Witnesses who saw the moment Charlie Kirk was shot and killed have been speaking out about what happened. 31-year-old Political activist Charlie Kirk was killed on Wednesday, while speaking at an event on the campus of Utah Valley University.
While he was speaking to an audience member about gun violence, Kirk himself was shot. He was around 20 minutes into his presentation. It was later confirmed he had died from his injuries. Around 3,000 people are believed to have been in attendance.
*CW: This article contains graphic descriptions of the scene.*
Newly released video shows Charlie Kirk murder suspect jumping off building and running off. pic.twitter.com/6h7iSFHWvB
— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) September 12, 2025
‘We’re all traumatised. We all heard the shot’
Now, witnesses who were there as Charlie Kirk was killed have spoken about the horrific scene. An eyewitness told The Guardian as it happened “everyone was crouching down for a good five seconds”. Then everyone was “yelling” and “started running away”. The witness added: “We’re all traumatised. We all heard the shot.”
Another man who was there, called Henry, said everyone was standing on top of each other, “trying not to get shot”. Another said everyone was “screaming and running”.
As per the BBC, more witnesses shared what happened the exact moment Charlie Kirk was shot. “Me and my buddies were having a good time just listening to what was going on and we just saw it, heard a loud shout, loud bang and then I saw his body actually in slow motion kind of fall over,” they said. Another said after this moment “everyone started panicking”.
A 20-year-old student who was there with her housemate recalled how she “was shaking uncontrollably.” Another added: “It was horrible. All I hear is screaming and I see people running and I’m like, ‘it’s not safe to run. It’s not safe to get up’…And all I’m saying is, ‘please, God, please, God, please, God,’ because I don’t want to die.”
A former US Congressman said on Fox News that “everyone hit the deck” and “scattered”. At the same time, someone else said how “there was confusion and people started scrambling for the exits.” They added: “Several people [were] in tears.”
via Gage Skidmore/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
‘It was very graphic — I saw a lot of blood’
An eyewitness gave a very graphic depiction of what happened to The New York Times. They said: “I just saw Charlie kind of slump backwards, and I saw — it was very graphic — I saw a lot of blood. And then everybody around me just fell to the ground trying to take cover.” He then texted his wife to tell her what was happening, and that he loved her.
More spoke of the graphic scene. “It [the blood] was coming out like a water fountain,” a woman told The U.S. Sun. “It was surreal. I heard pop, pop, and I thought, that sounded like a firecracker, and then my other mind was like, wait a minute, was that a gun? Then I saw the blood. It was like a water fountain, then everybody dropped.”
Another witness, a former law enforcement official, said she was about to exit a buildings on campus when she heard the shot. “I was on my way to open up a door when I heard, what sounded to me to be a gunshot from my prior experience in law enforcement,” the woman said.
“I looked up, I don’t know if it echoed, and then I saw the kids rushing out. One of the girls was having a panic attack, I was worried about her being trampled, so I scooped her up and her friend.”
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