Scott Sperry had been waiting for this moment. The 22-year-old Utah Valley University student admired conservative activist Charlie Kirk for years and had just signed up to join Turning Point USA, the group Kirk co-founded to spread conservative ideas on college campuses.
Minutes later, as Kirk began speaking, Sperry watched in horror as a sniper’s bullet struck his political hero. Blood poured from Kirk’s neck as chaos erupted in the auditorium.
“I can’t get the images out of my head,” Sperry said. “But this will only make the movement stronger. You try to silence a voice like this, and you only amplify it.”
For many at Utah Valley University, the shock is giving way to a sense of determination. Students say they feel a new responsibility to keep debate alive on campus, even if they strongly disagreed with Kirk’s views.
Turning Point USA, founded by Kirk in 2012 when he was just 18, has chapters at more than 850 colleges nationwide. The group has played a major role in energising young conservatives and boosting Donald Trump’s rise to the White House. Kirk built a massive online following by challenging students on divisive issues like race, gender, immigration, and gun rights, often posting viral clips of heated confrontations.
Critics accused him of stoking outrage for clicks. At San Francisco State University last spring, students called him a “rage baiter” and said he used them as “content” for social media. Supporters saw him as fearless, willing to take debates into unfriendly territory.
The shooting has now placed Utah Valley University at the centre of America’s culture wars. Online, some critics blamed Kirk for his own death, pointing to his vocal support of gun rights. On the right, commentators claimed conservatives were being hunted by the “radical left.”
On campus, the response has been visceral. First-year student McKinley Shinkle, who had never been politically active, now waves signs calling Kirk a hero. “Seeing people support the shooting radicalised us,” he said. “It’s changed everything.”
Utah Valley University, the state’s largest school, is set against the backdrop of a conservative community dominated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That has left many wondering why Kirk was targeted here instead of at more liberal campuses.
“This is now where his martyrdom was established,” said Ben Forster, a sophomore who didn’t share Kirk’s politics but attended the event out of interest. “He was killed at a debate. That’s what martyrdom is.”
Forster said he still valued the exchange of ideas. “I don’t care about what his opinions were,” he said. “He was exercising his right to speak. That matters.”
The campus remains marked by grief and division. Police checkpoints block entrances. Candles and flowers line sidewalks. Apartment windows display signs declaring Kirk a hero. Cars circle campus honking in protest or support.
Some students say the attack has pushed them into politics for the first time. Posters with messages like “freedom” and “you can’t kill the truth” now hang from dorm windows. Near campus, vendors sell Trump hats and flags to steady crowds of students and locals.
Jeb Jacobi, a longtime member of the school’s Turning Point USA chapter, was volunteering at the event, the first stop on Kirk’s planned 15-city “American Comeback Tour.” He believes Kirk’s death will drive even more young people into the movement.
“He made people think,” Jacobi said. “No matter your politics, he got students engaged. Now more will want to carry that forward.”
Sperry is one of them. “We’re going to lead the way,” he said. “We owe it to Charlie.”
