UVU Review Finds No Bad Faith in Kirk Assassination Planning, Documents Security Gaps and Outdoor-Venue Fight

An independent after-action report commissioned by Utah Valley University found that no university employee or agent acted in bad faith or with “willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others” before or after the Sept. 10, 2025, assassination of Charlie Kirk. The same 158-page review listed security inconsistencies the consultants said warrant attention, including the decision to hold the Turning Point USA event outdoors in Fountain Courtyard despite campus staff concerns. UVU released the report Friday. Kirk, 31, was shot from a nearby rooftop while speaking to a crowd estimated at about 3,000. He was taken to Timpanogos Regional Hospital and pronounced dead.

The project team included Robert L. Davis LLC, Doherty Advisory LLC, The Lake Forest Group, and the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Reviewers conducted more than 70 interviews and examined policies, training materials, operational records, digital evidence, and dispatch logs. They wrote that UVU had a “strong foundation of policies and procedures” but that implementation was “significantly inconsistent” before and during the event. The team said the university should have kept decision-making authority over venue selection, ticketing, access control, and other safety conditions because the event was on campus. Instead, “several key event-security decisions were deferred to the TPUSA field representative.” A Turning Point representative insisted on the courtyard because Kirk had spoken there before and the organization knew the site. The report said that outdoor, open-access setting was surrounded by buildings, elevated areas, and multiple vantage points and created “significant protective operations considerations.” No line-of-sight assessment was documented. There was no comprehensive written security assessment or event action plan covering posts, staffing, and emergency procedures. A proposed pre-event meeting and walk-through between the university police chief and Turning Point security did not occur.

The original day-of plan called for three university officers at an event of several thousand people. UVU then had 13 sworn officers in total, which the review said was limited for the size and complexity of the campus. Cameras existed but were used after the shooting as an investigative tool rather than monitored in real time. Reviewers noted there was no drone coverage of rooftops, no bag checks or metal detectors, and incomplete integration of neighboring police and fire resources into pre-event planning. After the shots, the police chief, acting as incident commander, did not issue an immediate campus alert; later alerts were described as inconsistent and contradictory. The alleged shooter was not affiliated with UVU, which the team said put the threat outside the school’s usual behavioral-assessment system. The report also said Utah law limited some security options available to the university.

Kirk family attorney Brett Parkinson said the findings reaffirmed the family’s notice of claim that UVU security was “woefully understaffed and unprepared to manage the obvious risks associated with an event of this nature.” The family has taken steps toward a wrongful-death lawsuit. UVU President Jon Anderson said the university commissioned the review to establish a factual record and improve safety. The school said it is creating a chief public safety officer to coordinate campus police, emergency management, fire safety, and event security, and that it will require documented security assessments for major events, hire additional officers, and set clearer rules for when gatherings must move indoors. The report made nearly 150 recommendations, including a sergeant dedicated to campus events and a formal mutual-aid agreement with Orem police.