The Utah university where Charlie Kirk was assassinated last September released a report on Thursday examining the security pitfalls in advance of Kirk’s murder.
The independent security review determined that the employees of Utah Valley University did not “act in bad faith or in willful and wanton disregard” ahead of the event, but that there were several security shortfalls ahead of the assassination on Sept. 10, 2025.
“With the benefit of hindsight, however, the Project Team identified several actions, omissions, circumstances, and institutional practices that warrant attention as UVU considers how to strengthen the safety and security of campus events in the future,” the 158-page review says.
The review found that the university did not create a security assessment in writing or an action plan for the Turning Point USA event on Sept. 10. The review determined that Turning Point had insisted on the outdoor, courtyard location of Kirk’s event due to his familiarity with the courtyard, and that the university allowed it to occur in the outdoor location surrounded by large buildings without completing documented measures like an outdoor line-of-sight assessment, a pre-event security briefing, or a security walk-through.
In regard to the campus security’s live cameras and video footage of the grounds, the review determined they were “used more effectively as a post-incident investigative resource than as a real-time situational awareness tool.” The review also touched on the university’s intelligence gathering, saying using more open-source intelligence resources can “help identify warning behaviors, grievances, fixation, leakage, stalking, escalation, target focus, prior violence, affiliations, and other information relevant to prevention and intervention.”
The report also identified security shortfalls with the event’s ticketing, as the university allowed Turning Point to manage the event’s ticketing process for the outdoor courtyard location. The report described these decisions as “consequential.”
“The selected location presented greater open-access, crowd-management, high-ground vulnerabilities, and line-of-sight challenges than a more controlled venue,” the report said. “In addition, allowing the outside organizer to retain control over ticketing limited UVU’s ability to obtain reliable attendance projections, monitor crowd-growth expectations, and align staffing and security resources with anticipated attendance.”
Kirk’s accused killer, 23-year-old Tyler Robinson, who has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial, was not a student at UVU. However, Kirk’s family has taken an initial step toward filing a lawsuit against the state of Utah and UVU over the security shortfalls leading up to the event.
In a statement on the family’s notice of claim to the state and university, the family’s attorney, Brett Parkinson, called the assassination “entirely preventable.”
CHARLIE KIRK’S FAMILY ONE STEP CLOSER TO LAWSUIT AGAINST UTAH AND UNIVERSITY WHERE HE WAS KILLED
“His murder was entirely preventable and, in fact, would not have happened had the State of Utah and UVU followed through on their stated security promises, which included protecting the rooftops surrounding the quad where Charlie was speaking,” Parkinson said.
In response to the Kirk family’s notice, Sharon Turner, senior director of communications for UVU, told the Washington Examiner, “We are aware of the notice of claim. UVU addresses legal matters consistent with our established processes. Our focus remains on supporting our campus community.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
