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Topics: Crime, Politics, US News, Charlie Kirk
Dan Seddon
Topics: Crime, Politics, US News, Charlie Kirk
A leading security expert has claimed that he told Charlie Kirk he would '100 percent be killed' at one of his university speaking events.
The 31-year-old right-wing political activist was shot in front of around 3,000 people at Utah Valley University yesterday (10 September), before succumbing to his injuries in hospital.
US President Donald Trump, his predecessor Joe Biden, and Vice President JD Vance have all paid tribute to Kirk via public statements, yet The Bodyguard Group of Beverly Hills owner Kris Herzog believes none of this would've happened if the father-of-two had heeded his words.
Herzog allegedly spoke to the Turning Point USA founder at a California State University rally back in March, warning him that he'd '100 percent be killed at one of his upcoming university speaking events' unless he significantly bolstered his defences.
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Following Kirk's death, the security expert told the Daily Mail that 'everyone in my group felt that his security was not even close to what it should be and he was in grave danger of being shot and killed at one of his upcoming events'.
Having protected the likes of Kim Kardashian and Sharon Stone on previous occasions, Herzog said he provided Kirk with various security recommendations six months ago, allegedly including the use of 'B7 level' ballistic bulletproof glass panels incase of sniper activity.
"I told him that a sniper would probably go for a headshot, which means it was of critical importance to have the ballistic glass," he revealed to the publication.
"We recommended using metal detectors and handheld wands to screen everyone for a gun within 700 hundred feet of where Charlie would be speaking.
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"Sadly he never got back to me and now my prediction of his murder has come true."
Fellow security specialist Mark Wilson, who was also present at the March rally, added: "We are huge Turning Point fans, being conservatives, and we'd discussed the lack of security because he's up close with these nutcase kids and doesn't appear that he ever wears a bulletproof vest.
"It's super sad what has happened."
A number of the Utah Valley University event attendees appear to have echoed the experts' sentiments around security.
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"I was expecting when I got here that I'd have to pass through some kind of security, but that just wasn't a thing," witness Tyler McGettigan told NBC News.
"No one checked the barcode or the QR code [on his ticket]. There was no checkpoint to get in. It was literally anyone could walk in if they wanted."
Meanwhile, Justin Hickens, who said he was stood 20 yards away from the shooting, claimed that while Kirk had personal security, there were no metal detectors on site.
During a subsequent press conference, University Police Chief Jeff Long noted: "We trained for these things. And you think you have things covered. And these things, unfortunately, they happen. You try to get your bases covered. And unfortunately, today we didn’t, and because of that, we had this tragic incident."
A manhunt to find the killer is under way and the Department of Public Safety said the ‘shooting is still an active investigation’.