Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk shot dead in Utah, CSU TPUSA chapter declines to comment – The Cauldron
Charlie Kirk, CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was shot and killed Wednesday, Sept. 10 at a Utah Valley University event. He was 31.
“We decline to comment at this time, as we are still processing [Wednesday’s] events,” Cleveland State University’s (CSU) chapter of TPUSA said in response to a request for comment Thursday morning.
After choosing not to comment directly, CSU TPUSA uploaded a photo of Kirk in black and white on the organization’s Instagram on Thursday, captioned as follows:
“CHARLIE LIVES
IF WE DON’T GIVE UP
HE DIES IF WE QUIT.”
CSU TPUSA’s post on Instagram Thursday morning showed a black and white photo of the late Kirk with his arm in the air. Photo Credit: @tpusa_csu on Instagram.
Kirk was kicking off a series of college and university visits called “The American Comeback Tour,” with Utah Valley being the first stop. While debating an audience member, the suspect fired the fatal shot from a rooftop and took off, say state authorities and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.
“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” Cox said in a press conference yesterday. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”
Officials have identified and taken into custody 22-year-old Tyler Robinson in connection with the shooting Thursday night. Reports say Robinson had confessed to a family friend and presented evidence such as engravings on bullets found in a rifle that is believed to be the murder weapon.
The investigation is still ongoing, though officials express confidence that they have caught the shooter.
Two potential suspects were detained and questioned the day of the shooting, though both were released as having no connection.
Trump confirmed Kirk’s death on his social media website, Truth Social, shortly after news broke of the shooting:
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.”
The killing of Kirk is yet another instance of political violence, adding to the list of incidents that have piled up this year alone, including the assasination of Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband in June 2025.
Having been a major gun rights advocate who lost his life to a shooter, Kirk’s death has generated heated debate on issues related to gun violence.
Kirk, a long-time avid Trump supporter, co-founded TPUSA in 2012 at 18 years old to galvanize conservative college students.
“It is with a heavy heart that we confirm that Charles James Kirk has been murdered by a gunshot that took place during Turning Point USA’s “The American Comeback Tour…” said TPUSA in an official statement on X/Twitter. ““May he be received into the merciful arms of our loving Savior, who suffered and died for Charlie.”
The organization now boasts nearly 800 student chapters, and CSU is home to one of them.
In fact, CSU student members of TPUSA tabled in the Student Center just yesterday morning, hours before Kirk died.
The Cauldron reached out to CSU TPUSA Thursday morning for comment and declined “at this time.”
This is a developing story. Updates will be posted as they become available