MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk is dead. His organization confirmed his death this afternoon on social media. Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The shooter is still at large. Our co-host, Scott Detrow, spoke to Deseret News reporter Emma Pitts, who was an eyewitness to the shooting.
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EMMA PITTS: This is Emma Pitts with Deseret News.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Hey, Emma. It's Scott Detrow with NPR. How are you?
PITTS: I'm doing as well as I can be.
DETROW: Yeah.
PITTS: Thanks.
DETROW: Thanks for agreeing to talk to us. Are you in a place where we can just roll and have the conversation and let you get back to your reporting?
PITTS: Yeah, of course. It is loud. We were kicked out of the building, so there are helicopters everywhere, and police, but...
DETROW: OK.
PITTS: ...I'm in as quiet as a place as I can be right now.
DETROW: OK. And I appreciate you doing this, and I appreciate the challenge of reporting in a situation like this, and thank you.
KELLY: Then Pitts walked Scott through what she saw.
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PITTS: So Charlie Kirk, he had just - I mean, maybe 10 minutes in, it started. He was on his second question. And before he could even answer the second question that the interviewer asked, he went to go pick up the mic, and I watched - I heard first a sound. It sounded like a firecracker. And then I just saw so much blood come out of the left side of Charlie's neck, and then he went limp. And at that point, we all hit the ground.
But again, the - it was such a positive atmosphere. I think, like, there were so many college students. Everyone just seemed so happy to have Kirk there, I think. And so - and there weren't too many protesters either.
DETROW: So that was my question. There wasn't tension beforehand, as far as you could tell? Or at least not in a really notable way?
PITTS: No. I mean, he made, like, kind of a jokey comment because there was - so we were kind of in this bowl area, where he was at the base of it, and then there were steps that people were standing and sitting on.
DETROW: Yeah.
PITTS: And then it just gradually went higher and higher. And then there were people on a balcony above Kirk. And there were protesters there. There was a Pride flag and some signs. But again, like, we told our editors, there was maybe 10, 15 protesters here. Like, there was nothing...
DETROW: And how big was the crowd, roughly?
PITTS: Oh, my gosh. I feel like there were so many people. Probably - I don't know how many people. Maybe 300.
DETROW: Was there security in the event? Were there metal detectors or anything like that?
PITTS: No. And, I mean, we were given tickets. We all signed up for tickets. But there was no, like, process to go through that. No bags were checked. It's all at a public space at the university.
DETROW: OK.
PITTS: And I did take note of that. That was kind of...
DETROW: So there wasn't...
PITTS: You're dealing with [inaudible]...
DETROW: ...Any sort of any sort of way to screen in a serious way...
PITTS: No.
DETROW: ...Or a casual way for weapons?
PITTS: No, there wasn't. I mean, there were - his security was there, and I did see a few police officers, like, behind his tent. But again, not a heavy security presence.
DETROW: Obviously, this is all unfolding. There's a lot of confusion in a moment like this. What can you tell us about about what people are saying, what you're seeing now, in the aftermath of this on the site?
PITTS: Just absolute tragedy. I have strangers coming up to me, asking if I can hug them all the time. There's, I mean, still people here just so horrified by what they had to see. And I think it just - everyone is so upset and brokenhearted, and we're all praying for his family and for him.
DETROW: That's Emma Pitts, a reporter with Deseret News. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us.
PITTS: Thank you.
KELLY: Emma Pitts, as you heard, speaking with our co-host Scott Detrow. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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