Utah Valley University Mourns Charlie Kirk As Campus Reopens After

Fox News Digital spoke to Utah Valley University students as campus reopened following Charlie Kirk’s assassination. OREM, Utah – While a large American flag drapes where conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Utah Valley University's campus, students told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that campus feels "scary" and "somber." "This is somewhere that we go to further our lives, and it could also be the place where it ends our lives," said James Whitney, a UVU student who told Fox News Digital that... According to suspect Tyler Robinson's charging documents, investigators found a "bolt-action rifle wrapped in a towel" in a wooded area on the northeast end of campus, but authorities have not confirmed the exact location. One week after Kirk was shot while taking questions from UVU students, classes on the Orem campus resumed Wednesday. As students return to campus to pay their respects to Kirk and go back to class, many are still processing what they describe as an "extremely traumatic" incident.

One week after the tragic killing of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, students have begun returning to the Orem campus and classes have resumed. As campus operations began getting back to normal Wednesday, students described feeling a change in the air from how things were before last week’s shooting. “It feels a little bit surreal, like we know what happened a week ago, and it’s kind of interesting being here on campus. I feel like it’s a little bit more reverent,” said Hannah McCombs, a UVU student studying respiratory therapy. Throughout Wednesday morning, a number of students and other community members gathered in the courtyard where Kirk held his event before being shot and killed last week. WATCH: Utah Valley University hangs a massive American flag over the area where Charlie Kirk was assassinated in a stunning tribute.

pic.twitter.com/AHhPuNSPU5 (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) On their first day back to campus since the fatal shooting of political commentator Charlie Kirk, students silently gather near Utah Valley University's closed courtyard on Wednesday,... 17, 2025. Orem • Nearly every student who walked by on their way to class at Utah Valley University early Wednesday stopped for a minute at the spot where everything changed. A week ago, political commentator Charlie Kirk had been speaking in this campus courtyard when a single shot rang out, striking and killing him. Now, the place where he spoke is surrounded by a thick metal fence as officers patrol nearby.

The loudest sounds were whispers Wednesday, quietly shared below a new, 25-foot tall American flag that hangs over the solemn space. “I think a lot of people are scared to return,” said Raymond Lopez, a 26-year-old pre-health student at UVU. Students are returning to class Wednesday at Utah Valley University just days after prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at an event on campus, thrusting the community into the national spotlight. Nyasha Paradzai, a UVU junior, said he was lined up in front of Kirk, waiting to debate him at the campus event, when he was killed. “I was literally a few feet away from him and when the tragic shooting happened, I was squarely facing him, so I watched that unfold,” Paradzai told CNN in an interview Tuesday. When Paradzai heard the pop from the shot that hit Kirk, the international student from Zimbabwe was confused.

It was the first time he had ever heard a gunshot. “In my world, you don’t hear guns,” Paradzai said. Students at Utah Valley University are returning to campus on Wednesday, one week after conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was killed while holding an outdoor event at the university. Hope Ledkins, a first-year student at Utah Valley University, told ABC News returning to class is a "very sad, very somber feeling." "This doesn't happen in Orem, Utah," Ledkins said. "To have something like this happen, people just feel really mixed up about it."

As students return to campus, law enforcement continues to investigate Tyler Robinson, 22, who is accused of assassinating Kirk at the university on Sept. 10. Robinson was formally charged with aggravated murder on Tuesday, with prosecutors announcing the intent to seek the death penalty. He was also charged with felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child,... A law enforcement officer stands outside Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah.

(AP Photo/Alex Goodlett, File) Crime scene tape surrounds Utah Valley University after Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File) SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah university where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated is expanding its police force and adding security managers after the school received harsh criticism for its lack of... Utah Valley University is in the process of hiring eight additional campus police officers and two new safety managers who will help coordinate security for future events on campus, spokesperson Ellen Treanor said Wednesday.

Kirk was fatally shot from a campus rooftop on Sept. 10 while debating students in an outdoor courtyard surrounded by several tall buildings. An Associated Press review found that the Orem campus did not implement several public safety practices that have become standard safeguards for security at events around the country. Police staffing also fell far below recommended margins for a school of its size. Hundreds of Utah Valley University students remain in shock after they witnessed a fatal shooting. (Photo: KUTV)

OREM, Utah (KUTV) — Hundreds of Utah Valley University students remain in shock after they witnessed a fatal shooting. Political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on campus on Wednesday. A makeshift memorial now sits among the police tape that still marks parts of the school. MORE | UVU releases return schedule for faculty, students after Charlie Kirk assassination

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