By admin 
SALT LAKE CITY (AP/AZFamily) — Two competing narratives are emerging over who bears responsibility for the security failures that led to the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk last year.
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A new independent report points to failures by both Turning Point USA and Utah Valley University, just weeks after Kirk’s family publicly blamed the university alone.
Kirk, who led the Phoenix-based conservative youth organization from its national headquarters in downtown Phoenix, was shot and killed Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at an outdoor courtyard event on UVU’s Orem campus. A gunman fired the fatal shot from a rooftop more than 400 feet away.
The independent report: blame shared
The after-action report, released Friday by UVU and conducted by an outside, independent team, reviewed security procedures for Kirk’s talk, planning conversations between Turning Point USA and university officials, and the university’s response to the shooting.
It found failures on both sides.
At an August 2025 planning meeting, a Turning Point USA representative reportedly insisted Kirk speak in a campus courtyard because he had appeared there before and the organization was familiar with the location.
The report found UVU did not conduct a formal security assessment, did not create a written event action plan, and deferred key decisions to Turning Point USA. Some university officials raised concerns about holding the event outdoors, surrounded by tall buildings, but it was allowed to proceed anyway.
“In our assessment, those decisions were consequential,” the report said.
Investigators also cited “significant protective operations considerations” tied to the outdoor venue, pointing to specific gaps: no line-of-sight assessment, no pre-event security briefing or walk-through, and no clear coordination with Kirk’s private security or outside law enforcement.
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How the family’s account differs
The report follows a Sept. 16 wrongful death notice, a possible precursor to a lawsuit, in which Kirk’s family attorneys blamed a string of “reckless decisions” by UVU officials for leaving him exposed to the sniper.
While the family’s notice places responsibility on UVU alone, the independent report complicates that narrative: it shows Turning Point USA itself pushed for the courtyard site over the university’s hesitation, while still faulting UVU for failing to push back or conduct its own risk assessment.
It remains unclear how a potential lawsuit would divide responsibility between the two organizations.
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