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Conservative Activist Charlie Kirk Shot During Event in Utah; At Least 2 Student Shot at Denver-Area High School. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 10, 2025 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Charlie Kirk has been shot, conservative activist during his event in Utah. We will be right back with more information.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Breaking News to CNN. Conservative commentator and the founder and CEO of Turning Points USA, Charlie Kirk, has been shot at an event in Utah, at a university there. Kirk appears to have been shot in the neck and we understand that Utah Valley University says a suspect, believed to be the shooter, is now in custody.

[15:35:00]

KEILAR: We have many people here to talk about what is going on as we await, honestly, the answers to so many questions that we have. This is developing right now. But let's bring in Brian Stelter. Brian, this was the first of a number of stops that he was making on essentially a college tour.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: That's right. It was called the American Comeback Tour featuring Charlie Kirk. There were at least 14 of these events slated to take place at college campuses across the country this fall in states like Louisiana and today in Utah. But this was the very first of the events on Kirk's fall tour.

And I know this is something that he had looked forward to over the years. This was Kirk in his element because he would take questions from the audience and in some cases he would have what's known as the prove-me-wrong table. In fact, the event today in Orem, Utah, was promoted as having the prove-me-wrong table. That's where Kirk would face off with opponents from the other side of the political aisle and would debate with them in public.

What we know from the videos of this shooting is that Kirk was in some sort of dialogue with the audience at the time. You can see him sitting casually, comfortably, clearly enjoying this. Because as I said, this was the first time he was going to be out on the road this fall. There were more than a dozen of these scheduled in the coming months.

And, you know, Turning Point USA, the group that he runs, is now confirming, quote, Kirk has been shot, he is in the hospital, and we are praying for him at this time.

The prayers are so all-consuming right now and bipartisan. Everyone from President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance to members of the Cabinet, to Democratic leaders like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. Bipartisan condemnation of this act of political violence. It's a reminder, Brianna, that in a country like America, in a democracy, we only have a democracy if we settle our disagreements with words, not with violence.

You know, for the liberals, for the anti-Trump voices, for the anti- Kirk voices out there who feel despair, you know, about the direction of the country's politics, the way to address that is through words, not through violence. And so whenever we see one of these appalling crimes, it is disturbing because it cuts to the core of how the American democracy functions.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly does.

SANCHEZ: Turning Point USA just released a statement to CNN confirming the shooting. They say this is an ongoing situation. Kirk is in the hospital, and we are praying for him at this time.

David Chalian and Laura Coates are with us. And David, it's important to state again just the significance of Kirk in politics and specifically his appeal to younger conservatives on college campuses in large part has to do with his accessibility, his desire to get out in front of a crowd and debate.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF AND POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You know, it's hard to hold these two things simultaneously. When you're dealing with a story like this of just potentially horrific, just tragic political violence, unacceptable political violence in this country, the fact that he is a conservative star is central to that, right? We're talking about political violence.

And yet, and I know this is maybe hard for like cable TV news viewers or political news consumers, everything gets so divided up and everybody, you know, we're in such a polarized time. So we also have to separate out the human tragedy that's happening right here. And the fact that this person, that Charlie Kirk has devoted his career, again, I get that a lot of people watching right now may find his views abhorrent or maybe totally have worked against him politically.

But the fact that he was the conservative star that he was, the fact that he was putting himself in the public spotlight to advance his beliefs and advance a movement seems to be at the very cause as to why he was shot today and why his family may be shattered. And again, we don't know his condition right now and our prayers should be going his way and his family's way, and they are. But it's impossible in this moment that you don't want politics to be part of it at all.

It is impossible to separate it because it is clearly, it seems, from everything we know, this is going to be the centerpiece of a conversation about unacceptable political violence in this country and how this country can move from this moment forward to a place where that decreases or where that is less. I think that seems pretty elusive to America right now.

KEILAR: I think it does, David, because something like this happening, as Boris was just going through the list of things that have happened, and there is something about this that feels different, and yet when you detail what happened in Minnesota and the CDC and you start going through it --

SANCHEZ: Only over the last few months. It's not even counting the last few years.

[15:40:00]

KEILAR: That's exactly right. You could continue on for so many years in sort of this modern era of it that we're in. It's really not the type of situation that anyone should want to live in, no matter what their political objectives are. It's horrifying. It's horrifying.

CHALIAN: And it's not -- it's not sustainable, it seems to me. Like, in this democratic experience and experiment that we are ongoing in the search for the more perfect union, if this is part -- becomes a more increasing part about the fabric of our political culture, we're lost as a society. So that is, you know, if anything could come out of this, if there's some kind of wake-up call that come out of this -- I know I probably sound naive saying that -- it would seem like we've got to find a way to be able to have politics in this country and differences of opinion that do not end like this.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: You know, you think about the only way to break a law is if a law first exists. And this is going to open a very big conversation about the types of laws that can gain deterrence. They'll talk about gun laws, whether there are -- if there had been screening mechanisms on this campus, whether they would have been detected that a weapon was actually there and could have been prevented from being used in this manner.

Also the idea of First Amendment and actual people who are speaking on college campuses, of course. We've heard so many instances over the last several years about controversial figures in the First Amendment and the marketplace of ideas of a university or college setting where there's been controversy around whether they should come or not. And safety has always been top of mind. What guaranteed safety can be given to the speaker and also the community at large? This will be a very big conversation there.

But I put my prosecutor brain on again with a suspect in custody. We sadly are a nation plagued by gun violence, but we're also plagued by sometimes the inability to have the person account for the violence that they have been alleged to have committed. And so this gives an opportunity for someone in custody to answer many of the questions that we are often left grappling with trying to answer.

The why. Not a justification as a motivation, but the why. And that why can help us to explore in the prosecution context ways in which we can either craft, amend, or reinforce laws to ensure, much like hate crime legislation that came before, the idea of if there are specific aspects you are targeting of a person can increase penalties, undermine the ability to actually have those crimes occur.

And so this will be a part of the conversation. And again, we're talking about what appears to be just a, you know, a guess here, given the facts we have, a premeditated act. If it's premeditated, if there's only been one shot fired, not targeting any other person, this is no longer generalized violence.

And that means the investigative trail begins. It is electronic. It is what was on that person's body. How many cell phones? Who they communicated with? Where they may have been before this?

Who knew about their whereabouts? Did they travel across state lines? Were there other people involved in now possibly an interstate or intrastate activity?

Will the FBI be involved? Will it be a state or local aspect of it? This is at a time, of course, as you all know, David, especially about the motive from the president of the United States to ensure that crime is at an all-time low in the presence of reinforcing military officials at times to make sure that's the case.

Will there be an expanded move now in that aspect of it? And if that's the case, will college campuses, which has traditionally been a bit of an island unto itself in terms of the ability of local law enforcement to come on, will it be treated differently? The investigation begins.

Simultaneously, when the family begins to process what it would be like to explain to these young children that Daddy is hurt, and will he be coming home tonight or ever?

SANCHEZ: We certainly are awaiting answers as to his medical condition, and we are holding out hope for the best for Charlie Kirk.

We got two significant details just now, first from the school itself, Utah Valley University, and also from a Turning Point USA aide traveling on the tour with CNN. First, the school confirms that the shot that rang out that struck Kirk came from a campus building some 200 yards away. So that is significant.

And further, this detail that we're learning from an aide to Turning Point USA speaking to CNN's Jeff Zeleny indicates that Kirk traveled with private security. He had a private security contingent, whether he was speaking to large rallies like this one or smaller events.

The aide continues on, quote, We are all praying for Charlie.

I wonder, John Miller, as you hear those details, how far this shot came from, 200 yards, and that Kirk did have security with him, what you make of that?

[15:45:00]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, that points to a highly premeditated plan, and one shot that was -- and I think we can say this with confidence -- a shot that was meant to be an assassination. Nobody uses a rifle that can fire from that distance who fires a single shot towards the head of an intended victim who is not trying to kill them.

So this appears to be a highly premeditated event where somebody had to, in advance, figure out the venue and then figure out what their position would be that would give them a direct line of sight and a shot they could make.

Again, Boris, it does harken back to the kind of planning, the kind of thinking that went into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania or even the one in Florida, although the distance in Florida was not this great.

Now, we do know that an individual who appears to be a man in his late 50s, maybe 60s, who is wearing a blue shirt, black pants, was taken away by police as the suspect.

We don't know about the gun that was recovered, but I can tell you, based on my own knowledge of firearms, to make that shot from that distance, it would likely be a high-powered rifle. It would likely be a rifle with a scope that was calibrated to operate at that distance.

Now, when we talk about premeditation, there's been plenty of time to think about this and much controversy around it. You know, on September 3rd, after days of controversy about Charlie Kirk's prove- me-wrong tour, about the announcement that he was coming to the university, there were thousands of people who signed a petition against his appearance, students and faculty. There was another thousand that signed a petition in support of it.

But his appearance there was clearly roiling on the campus, to the point that the school administration on September 3rd put out a statement basically saying, we encourage the exchange of ideas here, and we encourage student clubs to invite speakers, and another student club might want to invite another speaker, and that we embrace all ideas and conversations.

And yet, this was something that had found its way beyond the student press into the local press as something that was causing great controversy on the campus, which means whoever this shooter turns out to be, if it is the man who's in custody, had a lot of notice that it was coming, understood that there was controversy around it, and decided to take this kind of terrible, awful, direct action against it.

KEILAR: And John, just thinking about it, when you're talking about the premeditation here, in order to really mitigate a threat like this, you're talking about securing a building at an event like this to the same degree that would have been required for, say, you know, something like President Trump's event in Butler. I mean, that is, you know, taking the care to make sure that someone doesn't have, you know, a shot at someone. It's something I don't think we've thought about before.

MILLER: Well, it is the kind of thing where, on one basic level, you would have to make your way to campus with a long weapon. You would have to carry that presumably in a case so that it wouldn't be apparent and then make your way into a building where you have already scoped out the venue where he is to speak, that building, the distance of the shot, and then to find a window.

And while you're doing all of this, you have to make sure that you do it -- and this happens, I believe, at noontime on the campus -- you would have to do it in a room where you had access, where presumably no one else had access, as you set up a rifle. Which likely would be on a bipod or a tripod rather than handheld, although either is possible, and to do all that.

Now, there's an alternative version beyond carrying a long rifle in a long rifle case of having a rifle that you can break down and assemble on the scene, which could come in something as small as a duffel bag, again, something we saw with the attempted assassination of President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

[15:50:00]

But this is not a spontaneous event. It is not someone who was in the crowd and got upset and pulled out a pistol, this was a very deliberate and premeditated and preplanned event.

SANCHEZ: CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey is also with us. Chief Ramsey, I imagine you hear all of that likely premeditation that went into this. I mean, what stands out to you about these details?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, the fact that if it turns out to be that he took the shot from that distance, then I agree with John, it indicates a rifle was used. It is possible, since it was preplanned, that the weapon could have been pre-planted in the university and hidden, so it wouldn't draw attention. If you did it the day before, when nobody's on campus of any significance, I don't think people would pay much attention.

So we don't know a lot of things right now. This person who did the shooting, are they an employee of the university? Is it a person who has been there in the past and has access to buildings and so forth? We just don't know a lot.

The bottom line is this. Outdoor scenes and events are very difficult to secure. Very difficult to secure. Indoor venues, much easier. And when you have a crowd like that, of that size, with an individual who may be controversial in some ways, but he's not going to get the same level of security that a president did.

And as John mentioned, I mean, President Trump was shot in an outdoor event, and he had Secret Service and other types of security at the time as well. So if you really think that, you know, to be able to actually secure all these events, can law enforcement do it? You have no idea how difficult and how many people it takes to really lock down a specific venue that's outdoors.

It would take a lot of resources. And I just don't think that's going to happen. And it's a tragedy. It's a shame. I don't know if there were any threats that were made toward him that would give an indication that perhaps he was in jeopardy. But we live in a country now where there's a gun culture. I mean, this

could be something where, you know, people are allowed to carry guns on campus. We just don't know what the motive was around this individual. But I think it's pretty safe to say there was some political motive behind it.

But, I mean, we have an environment right now where we've got extreme left and extreme right.

KEILAR: Chief, I'm so sorry. I'm going to have to interrupt you.

Chief, I just want to interrupt you. We do have some new video. And this is video of the moments leading up to the shooting of influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

We are actually pulling up that video right now. But what we have been getting are different vantage points of the before and the after at Utah Valley University. Here is this latest video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUN SHOT)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. Run, run, run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: You hear the reaction there in the crowd. A single shot rings out. It strikes Kirk. We obviously froze it on the frame just before that took place. But you hear the audio playing and people saying, oh, my God, and run, run, run, and the reaction from the crowd as they disperse. Clearly a terrifying moment and a tragic moment as well.

I want to go back to Brian Stelter because, Brian, as we watch these videos circulate on social media, there has been swift reaction to this event across the political spectrum.

STELTER: Yes, absolutely. Bipartisan condemnation from the left, from the right. We see many Republican politicians who know Kirk personally expressing prayers, sending well wishes to his family and pointing out that this is a young man, a 31-year-old with a young family, someone who has become one of the biggest stars across the MAGA media universe.

You know, Charlie Kirk is a beloved figure among young conservatives, among the college students who went to see him today. They feel like he has their back. They believe he is one of the number one, one of the top champions for the conservative movement in the United States. And that is why they turn out in great numbers.

You know, as we look at these videos from this afternoon, we see there were hundreds of people in attendance. And, yes, there were some protesters.

[15:55:00] There were some students or others from the community who turned out against Kirk, and they were further away, and they were holding up signs. And one of the videos we've been showing on air, I believe, is from those protesters.

But we've also seen hundreds of students who tuned out -- who turned out because they admire Kirk and they believe in what he stands for. He's been really skilled at building a new model of influence in the digital age with a radio show podcast that livestreams on YouTube with these live events across the country and a willingness to debate people from the other political side.

Those are some of the attributes that have really stood out about Kirk. And so, yes, we're hearing from Republican politicians. We're hearing from Democratic politicians, governors.

We're hearing from Gabby Giffords, who was famously almost killed in a political assassination attempt more than a decade ago. We're hearing it from all directions this afternoon as the gravity of this situation sinks in.

You know, as we're on the air here this afternoon, there's been the report of a school shooting at a high school in Colorado. We cover these stories on a daily basis, and we are left to wonder if there's anything, if there's anything that can be done to pull America back from this situation we're in.

KEILAR: Yes, Brian, thank you so much for that. As Brian mentioned, we are also following this breaking news out of Colorado. We just got this information in.

Police say at least two students have been shot at a high school, at least two students. This is at Evergreen High School, which is outside of Denver. CNN's Veronica Miracle is joining us now on this story.

Veronica, what are you learning here?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we were just watching a briefing just before I started speaking to you, and officials are saying that this happened on school grounds. They're not clear if it's one shooter or multiple shooters. As you mentioned, at least two students have been shot. We understand that students have been taken to St. Anthony's Hospital.

This is a high school that is about 30 miles southwest from Denver. It's a smaller school, fewer than 1,000 students, with grades 9 through 12. They had been in school for just about two weeks, the start of the school year, when this shooting happened.

A Twitter account for Jefferson County Emergency Management said that there are reports of an active assailant in the area of Evergreen High School. We understand that it did happen on campus. If you have children who attend the school, please do not go directly to the school, as it is an active scene. They are going to set up some kind of reunification point. They're in the process of that to try and get parents back to their children. The Colorado governor has been briefed. He shared a statement. Jared Polis said, I'm closely monitoring the situation at Evergreen High School. I'm getting live updates. State troopers are supporting local law enforcement in responding to this situation. Students should be able to attend school safely and without fear across our state and nation. We are all praying for the victims and the entire community.

Now, at this point, there is no clear connection, if any, to the shooting that happened at Utah Valley University, where Charlie Kirk was shot, and nearby Utah. But, of course, both of these shootings happening on school campuses around the same time, incredibly jarring and very scary.

And we'll bring you more details as soon as we get them.

SANCHEZ: Veronica Miracle, please keep us updated on the events at Evergreen High School.

Let's go back to Chief Charles Ramsey, because, Chief Ramsey, you were just speaking a moment ago about how things seem like they're going off the rails, not just in terms of political violence, but generally when it comes --

RAMSEY: They are off the rails.

SANCHEZ: Yes, when it comes to gun violence in this country, and especially in Colorado. I worked in Denver for years and covered numerous school shootings. Columbine in Littleton, Colorado, is what kicked off this modern era where slowly it seems like we've become desensitized to these things.

And it was only about a week or two ago that we were talking about the Annunciation Church and school in Minnesota where there was a shooting. Chief Ramsey, I mean, how do you not become numb to these things?

RAMSEY: Well, you have to fight to keep from being numb, but there needs to be some action taken. I don't know exactly what needs to be taken.

You know, you say things are going off the rails. They are off the rails and have been that way for a while. And it's very difficult to pull it back. I mean, this stuff is not going to stop. It's either going to be political violence, it'll be school shootings, it'll be something else that'll be taking place. I mean, our society has just gotten so violent now that everything is resolved with a gun.

And I don't know how you pull back from that, to be honest with you. I really don't. I mean, there are some steps that could be taken, but thoughts and prayers aren't going to do it. If thoughts and prayers worked, we'd be the safest country on the planet with all of the things going on, with all the prayers that are given every time we have something like this happen.

And we're all somewhat shocked, but then we're not shocked.

[16:00:00]

It's just not going to stop. It's not going to stop on its own. We have to sit down and have thoughtful discussion on how we keep people safe. It's not going to be easy, and it won't be 100 percent, but something has to happen.

SANCHEZ: Chief Ramsey, thank you so much for that perspective. If you are just joining us, we are following two shootings this afternoon, one in Utah. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk appears to have been shot in the neck. We are working to find out his medical condition at this time.

We're also following a report of two students being shot at Evergreen High School not far from Denver, Colorado.

Stay with CNN. CNN in "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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