By Mary Ann Ahern and NBC Chicago Staff

Copyright nbcchicago

Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA who was assassinated in a shooting during an event at Utah Valley University Wednesday, began his political career at a young age in suburban Chicago.

Kirk, 31, was born in the northwest suburb of Arlington Heights and grew up in nearby Prospect Heights. He graduated from Wheeling High School and briefly attended Harper College before moving on to focus on the conservative activist group that spearheaded his politically influential career.

“I met Charlie … when I was just becoming a city councilman in the village of Palatine. Charlie was in high school at Wheeling. He came up to me at an event and said, ‘Hey, I’m Charlie Kirk and I’m going to do an event for conservative values. I want to build this new club up at my school. Would you come out to our golf outing?'” said Cook County GOP Chair Aaron Del Mar, who is running alongside conservative gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey in the upcoming 2026 election. “And I just thought, ‘Hey, what a kind of cool kid. Really outgoing and sincere.”

Kirk attended Harper College from 2013-14, just after starting Turning Point USA in 2012. Kirk, then 18, founded the group in suburban Chicago alongside William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government.

“Since its founding, Turning Point USA has embarked on a mission to build the most organized, active, and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country,” the group’s website reads.

But the group was not an immediate success.

Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.

“In Republican circles, we’ve been talking for many years that we need to start going into colleges and going to universities and getting our message to young people before they get into the work environment. And Charlie was the person that really did it,” Del Mar said. “And he started really engaging with people and doing it on college campuses all over the country, not just sitting from an office somewhere and he started talking to kids face to face and going to places that, frankly, he really wasn’t welcome, getting that message across and turning out younger kids to run for office, to get involved.”

Kirk became the youngest speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention, then was tapped as the opening speaker for the 2020 RNC.

Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016 and 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.

But the controversy surrounding Kirk’s college appearances continued up until his final presentation.

The event at Utah Valley University, which was part of Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour,” had been met with divided opinions on campus.

Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit to Utah colleges was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

An online petition urging Utah Valley 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.”

Kirk was speaking at the debate when the shooting took place.

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?” an audience members 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 a single shot rang out.

A spokesperson for Utah Valley University said Kirk was about 20 minutes into a presentation when shots were fired from a nearby building.

Soon after, President Donald Trump wrote on social media asking for prayers for Kirk, saying he “has been shot.”

Then a short time later, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Kirk had died.

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. 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!”

Turning Point USA later confirmed the news.

“It is with a heavy heart that we confirm that Charles James Kirk has been murdered by a gun shot that took place during Turning Point USA’s ‘The American Comeback Tour’ campus event at Utah Valley University on September 10th, 2025,” the group wrote. “May he be received into the merciful arms of our loving Savior who suffered and died for Charlie. We ask that everyone keep his family and loved ones in your prayers. We ask that you please respect their privacy and dignity in this time.”

Despite earlier reports from the school that a suspect was in custody, a spokesperson for the university later said that was not the case. A motive for the shooting was also not immediately known.

Vice President JD Vance called Kirk a “genuinely good guy and a young father.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said “those responsible will be held fully accountable.”

“I am being briefed by law enforcement following the violence directed at Charlie Kirk during his visit to Utah Valley University today,” Cox wrote on X. “We will continue to share updates. Those responsible will be held fully accountable. Violence has no place in our public life. Americans of every political persuasion must unite in condemning this act. Our prayers are with Charlie, his family, and all those affected.”

Speaking at an unrelated event, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker expressed “my sympathy to Charlie Kirk’s family and to Charlie Kirk.”

“I will say that political violence unfortunately has been ratcheting up in this country. We saw the shootings, the killings in Minnesota, we’ve seen other political violence occur in other states and I would just say it’s got to stop,” Pritzker said.

Illinois Rep. Darin LaHood called for Americans to condemn such violence.

“The rise in political violence across our country is abhorrent. This vile attack on @charliekirk11 must be condemned in the strongest possible terms and justice must be served. Please join me in praying for him and his family,” LaHood wrote on X.

Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi said the party’s “hearts are broken” over Kirk’s death, but that his “work for Republicans in Illinois and across the country was invaluable.”

“Charlie gave an important and unique voice to young people across the country and engaged in thoughtful, open, and honest dialogue that our country desperately needs,” Salvi said in a statement.

Kirk is survived by his wife and two young children.