Utah officials press conference on Charlie Kirk shooting at UVU: transcript

Key points

• A reporter on campus described the wait for the briefing and said witnesses heard a shot but saw no gunman.
• Commissioner Bo Mason said Kirk was shot around 12:20 and taken by private vehicle to a hospital, where he died.
• An earlier suspect was released after he was found not to match, and Mason said it was a targeted attack with one shot fired and one victim.
• The FBI said it is co-leading the investigation, which is in its early stages, and is setting up a digital tip line.
• Governor Cox called the shooting a political assassination and vowed to find, try and hold the killer accountable.
• Police Chief Jeff Long said six officers worked the outdoor event with about 3,000 attendees, and that the shot may have come from a distant roof.

Chapters

1. 0:00Reporter awaits the press conference on campus
2. 2:25Opening and public safety commissioner's update
3. 5:57FBI and university statements
4. 8:11Governor Cox calls it a political assassination
5. 14:05Questions on the suspect and person of interest
6. 16:09UVU police chief on event security
7. 18:55Closing remarks and condolences

Full transcript

0:00Yeah, that's correct. We're inside an auditorium here on campus right now, where a press conference is expected to take place any minute now. We just got basically about a seven-minute warning that the press conference will be starting here shortly. This is where it will be happening up here. All the major players, of course, will be here for this press conference. We're expecting the governor to be showing up, along with also the FBI and the Department of Public Safety. So, again, this is a case that's going to go international, of course. A lot of people wanting a lot of answers as to what went wrong here what happened and just a lot of fear of course on campus from students as far as what they saw the trauma they experienced and then also coming back to school you know what this is gonna be like and so again I think the main questions we want to be able to try and answer right now is do they have any idea where this shooter may be at this time or if they have any indication as to if he's still on campus or not or what they're finding and those kind of thing also as far as the security goes I did talk to somebody from the UVU

1:03Public Affairs Department they told me that Charlie had about eight security officers or so personal security officers with him and then they also had UVU security officers there and so what exactly you know obviously from the video that we see of what happened there They weren't standing necessarily right next to him there, but he was open enough to where somebody could shoot and fire those gunshots. Now, where that gunfire came from is the other big question. Everyone we've been talking to here, nobody seems to have seen an actual gunman or somebody that actually fired that gun and where that shot came from. All they say is that they basically, they heard that gunshot go off and then they saw Charlie drop.

1:48So, again, we're getting video, as you guys have been mentioning there, the station and other things. We're starting to see video merge in of people showing somebody possibly up on the roof or somebody in another location. And so, again, that's all speculation right now, but those are videos that police are going to be looking at. We're hoping to be able to get some answers to from FBI. And, again, we're hoping probably within the next five minutes or so that this press conference will be starting. We do start to see some people starting to file in here, and so we might be getting something here pretty soon as to when this may start.

2:25But we'll go ahead and get it back to you guys, and of course, as soon as this takes place, we'll take it live here, and hopefully we can be able to get some of these answers. Back to you guys. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being here. At this press conference we will first hear from Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bo Mason. Then we'll hear from the FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bowles. We'll then hear from Utah Valley University Vice President Val Peterson who's been in touch with President Tomenes. And then we'll hear from Governor Cox. I'll turn the time over to Commissioner Mason.

4:04Thank you. Hello, everyone. I'm Beau Mason, Commissioner for the Utah Department of Public Safety. To date at approximately 1220 Mountain Standard Time, political influencer Charlie Kirk was shot at an event at the Utah Valley University. He was taken by private vehicle to Timpanogos Hospital, where he later passed. The Utah Department of Public Safety will be co-leading this criminal investigation to find this killer, along with at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

4:49We were working in unison with the county sheriff's office, the local police department, and the university police department, all of which have been very cooperative and fully engaged in this process. Shortly after the shooting, we did have a suspect in custody, George Zinn, but he was released from custody after we identified that he did not match the shooting suspect and was not an accurate person of interest. however he has been booked into the county jail by Utah Valley University Police Department for obstruction of justice we do still have an active investigation for the person of interest This incident occurred with a large crowd around. There was one shot fired and one victim. While the suspect is at large, we believe this was a targeted attack towards one individual. This is a tragic moment in our state and in our country. As we heal, we encourage everyone who is struggling with news of the incident to call 988, our state mental health crisis line.

5:57In addition to that, our partners with the FBI will also be discussing other ways we can communicate through the public for tips and other information. Thank you. Good afternoon. On behalf of the FBI, we extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. Our thoughts are also with the people who witnessed this traumatic event. We know that what you experienced was very difficult.

6:31Our thoughts are with you as well. As soon as we heard about the shooting, special agents and personnel from the Salt Lake Field Office responded immediately. We have full resources devoted to this investigation, including tactical, operational, investigative, and intelligence. To be clear, the FBI will fully support and co-lead this investigation alongside with our partners. you We are working on setting up a digital media tip line and as soon as it's established we'll get that information out to everyone.

7:03I know there's a lot of questions. This is very much an active case and this investigation is in its early stages. We are following all the leads and all the evidence. If anyone has any information, please report it to the FBI or local law enforcement. Thank you. On behalf of President Tubanez, who we've been communicating with, and she's on her way back right now, I say that on behalf of Utah Valley University, we are shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Charlie Kirk.

7:34We express our sincere condolences to the Kirk family. We agree with our students, faculty, and staff who bore witness to this unspeakable tragedy. He was invited by the student group Turning Point USA to speak on our campus. We firmly believe that UVU is a place to share ideas and to debate openly and respectfully. Any attempt to infringe on those rights has no place here. We do not condone any form of violence at UVU and seek to make our campus a safe place for all.

8:11Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on this dark and tragic occasion. I want to thank our law enforcement officers who are leading this investigation, starting with Chief Long and his response here with the UVU Police Department. We're grateful for your leadership and your team. And again, to the speakers that you've just heard from who are co-leading this investigation, I also want to recognize Sheriff Mike Smith, who has been an invaluable partner as this investigation moves forward.

8:48I've been in touch with President Trump, with FBI Director Kash Patel. We are completely aligned with our state and federal partners as we work through this case. Now, this is a dark day for our state. it's a tragic day for our nation and I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination we are Celebrating 250 years of the founding of this great nation, that founding document, the Declaration of Independence, that this great experiment on which we embarked together 250 years ago, that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. The first one of those is life.

9:44And today, a life was taken. Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to two young children. He was also very much politically involved, and that's why he was here on campus. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people.

10:27Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated. And that's what he does. He comes on college campuses and he debates. That is foundational to the formation of our country, to our most basic constitutional rights. And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened.

11:07Now, we have a person of interest in custody. The investigation is ongoing. but I want to make it crystal clear right now to whoever did this we will find you we will try you and we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law and I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah our nation is broken we've had political assassinations recently in Minnesota, we had an attempted assassination on the governor of Pennsylvania, and we had an attempted assassination On a presidential candidate and former president of the United States, and now current president of the United States.

12:17Nothing I say can unite us as a country. Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken. Nothing I can say can bring back Charlie Kirk. Our hearts are broken. We mourn with his wife, his children, his family, his friends. We mourn as a nation. If anyone, in the sound of my voice, celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere.

13:00I don't care what his politics are, I care that he was an American. We desperately need our country, we desperately need leaders in our country, but more than the leaders, we just need every single person in this country. To think about where we are and where we want to be. To ask ourselves, is this it?

13:32Is this what 250 years has wrought on us? I pray that that's not the case. I pray that those who hated what Charlie Cook stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family and that all of us, all of us, will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans.

14:05With that, we're happy to take a few questions. The FBI director is posting that a suspect is in custody. I would just like clarification. Do you or do you not have a suspected shooter in custody? We have a person of interest in custody that is being interviewed right now. That is not George Zinn? That is not George Zinn, that is correct. Are you still searching or looking for another shooter or anybody else related to this? Yes, we are actively looking for anyone and everyone who has any possible information relating to this shooting.

14:38Can you tell us details about the suspect being taken into custody? Where? How long ago? We cannot at this point. But we will get you that information when we can. Is there believed to be a second individual involved in the shooting? At this point, there is no information that would lead us to believe that there is a second person involved. Can you guys talk about the possible shooter? Do you want to talk about what we know there?

15:11The only information we have on the suspect, the possible shooter, is taken from closed-circuit TV here on campus. we do have that we're analyzing it but it is security camera footage so you can you can kind of guess what the quality of that is but we do know dressed in all dark clothing but we don't have a much better description other than that the shot came from here on campus from a location at a fair potentially from a roof yes a longer distance shot from a roof that's what we're trying to decipher right now I'll just say that the investigation is ongoing, and as soon as we have further information, we will be sure to release it.

16:09Any indications? As of now, I can't comment on any of that. Thank you. Can you talk a little bit about the security of the event itself, but who was there security-wise, and what happens on these kind of events? Chief Long. So my name is Jeff Long. I'm the police chief here at UVU, and I'll tell you right now, we're devastated. We're a small police department. We have a very large campus, we have over 40,000 students, and we love our students. We love our visitors, and we're devastated by what happened today.

16:39This is the police chief's nightmare. I'm very saddened for the Kirk family. I know his wife and parents found out about this. You know, obviously he's away from home, he's here in Utah. They find out by a police officer that visits their home. That's tragic. Nobody wants that. But I can tell you about our venue today. this was an open venue this is outside we did have six officers work in that event we had probably over 3,000 people that were in attendance it sat down in kind of a bowl area here on the central campus we have a waterfall area and so he was kind of in a lower area surrounded by by buildings you know we had Some plainclothes police officers that were in the crowd as well. We trained for these things, and you think you have things covered, and these things, unfortunately, they happen. You try to get your bases covered, and unfortunately today we didn't, and because of that we had this tragic incident.

17:42So we did have officers there. We had Charlie Kirk's team. He has a security team that travels with him. And they were here with him when he was shot. I'm sorry. At this point, I can't disclose that. Say the question again. I don't know if I understand what you're saying. I do not. We do not have that at this moment.

18:24Ladies and gentlemen, we have time for just one more question. So thank you. I have a question for the Chief as well. Was it your team or Kirk's team or a combination of both that kind of set the security protocol for the event? So, we work together. You know, he has his team and they do this all over the country. We all know that. This is not uncommon for them. They're very comfortable on campuses. And I was coordinating with his lead security guy. And so, yeah, we were working together. Was this a shot shooter type shot?

18:55Ladies and gentlemen, those are all the questions that will be answered today. Again, thank you for covering this. We will be updating you as soon as we have additional information through normal channels, working with law enforcement. Again, our deepest condolences to the Kirk family and to the students who were there today. And I would just ask everyone everywhere to please pray for their family and to pray for our country.

19:27We need it now more than ever. Thank you.

Source and licence

Recording: File:Gov. Cox press conference on Charlie Kirk's death at UVU.webm by KSL News Utah (2025-09-10), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY 3.0.

The transcript is machine speech-to-text by the TidyTools Audio & video transcriber; the summary, key points and chapters were written by Claude from that transcript. Both may contain errors: check the recording before quoting it.