According to officials, six university police officers were on duty during the campus event in which political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated, and more than 3,000 people were in attendance.
During a Wednesday evening press conference, Utah Valley University Police Chief Jeff Long described the event location as “kind of a bowl area here on the central campus.”
The area’s layout meant that Kirk, who was sitting under a tent and taking questions from the audience when he was shot, was “kind of in a lower area surrounded by buildings,” Long said.
During the same press conference, Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, said that authorities believe the bullet that killed Kirk was a “longer distance shot” which was “potentially [shot] from a roof.”
Long added that the campus police department “had some plain clothes police officers that were in the crowd as well.”
According to Long, security for the event was handled by a mixed team of campus police officers and Kirk’s own private security.
“We did have officers there. We had Charlie Kirk’s team. He has a security team that travels with him, and they were here with him when he was shot,” Long said.
“You think you have things covered, and these things, unfortunately, they happen. You try to get your bases covered. And unfortunately, today, we didn’t, and because of that, we had this tragic incident.”
As we previously reported, According to Utah Valley University, Charlie Kirk was shot from a building about 200 yards away while he was speaking.
Kirk has been one of the most influential voices on the right in recent years, notably founding Turning Point USA chapters at universities across the country and hosting speakers’ summits for young conservatives.
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