know, and who knows where they're coming from. You know, they could be coming in. I mean, just because Utah's is usually a safe state doesn't mean that somebody from a, you know, that's going to just come in or he may have been from Utah. Who knows? Um, I was just really disappointed in the actual security part of it. >> Yeah. No, no, I I I hear you on that. In in getting out, once you were able to get out of the amphitheater, were you able to get back to your car or get back to however you you got there, the bus, the whichever way it was, because we're seeing like sort of a massive perimeter by law enforcement. Yeah. Yeah, we I got out real just fine. I mean, I parked a little ways away because the free I mean the parking for non- studentents. Um was just a little paid parking. Um and it was just a little bit of a trek, but it wasn't that bad of a deal, but it wasn't right there. So, I felt once I got past a few buildings, I felt fine. >> Okay, Ray Don Shane, we thank you for for joining us here in our special coverage as we cover what's happened there uh at Utah Valley University. Uh an incredible scene there that's happened. a a terrible and sad scene as well. Um, as we approach the top of the hour, uh, we're getting close to 4 p.m. on the east here, 2 p.m. in Utah where the conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been hospitalized after he was shot while he was speaking at Utah Valley University. The school said Kirk was removed from the area by a security team and videos online and verified by NBC News appeared to show Kirk recoiling after he was shot, uh, blood pouring from his neck and or chest. The university also alerted students saying a suspect is in custody. We want to play for you now the moment of that shooting. Watch it here. [Applause] >> Okay. Now, five is a lot, right? I'm going to give you I'm going to give you some credit. Do you do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years? >> Counting or not counting gang violence? >> Great. [Music] >> Get down. Get down. Get down. You could hear it there. We froze the moment when he recoils and he's shot. We don't want to show you that moment. Eyewitnesses have said that there was a lot of blood. They saw a lot of blood either coming from his neck or his chest. That part has not been confirmed. Turning Point USA, a spokesperson has confirmed that he is in the hospital. He is being treated. We have heard from all sides of the political aisles, both sides of political aisle, I should say, people asking to pray for Charlie Kirk. It is unclear what his condition is right now. I want to bring in our national law enforcement intelligence correspondent Tom Winter. Tom, what else do you think investigators are looking at right now? From the eyewitnesses, it sounded like one shot, maybe not from up close. So, so maybe from far far away. Another eyewitness saying the person who was in custody, an elderly person from some social media videos, it appears had been sort of walking around and canvasing the area. But again, this is a fluid situation. >> That's right, Tom. The latest information that we have coming from a university spokesperson is that the individual in custody is not a student. So the individual in custody in connection with this shooting, according to the university who began the initial investigation into this, says that the person in custody is not a student. They also say uh that this shooting happened from a from a center that's located approximately 200 yards away. That's well within the accuracy of any semi-automatic rifle. Uh the question now is if in fact that is what the ballistics ultimately show or did they recover a weapon from that location. The FBI and ATF are already at the scene. They're going to be involved potentially in this investigation. Uh certainly have provided their resources as well. That information uh coming officially from the ATF and from the FBI director Cash Patel. So that's the information that we have as far as where the investigation is. They're definitely combing through uh the past history and contacts with this individual with law enforcement. Uh there has been uh some speculation online and some focusing uh on this individual since there is video of the person in custody matching that up with some images that are online of a of a person who uh is uh is from that area, the general Utah area, and whether or not that person has been involved in protests or things in the past. Again, that's information uh that is still being looked at by investigators. Uh we do not have a name that we can confirm or report at this time. And just because somebody's taken into custody, uh I've done this far too often. There's a number of people that sometimes could be taken, excuse me, into custody and then turn out uh that they actually have somebody else that's ultimately arrested and charged with the crime. Uh you want to obviously go after uh anybody who's suspicious initially in the course of these investigations. So that's the latest that we have on this right now. They'll obviously go through uh social media posts uh from whoever they think might be responsible for it and and then at some point obviously there'll be formal charges that have been filed. But certainly the university feels confident in saying that the person that they believe is responsible for this. They had the campus police that was there and assigned to protect this event uh that they believe that the individual who's responsible is in custody. And to recap, Tom, uh is not a student. All this in the background of what has been a really horrific uh year and a half now of political and targeted violence, two assassination attempts on then candidate, now president of the United States, Donald Trump. Uh we've had targeted shootings of CEOs and of office buildings here in New York City. Obviously, the uh attempted or the actual arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his family, they were fortunately not harmed in that incident. We had the shooting of Minnesota lawmakers and the uh targeted attacks there just within the last couple of months. Uh we've also seen attacks against a group of uh of individuals who were supporting and protesting uh and out in support of the hostages taken by Hamas and Israel. They were attacked with a Molotov cocktail. So this has been a very difficult last 24 months and something that law enforcement, federal, state, local, all very much paying attention to. uh today, something that's been the focus of a lot of their work, trying to get a handle on uh how this is happening and why it's happening. But the big concern, Tom, is that this is happening now with greater frequency and and obviously going to make it very difficult to protect these type of events. >> Uh Tom Winter, we thank you. Stand by for us. If you're just joining our coverage again, we are covering the assassination attempt on conservative conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. It happened earlier this afternoon. when he was speaking on his tour. You can see here under the tent the American comeback tour. We're not showing the moment that he was shot. It was a single shot from eyewitnesses striking him either in the neck or the chest. Eyewitnesses saying there was a lot of blood there. He is a conservative activist who is very close to the Trump family. He worked for Don Jr. He also launched Turning Point USA, a very powerful political organization on the right. speaking at both the RNC in 2016 and of course just this past summer. We have a statement now from Don Jr. who says Charlie Kirk is one of the finest humans I know. Everyone please lift him and his family up in prayer. The president saying as well we must all pray for Charlie Kirk who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. God bless him. This is another statement here from the school saying UVU campus is closed. Classes are cancelled. those on campus secure in place until police officers can escort you safely off campus. We ask for your patience throughout this process. We are providing updates as best as possible. This is an ongoing and unfolding event. Again, Charlie Kirk shot on the campus of UVU earlier this afternoon, taken to the hospital right now. His status is unknown, but uh politicians, especially on the right, but also the left, asking for people to pray for him. pretty much every single cabinet member has come out and posted something on social media asking for prayers for both Charlie and his family. I do want to bring in our senior Washington correspondent Jackson. And Hie, as we talk about this this assassination attempt, right, on a political activist, you know, Charlie Kirk was not somebody who had been elected. He had never held office, but he was so powerful on the right and he made sure to be a vocal advocate for President Trump wherever he went. >> And President Trump noticed that and he knew that and he knew who Charlie Kirk was. He's known who Charlie Kirk was since he first Tom when when you and I are both covering that 2016 campaign of then candidate Trump. Charlie Kirk was there fighting for the president who obviously ultimately became the president to the point where just recently you've seen the president called Charlie Kirk a fighter. He's referenced what he calls his army of young people here. He's called him just in the last 6 months or so a special talent saying he is out there. He is out there fighting for the Trump agenda and for the president and his administration. He is close with not just the president but with the Trump family uh more broadly here. You read of course the the reaction that we are just getting in from Donald Trump Jr. from Eric Trump for example. We are also hearing from him saying that Charlie Kirk is a great friend and an amazing person. You see it here. Eric Trump goes on to say the president's son that his family will be praying for him, his wife Erica and their two children. Again, two kids uh two toddlers essentially. Uh at this point you talk about the range of reactions on the political spectrum. obviously on the conservative side, but we are also hearing from, for example, Gabby Gfords herself a victim of political violence, saying she is horrified to hear that Charlie Kirk was shot, saying, "Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence." And I will tell you, Tom, in just the last 30 seconds or we we also heard from former Vice President Kla Harris, of course, the uh political opponent of President Trump's in this past election, saying that she I'm going to read this to I don't know if we have it built yet. Here it is. She says, "I am deeply disturbed by the shooting in Utah." She says she and her husband Doug send their prayers to Charlie Kirk and his family. And she goes on to also condemn political violence, saying it has no place in America. Tom Winter ran through that litany uh unfortunately of political violence that has happened in this country over the past several years, relaying his reporting of course of concerns that this is escalating. And when you talk about somebody like Charlie Kirk, Tom, you talk about his social media reach. His team says that every month he reaches something like a hundred million people online. He's got a voice. He's got a megaphone. And now there are so many people not just in this country but presumably around the world who are watching for any information about his condition. Tom. >> Yeah. Hi Jackson for us. Hie. We appreciate that. We are getting an update now from the school. An important update. Um, this is a spokesperson for Utah Valley University saying that they confirmed Kirk, the suspect, the suspect who fired at Charlie Kirk fired from the Lucy Center or the Losi Center, a building about 200 yards away. The suspect had been taken into custody and is not a student. There are some videos circulating on social media that we are trying to clear of the suspect in custody and we'll bring that to you as soon as we get it. Um, Tom Winter, if you're still with us, we we now have confirmation that this was not an attack from up close. We had heard this from eyewitnesses. It sounded like the shot came from behind the crowd. We're now talking about 200 yards away. From what we know about guns, long guns, and and the type of sort of attack this could have been. What What do we What can we glean now from the 200 yard distance? >> Yeah. I mean, I think Tom, based on that distance, that's well within the range of any sort of semi-automatic rifle. That's not something that that's something that would be on t the typical range of somebody using a handgun, but for the type of weapons, it would be easily purchasable in Utah and frankly many states in this country uh without uh without a lot of effort uh would be well within range of of that distance. So nothing uh sticks out to me. If it was 7 800 yards, something like that, I would say, okay, well that would point to a level of proficiency that frankly we just never see. So, but at that that yardage and distance, uh, that's not something that would be surprising that a a common weapon and frankly somebody with any sort of practice could be able to to hit something from that far away. I I do want to put an asterisk on all this. You know, the the only information we're getting here, Tom, is coming from university officials and and I don't happen to work with this university uh and and don't have any contacts there. Uh, cover mostly the eastern US. Uh, but we're not getting anything official from the FBI. We're not getting anything official from our state and local partners that we regularly interact with. Neither myself nor my colleague Andrew Blancine who covers the West Coast. Uh so that distance of 200 yards, you know, that's where uh unless somebody says that's where they found uh shell casings or weapon that was left behind. I do want to say it is still early in the investigation. Same thing same thing that I mentioned before with the suspect in custody. You know, I I just a couple of minutes ago, I cautioned that uh I've seen many incidents where somebody is initially taken into custody, only it turns out that that individual is not the one who's ultimately charged. So, we're still waiting to get more details from officials. We have not yet had a briefing from the school. And so, once we get some of that information, I think it'll shed a lot more light on it. It's just the traditional uh you know, this incident is not yet or just approximately two hours old. Just a lot of caution on the initial reports here as we get him. >> Yeah. And it's interesting, we're also not getting a lot of reporting on his status at the hospital. We just know that he was rushed to the hospital and I witness told us takes about 5 minutes to get there from that university. This is the largest public university in Utah. A and that he was being treated there, but there have been no other updates. The vice president said in another tweet to pray for Charlie Kirk in his darkest hour. again, eyewitnesses describing a lot of blood and that he has lost. Uh it was vice president um JD Vance I was talking about. Uh it was another tweet that he just put out. But um lot of blood they had seen they had seen him recoil. They're not sure if he was shot in the chest or the neck, but it was somewhere up there. And our law enforcement an analyst Rob Demigos said it is it is very tough. Not impossible, but a very tough gunshot wound to sort of bounce back. That concludes this NBC News special report. We're going to have much more ahead on our streaming network, NBC News Now. We thank you for watching. I'm Tom Yamos. I'm Kristen Welker and we're continuing NBC's breaking news coverage of the shooting of conservative political activist and media personality Charlie Kirk. Here is what we know so far. Kirk, an ally of President Trump, was shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University this afternoon. His organization says he has been hospitalized, but we do not yet know his condition. Now, according to the university, a suspect who fired from a building about 200 yards away, is in custody. We do have some video of the incident. We're going to play the moments leading up to the shooting, including the sound of the gunfire. We do want to warn you that the footage is graphic. [Applause] >> Okay, now five is a lot, right? I'm going to give you some credit. Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years. >> Counting or not counting gang violence. >> Great. [Music] Get down. Get down. Get down. >> Just horrifying. And there now you are looking at video of the scene in the immediate aftermath of the incident as the crowd of thousands fled the sound of gunfire. Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffit says he was at that event and described the horror he witnessed. you know, he took the first question, which was a religious question, and then he got to the second question, which was about 30 minutes into his presentation, uh 2:30 local time. And uh and uh the question was about transgender shooters, mass killings versus people that weren't transgender. And when that happened, when that question came out and he and you know he was going to have the interaction, one shot, I was watching Charlie. I can't say that I saw blood. I can't say that I saw him get hit, but I did see him fall immediately backwards into his left. And I can just hope and pray that somehow he survived that. You can hear how shaken former Congressman Jason Chaffitz was there describing what he witnessed. Then another man who says he was at the event described not only the shooting but the chaos that ensued and the arrest of the suspected gunman. >> We heard a big loud shot. I saw a bunch of blood come out of out of Charlie. I saw his body kind of kick back and go limp. And um everybody dropped to the ground and uh luckily there were no other bullets sprayed into the crowd. Now, lots of screaming, lots of yelling, uh, you know, lots of bodies on top of each other. And, uh, after a couple minutes, people got up and started kind of running, you know, and getting out of there. I started to to move quickly and then kind of realized I said, you know, I think I think we're okay. And I kind of stopped stopped walking away and I kind of turned around and all of a sudden I saw officers walking with this very elderly gentleman with white hair and uh they had him arrested, had him on his knees. He was screaming about uh you know his rights and and all that stuff. And they they cussed him and put him away and and uh you know about 20 30 other people just said, "Yeah, that's the guy. That's that was the shooter." And again, you can just hear the fear in those witnesses accounts of what happened. We are seeing an outpouring of support on social media for Kirk, including from the president who posted this quote, "We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. God bless him." On Capitol Hill, members of both parties reacting in real time to the horrific incident. >> Charlie's a very actually a very good friend of mine. Um it's uh It scares you to death for for he and his family. >> Just another horrible act of political violence that has no place in our country. I mean, it's just at kind of a loss of words. It is u you know, a horrendous thing to see and it happens uh all too often. >> Shocking >> and tragic. >> There is just no justification for the political violence that we're seeing in this country. bipartisan outpouring of horror, outrage, and prayers going to Charlie Kirk and his family. Right now, we just got a statement from the university actually saying, quote, "We don't have a suspect in custody." Again, the university is now clarifying that there is no suspect in custody. That is a significant development because initially we had been told that there was one in custody. Joining me now is our team of reporters, NBC News National Law Enforcement and Intelligence Correspondent Tom Winter. NBC News correspondent Liz Kitz, NBC News Chief Justice and National Affairs Correspondent Kelly O'Donnell, and Jim Kavanaaugh, retired ATF special agent in charge, and an NBC News law enforcement analyst. Thanks to all of you for being here on a somber, horrific day for this country. Tom, let me start with you. What more do we know about the shooting and now the university clarifying and there's no suspect in custody? >> Yeah, that's right, Kristen. some developments and we I was just speaking with our colleague Tom Yamus about this that we were not getting any official information uh either uh from our West Coast crime reporter, our colleague Andrew Blankstein, nor myself out here on the east, either from federal law enforcement officials or state and local law enforcement officials about the individual that initially was reported by the university to be in custody. And as I mentioned, I've seen a number of these incidents where somebody is initially taken into custody but is not the person that's ultimately responsible for the incident uh or is the person that is ultimately charged. And that's been borne true here that the person that they initially thought was in custody that was seen on uh videotape uh in handcuffs apparently is not the person uh that is responsible. Uh so we're still waiting to get some more information from law enforcement. They have yet to hold a briefing. It's been a little over two hours since the shooting was initially reported. Kristen. So, there's some questions. The university did say uh that the shooting happened approximately 200 yards from the stage. I I would put an asterisk on that as well that unless there's a shell casing or weapon that's found there, uh when you have a kind of a triangle setup, as you do, it's easy for people to kind of misconstrue where uh where gunshots are coming from. Uh I've I've been at law enforcement shooting ranges and have experienced the same thing. It's not always initially clear where a shot is being fired from just as a way of kind of explaining it. Um, taking a step back from the kind of the minute to minute, the second to second updates here, Kristen, uh, this is obviously very disturbing on a number of levels. Uh, first we're talking about an individual uh, who's been shot here clearly uh, just based on the video alone uh, is going to uh, need a miracle. Let's hope he gets it uh, to be able uh, to have his life saved here. He is a father. He does have kids. Uh but certainly from a standpoint of where we are in this country, the fact that he is a conservative activist, he has a a huge following, a huge amount of supporters, and he has a lot of people that don't like what he has to say either, Kristen. And that's something that's got law enforcement so concerned here about this trend now that we've seen. Uh we've seen the attack on Nancy Pelosy's husband. Uh we've seen the incident involving an attempted arson of a of a Democratic governor and Josh Shapiro. We've seen two attempted assassinations of a person running for president, now the president of the United States, uh, Donald Trump. And we've seen a host of targeted killings as well, as well as the shooting and and, uh, kind of a a spree, if you will, this summer that we saw in Minnesota in July involving state lawmakers that were deliberately targeted there. It is the fact that these incidents are picking up as far as the frequency of them that also has law enforcement just so concerned in this country. the statistics bear it out. The the anecdotal information bears it out. And in many of the cases that we've seen, if not all of them, there's nothing that sticks out as a potential trip wire where uh you could look back and say, well, if police had looked at this or the FBI had looked at that, there would have been a way to determine that somebody was about to do something. It doesn't appear uh based on the laws that we currently have in the country and the rules by which law enforcement operates that they would be able to do that. And I'm trying to remember if any of the incidents I've described uh were involved individuals uh that used a weapon that should not have been able to purchase it or possess it. So uh it's possible I'm I'm forgetting an incident or two, but generally speaking, the weapons have been purchased lawfully uh and in some cases they've involved fire and arson. So uh obviously this is something that has everybody cons concerned. And when you have somebody like Charlie Kirk who has the obvious support of the president of the United States who's tweeted out in support of him today. You've talked about members of Congress and people now from both sides of the aisle, elected officials and commentators saying stop this is and you're looking at what the president had to say here. God bless him. Uh when you're looking at somebody whose uh ideology and Charlie Kirk is so in political opinions are so closely uh mirroring the president of the United States. Um there's a lot of concern about this uh this type of incident occurring and and what could come out of this next. So I I don't think uh this is a very hopeful message uh Kristen, but it's not a hopeful time in in law enforcement circles of the people that I've talked to. >> Well, uh Tom, really remarkable breakdown of everything we know so far. Stand by. I want to go to Kelly O'Donnell who has been tracking these developments as well. Kelly, this is someone who is a close ally of President Trump's, someone who the vice president has appeared on his podcast, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsome of California has appeared on Charlie Kirk's podcast. Among those calling for prayers for his survival, talk a little bit about who Charlie Kirk is a and what he has meant to the MAGA movement. Well, Kristen, this is just a tragic set of circumstances involving uh this uh powerful, influential, and therefore controversial young figure. Charlie Kirk has been on the scene for a number of years. He has moved from being just a voice in the conservative movement to being at the forefront uh drivin