University of Kwazulu-Natal

Charlie Kirk Shooting Viral Videos Document Terrifying Incident

Bonisiwe Shabane
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charlie kirk shooting viral videos document terrifying incident

Charlie Kirk was shot in the jugular during an event, and graphic video footage of the incident has emerged, showing the chaotic scene. Authorities have a suspect in custody, and Kirk was rushed to the hospital, though his current condition is not yet confirmed. Viewer Discretion Advised: This video contains graphic content, including a shooting and visible blood. Please watch with caution. (Disclaimer: Video shows extreme gun violence) In a chilling moment that has since gone viral, bystander footage captured the exact instant conservative figure Charlie Kirk was shot dead during a campus speaking engagement in Utah.

The founder of Turning Point USA and a close ally of President Donald Trump was gunned down while addressing a crowd of thousands, sparking a national outcry and raising concerns over escalating political violence. The shooting occurred on Wednesday afternoon at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, just outside Salt Lake City. Kirk was approximately 20 minutes into his talk for the American Comeback Tour, hosted by the local chapter of TPUSA, when a single shot rang out—striking him fatally in the neck. ⚠️⚠️Extreme Violence☣️☣️ (18+) Another angle of the shot that KILLED #CharlieKirk its back side footage A single gunshot rings out mid-debate His team INSTANTLY jump to actionhttps://t.co/8h99yUo9mQ — R J (@rahuljaitley) September 10, 2025 Chaos immediately erupted at the scene, with students and attendees seen scrambling for cover in footage that quickly spread across social media platforms. Emergency services rushed Kirk to a nearby hospital, but the 31-year-old was later pronounced dead.

Once you see the videos, you can't unsee them. Conservative political speaker Charlie Kirk was shot dead on a college campus Wednesday, Sept. 10. Late last month, Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed on a train in North Carolina. Graphic videos of both atrocities spread quickly and widely online this week, appearing in people's social media feeds, often with little-to-no warning. Getting confronted with gruesome, horrific imagery has, unfortunately, become an assumed risk when logging onto social media.

Mental health and media experts, however, say the proliferation of violent videos online can have a deeply negative impact on our psyches − and that you don't have to view material like this in... "I don't think we have a responsibility to witness every instance of violence that happens," therapist Erik Anderson previously told USA TODAY. "People kind of need to be responsible for understanding what's going to trigger them and what they're able to tolerate." Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University in what the governor described as a "political assassination." Livestream video of the event showed crowds of... Earlier this week, transit officials in North Carolina released a graphic video showing the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Zarutska on a light rail train. Traditional news outlets were careful in their coverage of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination to not show graphic images of the event.

But if people wanted to see graphic evidence of what happened to him, it was easily available online. Charlie Kirk speaks at Texas A&M University as part of Turning Point USA’s American Comeback Tour on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in College Station, Texas. (Meredith Seaver/College Station Eagle via AP, File) Immediately after Charlie Kirk was shot during a college event in Utah, graphic video of what happened was available almost instantly online, from several angles, in slow-motion and real-time speed. Millions of people watched — sometimes whether they wanted to or not — as the videos autoplayed on social media platforms. Video was easy to find on X, on Facebook, on TikTok, on Instagram, on YouTube — even on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social.

The platforms, generally, said they were removing at least some of the videos if they violated their policies, for instance if the person was glorifying the killing in any way. In other cases, warning screens were applied to caution people they were about to see graphic content. Two days after Kirk’s death, videos were still easily found on social media, despite calls to remove them. Political commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at an event on a college campus in Utah on Wednesday. Kirk was at Utah Valley University on Wednesday as part of Turning Point USA's American Comeback Tour, on college campuses across the U.S. LiveNOW’s Mike Pache is speaking to Michael Maiorano who attended the Charlie Kirk event earlier today.

Graphic video circulating on X shows the moments Charlie Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. He died later after being taken to the hospital. Kirk, 31, was speaking at the university for his "America Comeback Tour," according to the co-founder of Turning Point USA’s X account. The video posted to social media shows Kirk on stage, sitting in a chair, talking into a microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans "The American Comeback" and "Prove Me... A single gunshot was heard and Kirk's head thrust back as he fell. People started screaming and running away, the video shows.

Just minutes after Charlie Kirk was shot at an event at Utah Valley University last week, videos capturing the moment the bullet struck him began appearing online. They quickly racked up millions of views. "We are not wired as human beings, biologically, historically — we have not evolved in a way that we are capable of processing those types of violent imagery," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said at a recent press conference. "This is not good for us. It is not good to consume."

For many online, seeing the videos of Kirk's shooting wasn't a choice. The event in Utah was being livestreamed, and thousands of people in the audience had smartphones. Even without searching them out, people were confronted with the graphic footage in their social media feeds — sometimes playing automatically. "Social media and violent imagery often go together these days," said Emerson Brooking, director of strategy and a senior resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab. "This took place where everyone could see it and it was intended that everyone would see it." Images of graphic violence have long circulated online, from propaganda videos made by ISIS showing the executions of hostages to first-person footage posted by mass shooters to scenes of war.

Graphic videos of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination continued to spread across social media platforms Thursday, with many companies choosing to put the video behind content warnings rather than taking it down entirely. On YouTube and Meta platforms, videos that showed the moment Kirk was hit by the bullet required users to acknowledge that they were willing to see sensitive content. On other platforms, including X and TikTok, many of the videos remained easily accessible without any warning. The spread of videos depicting violent incidents, like shootings, has been a perennial issue for social media platforms, complicated in recent years by a shift away from aggressive, human-based moderation. Most companies still have policies either banning or limiting the spread of gory videos. And while the backlash against moderation has generally been led by conservatives, some Republicans have called for action over the video of Kirk’s killing.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said Wednesday that she hoped the video was removed from social media platforms, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., called on X CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok to take down videos of the shooting. While legacy media were more restrained about showing graphic footage, it was easily available across X and Meta, writes Andrew Griffin From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important...

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Just minutes after Charlie Kirk had been shot in Utah, video of his death was not only easy to find, but for many, unavoidable to watch.

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