Investigators are still piecing together details of the Charlie Kirk assassination, but it has become clear that security lapses were a contributing factor.
President Donald Trump this morning announced the arrest of a young man believed to be the sniper who shot the conservative activist and youth organizer in the neck as he addressed students in the open air at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
The arrest is likely to shed light on how the killing unfolded.
The sniper fired from a rooftop with a clear vantage point, cutting down Kirk with a single shot as he addressed a crowd of some 3,000 in an amphitheater-like area.
Video captured the apparent sniper fleeing the rooftop. He is believed to have wielded a high-powered bolt-action rifle found hidden nearby.
The choice of venue by event organizers, probably made to maximize attendance, left adjacent academic buildings with direct lines of fire over the stage.
Six university police officers were posted at the event alongside Kirk’s personal security detail, but attendees remarked that the overall security presence felt light, with no bag checks conducted at entry.
The limited law enforcement presence meant only the inner ring closest to Kirk appeared to be secure, leaving the outer perimeter undermanned and ineffective against threats from rooftops or other elevated positions.
The level of security was consistent with other speaking engagements on Kirk’s national tour.
The attack bore similarities to the attempt on Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania last year, in which a 20-year-old assailant was able to gain rooftop access near a campaign stop and fired on the crowd, grazing Trump’s ear and killing an innocent attendee.
This service is concerned about risks to corporate executives amid the climate of violence in the United States. In a rare assassination of a corporate executive, a crackpot shot dead UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson late last year on a Manhattan street outside a shareholders meeting.
Corporations in all sectors should comprehensively review and where prudent bolster executive protection. Access controls also should be kept up to spec.
Both open-air and indoor attractions and events at which access control procedures are observed to be lax should be avoided.
