Warning: May contain descriptions that some people find disturbing
Shocking footage is doing the rounds online, showing the before, during, and after of Charlie Kirk's shooting at Utah Valley University. While the outspoken political commentator had become a stalwart supporter of President Donald Trump, he continued making a name for himself with his controversial views on everything from the LGBTQ+ community to Palestine. He also once branded Martin Luther King Jr. as 'awful' and said that US gun deaths were 'worth it' to ensure citizens could retain their right to keep and bear arms.
As part of his 'Prove Me Wrong' tour, Kirk appeared at Utah Valley University and spoke to a crowd of 3,000. The talk had drummed up considerable controversy, including over 1,000 signatures on a petition to have it banned from the campus. In the middle of answering a question about gun violence, Kirk was hit with a single bullet to the neck.
Footage appears to show a lone gunman fleeing across a rooftop, with a Utah Valley University spokesperson confirming he was shot from the roof of the Losee Center welcome center.
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President Donald Trump confirmed Kirk's passing, Elon Musk has responded with a worrying warning in the aftermath, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has condoned violence.
There were reports that a 'fountain' of blood squirted from Kirk after he was shot, and speaking to The Independent, eyewitness Justin Hicken explained his point of view. Sharing his biggest concern, Hicken said: "It’s a bummer because whoever did this was able to enter the premises with a firearm.
"It’s just a sad thing. I’m very conservative myself, I’m pro-second amendment. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to make sure you’re taking good, secure measures when you’re hosting events like this. Because all it takes is one lunatic."
Arriving a few minutes before the event started, Hicken says up to 4,000 people were "packed into a little outdoor amphitheater" with no metal detectors checking if people were carrying weapons.
Although Hicken said he was originally so far back he couldn't see Kirk, he eventually managed to push himself forward until he was about 20 yards to the MAGA commentator's left.
While Kirk was discussing mass shooting, Hicken describes the moment after the shot rang out: "He got about 60 to 90 seconds into it, and that’s when the shot went off. I saw blood spurting from Charlie, his body kind of recoiled, everybody started screaming."
Expanding on the chaos that ensued, Hicken continued: "People dropped to the floor, a whole bunch of bodies all over, just crazy stuff. As I was on the floor with bodies on top of me, I was listening, praying, that hopefully there are no more shots."
After there were no more shots, Hicken says everyone got up and ran. He was taken into a university building and had his details taken by officials. When he emerged, he recalled seeing "literally hundreds of emergency vehicles" and a SWAT team on the campus.
Another eyewitness account has one woman state that she thinks he was 'dead on impact'. Speaking to Fox News, she said: "I just saw it hit him in the chest, and then all of a sudden, just tons of blood gushing right out where his heart is.
"And then he fell over and slumped down...Everybody got down and was screaming, and then we all ran." It appears that she mistook the shot to the neck as a shot to the chest, although the graphic scenes of blood appear to be consistent across witnesses.
A multiagency manhunt is currently on for the unknown shooter, although the FBI has been criticized after the lead suspect was released