In this edition of the Wake Up Call newsletter:
The search continues for the person who shot and killed conservative political activist Charlie Kirk during an event at a Utah university. As of Thursday morning, a massive manhunt for the shooter was underway.
Also, San Diego Police are investigating a shooting in a popular part of Ocean Beach that left one person dead.
In her microclimate forecasts for Thursday, meteorologist Megan Parry breaks down the fall-like temperatures and conditions for much of San Diego County.
THE STREAMLINE:
ABC 10News brings you The Streamline for Thursday, Sept. 11 -- everything you need to know in under 10 minutes:
TOP STORY:
OREM, Utah (AP) — Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination.
Authorities say Kirk was killed with one gunshot from a rooftop on Wednesday. Whoever fired the gun then slipped away amid the chaos of screams and students fleeing the Utah Valley University campus. Federal, state and local authorities were searching for an unidentified shooter early Thursday and were working what they called "multiple active crime scenes."
“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said. "I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”
Two people were detained Wednesday, but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, Utah public safety officials said.
Authorities did not immediately identify a motive behind Kirk's killing, but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.
Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A gunshot rings out, and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.
Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political youth organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, at the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.
“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”
The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”
“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.
Then the shot rang out.
The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away.
Madison Lattin was watching only a few dozen feet from Kirk’s left when she heard the bullet hit Kirk.
“Blood is falling and dripping down, and you're just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety," she said.
Lattin said she saw people drop to the ground in an eerie silence pierced immediately by cries. She ran while others splashed through decorative pools to get away. Some fell and were trampled in the stampede. People lost their shoes, backpacks, folding chairs and water bottles in the frenzy.
When Lattin later learned that Kirk had died, she wept, she said, describing him as a role model who had showed her how to be determined and fight for the truth.
About 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk's own security detail, authorities said.
Trump announced Kirk's death on social media and praised the 31-year-old, who was co-founder and CEO of Turning Point, as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later Wednesday, he released a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.
Utah Valley University said the campus was immediately evacuated after the shooting, with officers escorting people to safety. The campus will be closed until Monday.
Meanwhile, armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for any information residents might have on the shooting. Helicopters buzzed overhead.
Wednesday's event, billed as the first stop on Kirk's “The American Comeback Tour,” had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”
Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”
The shooting drew swift condemnation across the political aisle as Democratic officials joined Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.
“The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last March hosted Kirk on his podcast, posted on X.
“The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.
The Kirk shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a Pennsylvania campaign rally last year.
Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.
But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.
Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.
Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.
MICROCLIMATE FORECASTS:
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BREAKING OVERNIGHT:
A search was launched late Wednesday night after one person was shot to death in a typically busy area of Ocean Beach.
San Diego Police said the shooting was reported at around 11:30 p.m. at Newport Avenue and Bacon Street, close to several popular restaurants.
Police confirmed one person was hospitalized following the gunfire, but that person — who was not identified — died after arrival.
Police said witnesses reported seeing two males running away from the scene after the shooting, but detailed descriptions were not available.
SDPD Homicide Unit detectives are investigating the events that led to the deadly shooting.
CONSUMER:
Some relief is on the horizon for many homeowners struggling to find affordable coverage, including fire insurance.
WATCH — Consumer reporter Marie Coronel speaks to an expert about what homeowners should know about their fire insurance or how to obtain the insurance:
WE FOLLOW THROUGH:
Days after the Coches Fire swept through their Lakeside neighborhood, a family whose home burned down returned to the site for the first time, hoping to salvage something from the ashes.
WATCH — Reporter Michael Chen follows through with family members as they look to pick up the pieces:
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