The school where Charlie Kirk was shot released heavily redacted files and withheld others entirely in response to a Daily Caller News Foundation records request.
Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem revealed scant information after the DCNF requested UVU Police Chief Jeff Long’s personal communications related to Kirk’s death. The school claimed several legal exemptions to censor content throughout the files, leaving the public with unanswered questions about security failures that got Kirk killed on the police chief’s watch.
UVU had only six campus police officers assigned to protect a gathering of about 3,000 at Kirk’s Turning Point USA event. The lack of resources, including a ticketed entry system or metal detectors, made multiple headlines and prompted Utah Republican State Rep. Ryan Wilcox to call the situation “a complete disaster.” The school announced a review of its security preparedness days after the shooting.
The fifty documents the DCNF obtained showed bits of conversations between unidentified people, some of whom appear to be university employees, before and after Kirk’s Sept. 10 murder. One email showed someone receiving approval for Kirk’s TPUSA to use amplified sound on campus. “I don’t see a problem with this, [redacted],” a person replied to them Sept. 8.
One email appeared to discuss contacting Kirk the day before he was killed.
“[Redacted] wants us to get a message to Charlie Kirk,” a Sept. 9 email read, providing a phone number.
Long did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
While Kirk debated politics with students outdoors, 22-year-old leftist Tyler Robinson traversed campus with a rifle hidden in his pant leg, climbed the stairs of UVU’s Losee Center, killed Kirk with one shot from the roof and fled the scene, according to authorities. Robinson’s parents later recognized him from photos released by the FBI and convinced him to turn himself in after a 33-hour manhunt. Utah prosecutors said Robinson’s family members heard him express disdain for Kirk’s political views after he started dating a transgender roommate, who is expected to testify against him.
Releasing all the information the DCNF requested about the shooting could “jeopardize the security of public property, buildings or systems,” “jeopardize the life or safety of an individual” and invade personal or educational privacy, among other legal issues, UVU said. Nine redactions were based on state law that allows secrecy to protect law enforcement investigations and proceedings as well as a person’s right to a fair trial, according to the university. Two more redactions were based on attorney-client privileged material.
UVU said it identified “additional records” that match the DCNF’s request but refused to disclose them for legal reasons. The university also partially censored photos of campus renovations, including a giant American flag hung after Kirk’s murder.
This is not the first time UVU prevented the public from learning more about the assassination. The school previously denied a records request by local news station FOX13 seeking its security plan for Kirk’s TPUSA event, citing legal exemptions that protect “security measures,” law enforcement activity and the right to a fair trial. After FOX13 appealed the decision, Robinson’s legal team urged a court to keep the records concealed, the outlet reported February.
Calls for transparency continued after Brian Harpole, head of Kirk’s private security detail, said Chief Long failed to address a safety concern he mentioned prior to TPUSA’s event.
Harpole texted Long that students might be able to access the roof of UVU’s Sorenson Center, which is across the street from the rooftop the shooter fired from, according to messages he showed to podcast host Shawn Ryan in November. Officers likely would have been able to see the shooter from that neighboring rooftop.
The police chief indicated over text that the Sorenson Center rooftop would be secured, Harpole said.
“He comes back and his last correspondence was, ‘I got you covered,’” Harpole said. “What else am I to do when a command-level person from an accredited police department says, ‘I’ve got this area’?”
“Why this hadn’t come out and why he won’t stand up like a man and admit this, I don’t know, but he’s watching a bunch of men lose their careers and he’s okay with it,” Harpole told Ryan.
Long acknowledged that UVU police failed to protect Kirk in a press conference the day of his murder.
“We train for these things, and you think you have things covered and — you know, these things, unfortunately, they happen,” Long said. “You try to get your bases covered and unfortunately, today, we didn’t. And because of that, we had this tragic incident.”
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