Elite Sniper Breaks Down Charlie Kirk assassin’s Sick Plot… and Reveals Tiny Detail Everyone’s Missed: The Gun. The Planning. And his Critical Slip
By WILLS ROBINSON and JAMES GANT
One of America’s greatest-ever snipers has revealed how he believes Charlie Kirk’s assassin pulled off the brutal killing.
Sergeant Nicholas Ranstad broke down the shooting in minute detail based on his raft of experience around high-powered weapons and long-distance shots.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed by a sniper Wednesday at a Utah campus event — a single blast of gunfire that sent thousands of panicked audience members scattering as cops raced in vain to save his life.
Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA and dad of two, had just answered a question from an audience member about mass shootings committed by transgender people at the outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced hours after the cold-blooded murder that a person of interest was in custody, then later said he had been released after questioning.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote in a mournful post on Truth Social after news of Kirk’s death spread.
Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University.
“He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!” the president wrote, later ordering American flags nationwide to fly at half-staff until Sunday at 6 p.m.
Even before Kirk’s death was confirmed, Trump somberly told The Post, “He’s not doing well … yes, it looks very bad.” The president added that he was feeling “not good” about the shooting.
“He was a very, very good friend of mine, and he was a tremendous person,” Trump said.
The Turning Point USA founder was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery, a nurse told longtime friend and former employee Laci Williams, who relayed that information to The Post and later confirmed reports he had died.
Kirk moments before the shooting.
Kirk jerked back and appeared to grab at his neck as the shot rang out.
The conservative influencer jerked back and appeared to recoil in pain and grab at his neck as the crack of a single gunshot rang out from the crowd, sending thousands of spectators into a panic, dramatic video from the scene showed.
Kirk, 31, was conducting a Q&A session from a pop-up tent on campus when a gunman fired a shot from the university’s Losee Center with a long gun around 200 yards away from where he was speaking, according to sources and a university spokesperson.
“This is a dark day for our state, it’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination,” he added.
“I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty in the state of Utah.”
One unidentified witness who attended the campus event, sporting a white hat with “47” emblazoned on it, told Fox News after the assassination that he thought the shooter was an experienced marksman, striking Kirk directly in the heart.
“I think whoever did it was a good shooter, a sharpshooter,” he told the outlet, adding, “It was one shot right directly to the heart. And we need to find out who did this.”
Charlie Kirk spoke to the crowd before he was shot on Wednesday.
Kirk had responded to a question about mass shootings committed by transgender people during the event.
Map of Utah Valley University showing the location of a shooting at the Losee Center building and the courtyard.
Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, who was at the event with his family, told Fox News that the single shot came during the second question Kirk was answering about transgender shooters.
“He fell back to his left. Everybody hit the deck. Everybody was screaming, then everybody was running,” he said.
Chaffetz added that while Kirk had some security guards in front of where he was speaking, there were no security checks going in, and the event had a light police presence.
At a press conference Wednesday evening, Utah Valley University Police Chief Jeff Long made the shocking revelation that although there were approximately 3,000 in attendance at the event, just six officers were working security, along with Kirk’s own team.
Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason later told reporters that police did take someone into custody, and although that person wasn’t the gunman, they were booked on obstruction of justice charges.
The crowd ran from the event after Kirk was shot.
People running through a fountain at the UVU campus to escape the scene of the shooting.
A woman in a MAGA hat was seen crying after Kirk was shot.
He told the outlet he believed it was “no coincidence” Kirk was shot during the question about transgender people carrying out mass shootings, adding that Kirk realized “he may be criticized for that.”
Kirk, a conservative firebrand and close ally of Trump, was no stranger to threats against his life.
During an appearance on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast in April, Kirk eerily foreshadowed his demise when he alluded to traveling with a security detail, darkly joking that “purple-haired jihadis” and “woke guys” wanted to “kill him.”
“He fell back to his left. Everybody hit the deck. Everybody was screaming, then everybody was running,” former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, who was in attendance, said.
There was an outpouring of support for the young father of two across conservative media. Fox News anchor Will Cain fought back tears on air as he read Trump’s announcement that Kirk had died.
“I don’t know where we go from here as a news program,” Cain said, “and I don’t know where we go from here in America.”
Megyn Kelly openly sobbed with guest Glenn Beck of on her YouTube livestream, calling Kirk “a friend” and praising former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for their dignified social media posts expressing sympathy to Kirk’s wife and the couple’s two young children.
“There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones,” Biden posted on X.
A message posted by President Trump on Kirk’s passing.
“We don’t yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy. Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie’s family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children,” Obama wrote.
Kirk made a name for himself on platforms like YouTube and X, rising to prominence as a potent and youthful conservative voice known for never shying away from his unapologetic and often provocative opinions.
He grew up in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, the son of a mental health counselor mom and an architect father. As a child, Kirk was a Boy Scout, eventually achieving the rank of Eagle Scout.
Kirk is survived by his wife Erika and their two children.
In 2012, at the age of 18, he founded Turning Point USA, which developed into one of the most influential conservative political action groups in the nation. He has been featured as a guest speaker at the Republican National Convention.
Kirk was a prolific author, penning several books including “Time for a Turning Point,” “Campus Battlefield,” “The MAGA Doctrine,” “The College Scam,” and “Right Wing Revolution.”
