Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik / Staff via Getty
Far-right Republican influencer and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk had posted two stories to his Instagram account mere hours before he was fatally shot at an event in Utah for his 'American Comeback' tour of college campuses across the United States.
Kirk was an incredibly controversial figure and one of the prominent faces in far right American politics before his death, and he was notably close to current US President Donald Trump and his family.
He created Turning Point at 18-years-old as a means of spreading conservative views throughout colleges – particularly those with liberal-leaning views – and he was attending Utah Valley University on Wednesday in order to speak at an event.
As reported by the BBC, Charlie Kirk was shot at around 12:20 MDT, with the bullet appearing to strike his neck. Police have revealed that the shooter was on a nearby roof at an approximate distance of 130 meters away from Kirk's position.
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Trump himself confirmed Kirk's death on his Truth Social account two hours later, writing: "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 has also ordered all American flags throughout the country to be lowered to half mast until Sunday event in order to commemorate Kirk's death, and other key figures in the country including Elon Musk have shared their immediate reactions to his passing.
Kirk's final words before he was shot, which include inflammatory comments about gang violence, have been revealed in a shocking video, and police have taken at least two individuals into custody that have since been released amid an ongoing manhunt for the killer.
Just hours before he was fatally shot, however, Kirk was actively posting on his Instagram account, sharing two stories in particular where he discusses a recent major news story and a clip from a recent speech.
The first story was posted at around 8:00 MDT and involves a clipped segment of one of Kirk's recent videos on TikTok where he discusses the death of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in North Carolina last month, alongside a link to his podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show.
The following story was another clipped video from a recent speech he made about Japan, where he discusses what it means to be a nation, which in his words is "the three Ps: it is people, it is principals, and it is place."
This story continues to develop as police continue manhunt for the shooter.
