Charlie Kirk was praising Mormon faith which Tyler Robinson follows, moments later a bullet hit him in the neck; church leaders condemn violence

Charlie Kirk was fatally gunned down on stage at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, September 10, just moments after praising the Mormon faith, the religion in which his alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, was raised, the New York Post reported.

“I love how Mormons send missionaries around the world, I love how polite they are. … Half my team is Mormon,” the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder told the cheering crowd.

He then added, “Mormons are great people. Let me just say, I’m an evangelical Christian, but I’m not one of those guys that hates on Mormons.” Minutes later, authorities allege that 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a trade school student from a devout Mormon family, fired the high-powered rifle round that struck Kirk in the neck and killed him on stage.


According to the Daily Mail, Kirk's words were captured in video footage posted to social media, where he laughed and referenced the church's signature missionary uniform: "the white shirt and tie put on right there."

As per the authorities, Robinson fired the fatal shot from outside the venue with a scoped hunting rifle before discarding the weapon in a wooded area near campus.

How did the arrest unfold?

The killing sparked a desperate nationwide manhunt, which ended 33 hours later when Robinson's relative contacted a friend, who alerted law enforcement.

During a press conference earlier on Friday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox confirmed Robinson's identity and praised the family's reluctant role in his capture.

'On the evening of September 11th, a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend, who contacted the Washington County sheriff's office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,' Cox said.

Kirk was shot dead with a high-powered hunting rifle in front of hundreds of supporters during a campus stop on his “America First” college tour. Authorities later recovered the weapon in a wooded area nearby, but with no suspect immediately in custody, the investigation initially struggled to identify the gunman.

How did the Church react?

On Friday, following the identification of Tyler Robinson as the suspect, top leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints condemned “horrific acts of violence worldwide, including the recent assassination in Utah. We affirm our repeated calls to seek peace and unity despite our differences,” the New York Post reported. The leaders also urged everyone to reject violence and instead foster understanding, emphasizing that “recognizing that we are all children of God, we must treat one another with more dignity, compassion, and respect.”