Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of United States President Donald Trump, was shot dead on Wednesday at an event in a college in Utah, AP reported.

The shooting took place when the 31-year-old co-founder and CEO of the youth organisation Turning Point USA was speaking during a debate at the Sorensen Center courtyard at Utah Valley University.

The debate was hosted by his organisation.

No arrests have been made yet and the motive of the shooting remains unknown.

Videos circulating on social media showed Kirk taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence while sitting under a white tent immediately before he was shot.

The shooter allegedly wore dark clothing and fired from a roof on campus some distance away, AP reported.

Earlier in the day, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel said that one person had been held for the incident. “The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody,” Patel said on social media.

However, he later said that the person was released after being questioned.

Trump, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, said: “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.”

Later, in a video recorded from the White House, Trump described Kirk as a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.

The US president also ordered flags on government buildings to be lowered to half-staff till Sunday.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox said that it was a dark day for the state. “It’s a tragic day for our nation,” the news agency quoted Utah Governor Spencer Cox as saying. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”

Former US President and Democratic leader Joe Biden also condemned the shooting and said that there was no place in the country for this kind of violence. “It must end now,” he said on social media.

Democratic leader and former US Vice President Kamala Harris said that she was “deeply disturbed” by the shooting in Utah.

“Let me be clear: Political violence has no place in America,” Harris said on social media. “I condemn this act, and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.”

The Turning Point event at the Utah Valley University campus was being billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour”, AP reported. The event had generated a polarising reaction on campus.

An online petition with nearly 1,000 signatures had called for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing on campus. However, the university had cited its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue” to allow the event to be held.

The shooting comes amid a series of such incidents in the US, including the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor in April, AP reported.

In July 2024, Trump was also injured in an apparent assassination attempt.

Who was Charlie Kirk?

Kirk was a high-profile conservative activist and media personality in the US, BBC reported. He was also a trusted ally of the US president.

In 2012, an 18-year-old Kirk, along with William Montgomery, founded Turning Point in Chicago to spread conservative ideals at liberal-leaning US colleges.

Kirk publicly supported conservative causes, denounced critical race theory and denied climate change. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he also questioned mask mandates and vaccine requirements.

His social media profiles showed several clips of him debating with students on subjects such as transgender identity, faith and family values.

Kirk had campaigned for Trump ahead of the presidential elections in 2020 and 2024. He had also supported Trump’s disproven claims that he had lost the 2020 elections due to voter fraud.