{"id":47229,"date":"2025-09-10T19:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T00:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47229"},"modified":"2025-09-11T01:25:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T06:25:13","slug":"utah-gov-after-charlie-kirk-shooting-this-is-a-political-assassination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47229","title":{"rendered":"Utah gov after Charlie Kirk shooting: \u2018This is a political assassination\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R) said the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk\u2002<\/u><\/a>on Wednesday was a \u201cpolitical assassination\u201d and a \u201cdark day\u201d for both Utah and the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a dark day for our state. It\u2019s a tragic day for our nation. I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination,\u201d Cox said during a Wednesday afternoon press conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot on Wednesday while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Kirk was hit by a gunshot in the neck, according to videos from the scene shared on social media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCharlie Kirk was first and foremost, a husband and a dad to two young children,\u201d Cox said. \u201cHe was also very much politically involved, and that\u2019s why he was here on campus. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not long after the shooting, authorities briefly had a person of interest in custody, but he was released authorities \u201cidentified that he did not match the shooting suspect and was not an accurate person of interest,\u201d according to Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, he has been booked into the county jail by Utah Valley University Police Department for obstruction of justice,\u201d Mason said, adding that law enforcement still has an \u201cactive investigation for the person of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A person of interest in the fatal shooting of Kirk is in custody<\/u><\/a>, both Cox and FBI Director Kash Patel\u2002<\/u><\/a>said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d the Utah governor said. \u201cAnd I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orem Mayor David Young\u2002<\/u><\/a>said authorities are evaluating whether the suspect in custody will be charged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have a new suspect in custody and are going through the process of determining whether or not he will be charged,\u201d Young told The Hill on Wednesday evening. \u201cSo some progress has been made but it is not definitive yet.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

thehill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox\u2002(R) said the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk\u2002on Wednesday was a \u201cpolitical assassination\u201d and a \u201cdark day\u201d for both Utah and the U.S. \u201cThis is a dark day for our state. It\u2019s a tragic day for our nation. I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination,\u201d Cox said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":47230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8097,2032,1583],"class_list":["post-47229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-assassination","tag-political","tag-utah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47229"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47232,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47229\/revisions\/47232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}