A witness has described the moment Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at a Utah Valley University event as 'pretty scary stuff'. Justin Hicken, who attended the outdoor gathering in Orem, told The Independent that the shooting unfolded after a brief exchange between Kirk and an attendee about mass shootings.
'He got about 60 to 90 seconds into it, and that's when the shot went off,' Hicken said. 'I saw blood spurting from Charlie, his body kind of recoiled, everybody started screaming.' Hicken noted the absence of metal detectors at the venue, which he estimated held 3,000 to 4,000 people.
Following the gunshot, attendees dropped to the ground. 'People dropped to the floor, a whole bunch of bodies all over, just crazy stuff,' Hicken recalled. When no second shot came, the crowd fled. Hicken was taken inside a university building by officials and later emerged to see 'literally hundreds of emergency vehicles' and a SWAT team on the grounds.
Kirk, 31, was pronounced dead after being struck in the neck. Hicken expressed concern about security, stating, 'All it takes is one lunatic.' He also posted a video of an older man being detained, though university officials later said the man was not a suspect.
