The shooting death of Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Wednesday was a “political assassination,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.

Kirk, a political and cultural Christian activist who led a massive and effective outreach organization debating liberal students and educating on conservative issues on campuses across the country, was shot in the neck as he spoke to a crowd of thousands.

The shot was taken from roughly 100 to 200 yards away, according to Utah police. The suspect was still at-large as of Wednesday evening. “Utah authorities said the shooter wore dark clothing and fired from a roof on campus some distance away,” PBS reported.

“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox during a news conference. “I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.”

The New York Times pointed out Kirk was a “close Trump ally” in one of its headlines, referring to President Donald Trump, who last year survived a similar assassination attempt, one of at least two attempts on his life in 2024.

“Over the past decade, Charlie Kirk became one of the most influential young leaders in right-wing American politics,” the Times reported.

“Kirk, 31, … had been an energetic member of President Trump’s inner circle, known for his abilities as a speaker, his fund-raising and his loyalty to the president.”

Many conservative observers also said Kirk was very effective at changing hearts and minds on college campuses. They also said he could have run for president of America some day.

Kirk was at UVU as part of his “The American Comeback Tour,” stopping at campuses nationwide to talk to students about immigration, abortion, transgender rights, among many other hot-button topics.

Several TPUSA campus groups, including at the University of Tennessee and Arizona State University, canceled their regularly scheduled campus meetings Wednesday in the wake of Kirk’s death.

“For years I have watched ASU faculty call Charlie Kirk a white supremacist and whip up hatred against him. The ASU Barrett Honors College refused to let him speak at that college because its faculty called him a white [supremacist],” wrote ASU Professor Owen Anderson, the TPUSA faculty advisor for the student club at ASU, in his Substack.

“We had to cancel our regular meeting tonight out of safety concerns.”

Citing videos posted online, Reuters reported that, just prior to being shot, Kirk was asked about gun violence. “‘Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America in the last 10 years?’ Kirk was asked. He responded, ‘Counting or not counting gang violence?’ He was shot moments later.”