By Frank Chung

Copyright news

Hunter Kozak was the last person to ask a question of the conservative activist during the Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in Orem, before the 31-year-old was shot and killed in front of hundreds of people.

Kozak, 29, a left-wing TikTok influencer studying math and education at the university, attended the Q&A event where he asked a question about mass shootings involving transgender people.

“I wanted to challenge him,” Kozak told The New York Times on Thursday. “He went with arms open to say, ‘Challenge me, please.’

“As much as I disagree with Charlie, I appreciate that’s what he centred his campaign on — freedom of speech.”

Kozak’s question to Kirk was, “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?”

“Too many,” Kirk replied, sparking some cheers from the audience.

Kozak said the precise number was five, then asked how many mass shootings there had been in the US in the last decade.

Kirk’s last words were, “Counting or not counting gang violence?”

A shot rang out, and Kirk fell to the ground with blood gushing from his neck.

He was rushed to hospital but could not be saved.

“I saw blood spurt,” Kozak told The New York Times. “I dropped to the floor.”

Kozak, who shared a video to social media on Thursday about the incident, said he feared people might blame him for Kirk’s killing.

“It’s been a rough 24 hours,” he said in the video.

“I was the last person to talk to Charlie Kirk … People have obviously pointed to the irony that the point I was trying to make is how peaceful the left was … right before he got shot. That only makes sense if we stay peaceful. As much as I disagree with Charlie Kirk … he is still a human being. Have we forgotten that?”

He slammed the “sick f**king psychos that think this is the answer”.

“It’s not,” he said.

“I don’t know what else to say. It’s f**king not. It’s awful and a father doesn’t have his kids anymore. Charlie had two kids and a wife. I have two kids and a wife … his one-year-old boy will grow up without memories of his dad. It’s a tragedy and it’s hard to grapple with. I’m part of a community that’s struggling to grapple with it right now.”

Kozak said he disagreed with Kirk but “one of the things he stood by was conversation”.

“If you’re salivating about what happened — don’t,” he said.

Kirk’s killing sparked a flood of tributes and condemnation from across the political aisle, even as some online openly celebrated the murder of the prominent influencer.

The suspected killer remained on the run as of Thursday night.

Authorities recovered the “high-powered bolt-action rifle” believed to have been used in the assassination in a wooded area near the shooting.

Ammunition engraved with expressions of transgender and anti-fascist ideology was found inside the rifle, according to an internal law-enforcement bulletin and a person familiar with the investigation, as cited by The Wall Street Journal.

The FBI on Thursday released photos and videos of the suspect and offered a reward of up to $US100,000 ($150,000) for information leading to their identification and arrest.

The images of the alleged shooter show a man wearing a baseball cap, dark sunglasses and a black long-sleeve shirt with an image on it.