A new report says that Turning Point USA insisted the conservative political group’s leader Charlie Kirk speak outdoors at Utah Valley University – where he was ultimately assassinated – despite security concerns raised with his team by the school’s leaders and its police chief. The independent report with those findings was commissioned by UVU and released on Friday. The report examined security procedures leading up to the 31-year-old’s fatal shooting on 10 September 2025 during a talk at the university’s campus in Orem, Utah.
According to the 158-page report, school staff recommended Turning Point USA (TPUSA) move its event to a more secure location weeks before Kirk’s slaying. However, TPUSA “insisted upon” an outdoor location which “created significant protective operations considerations”, the report said. It added that a face-to-face, pre-event briefing and walkthrough with UVU police chief Jeff Long and the TPUSA protection detail – including the organization’s security supervisor Dan Flood – “should also have occurred” on UVU’s campus hours prior to the event.
Kirk was shot and killed by a sniper that day in the early afternoon. According to the report, the university also asked TPUSA for an estimated attendance figure. But the organization never provided one, despite saying it would control ticketing for the event, Utah’s Salt Lake Tribune newspaper reported.
However, it also noted UVU’s having deferred to TPUSA on various event logistics. The buck stopped with UVU leadership and law enforcement. Anderson, who became the university’s president in August, also said in his statement that UVU had made “meaningful progress in strengthening campus safety over the past year”.
Kirk’s family is planning to sue the university. His family alleged in a 16 September legal notice presaging wrongful death litigation that UVU had placed “a politically controversial figure like Charlie Kirk in an outdoor event … surrounded by tall buildings and other elevated observation platforms” – and that the setup was like “walking him into a fishbowl”. UVU said it was aware of the notice and said it “addresses legal matters consistent with our established processes”, according to the Tribune.
Utah resident Tyler Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder in connection with Kirk’s killing. He has pleaded not guilty, and no trial date had been set for him as of Friday. The contributed reporting
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