Charlie Kirk's family blames Utah Valley University for 'reckless' security failures that left him exposed to rooftop sniper
From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.
Kirk's family has filed a wrongful death notice against Utah Valley University, the state of Utah, and key campus security officials, alleging a chain of failures that directly led to the Turning Point USA founder's assassination on 10 September 2025. Attorneys D Loren Washburn, Brett Parkinson and Clifford Parkinson argue that UVU police chief Jeffrey Long had been alerted before the event that students had flagged rooftop access to a building near Kirk's outdoor speaking location — and took no action. A father of two aged 31, Kirk was shot in the neck by a sniper from more than 400 feet away while roughly 3,000 people attended the event.
The filing states that rooftop threats should have been 'especially top-of-mind' because a rooftop gunman had attempted to assassinate President Trump the year before.
UVU deployed no drones to monitor rooftops, conducted no bag checks or metal-detector screening, and kept campus police staffing well short of what a school its size requires.
Accused killer Tyler Robinson faces the death penalty, with a judge confirming in a written order that capital punishment remains on the table.