Jason Chaffetz recounts moment Charlie Kirk was shot

Congressman, Fox News contributor. Jason, you were there. I could hear how upset you are in your voice. And I think we all are feeling it. But you were there. So tell us what happened.

Yeah, that happened like 35 minutes ago. I was there. I was up kind of on the second level because I wanted to be in the shade. But our daughter was there. Our son-in-law was there, my wife was there, friends, this is our community.

And there's 2000 or so people, the Utah Valley University is our largest university, 40,000 students, and people came out to hear the dialogue, the back and forth, ask them anything. That's what Turning Point and Charlie Kirk's all about. Ask him anything.

First question was about religion. He went on for about 15, 20 minutes. Second question, interestingly, was about transgender shooters, mass shooters. And in the midst of that, the shot rang out. Now, I happened to be watching Charlie.

I can't say I saw blood. I can't say I saw blood. I can't say I saw him get shot, but as soon as that shot went out, he fell back into his left and everybody hit the deck. Everybody's, a lot of people started screaming and then everybody started running, as you might expect.

There was some police presence, but there was no security check going in, which didn't happen. Charlie has some security in front of him, but you got the sense that the shot came kind of straight at him. And I don't think there would be many vantage points too far away because he was under an awning. It's a bright, sunny, beautiful summer, you know, end of summer day in Utah. Um, and I just hope and pray that somehow, some way he survives this.

Jason, we're just looking at the video of Charlie tossing hats. It's a gorgeous day, as you just said. Huge smile on his face, which is his usual composure. And he's getting up onto that stage. This is the kind of thing, and everyone can see it in the upper hand right hand side of the screen right now, that he does.

He brings a lot of energy, a lot of vitality, a lot of very astute conversation and analysis of the state of the country. And he climbed up on that stage like he always does and started taking questions. I just want to give the full statement. It's a short statement. And I know we're going to hear more from President Trump as we get more information.

But this is this is the full statement. He said, we must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. God bless him. And President Trump knows what it's like to be shot at.

He was the subject of two assassination attempts that were thankfully averted. One obviously hit his ear. And in this case, we're seeing something that looks much more serious, I think is fair to say at this point, as we wait for more information

about how Charlie is doing. You know, so give us a sense of this space, Jason. Were there security checkpoints on the way in here? What was it like in terms of who could get in?

So in that shot, I was standing to Charlie's, or off to the right. I wasn't right next to him. Like I said, I was up on the balcony. I had traded messages with Charlie prior to the event. I, you know, when he announced he was coming,

I was excited, told him we want to come see him. Then I sent him a text saying, hey, hope I can see you afterwards. Our family loves Charlie, wanted to see him again. Look, classes are now back in session.

Kids can come and go. I would say that it's, if I had to guess, 95% local students. Like I said, it's our state's largest university. There were some members that weren't students that were there, but very few. No security checkpoints.

It's a very open campus. It's very much a commuter campus. Come on, Orem, Utah is one of the safest places on the planet. We just don't have these types of things. We don't have murders, let alone shootings,

let alone something of this magnitude. And like I said, there was a light police presence. I'm sure, I hope there were some undercover people. Charlie has his own bit of security, but not to deal with a couple thousand people that were there to see Charlie.

They had microphone challenges because there were so many people, they couldn't get all the volume that they wanted. People are having a hard time hearing. But I think when this story is written, I don't think it was a coincidence that the shot rang out when he got a question about transgender mass shootings. Now, maybe, hopefully I'm wrong.

People are probably criticized for jumping to conclusions, but I'm just telling you in the 30 minutes or so, I thought, wow, I don't think that's a coincidence, but we'll see.

So, Jason, you know, obviously there's a lot of images out there, a lot of video out there right now, but the university says that they have a suspect in custody. Were you, did you have any sense of anyone in the crowd who was being taken down by people around this person? Anything of that?

Well, you know, um, look, as soon as I saw Charlie go back, you realized that it was a shot. I've been shooting. I've been around guns enough to know that it was an actual shot. And immediately, you know, I started thinking of our daughter and our son-in-law and my wife who wasn't quite in the venue yet. So my attention, you know, focused there and making sure they were okay and getting people

out. It wasn't as if there was a whole bunch of gunfire. It was one shot.

Which makes it obviously sound, I'm sorry, go ahead. But I mean, that's an assassination attempt. And it sounds from what you're saying that it was clearly aimed at Charlie Kirk and not sort of a spraying in the crowd, thank God, of gunfire.

It appears that this was a very targeted attempt on his life. And they did take someone into custody though. So we're waiting for more information on that. Sometimes it can appear that, you know, sometimes it's the right person, sometimes it isn't the right person,

and we don't know the answer to that yet, right, Jason?

No, we don't, but I can tell you, being there, seeing it within proximity, it seemed like it was a close shot. The venue is such that there's a four story building, which is the administrative building to the south. The other buildings around the side are not quite so high, but you could be on the

second level and watch Charlie, the police had moved the people, there were some people that were above Charlie. So that awning that you're seeing there, there's a place to be there. But the police moved people out to the sides. And so you couldn't be right above where you were at. But if I had to guess, and again, it's still raw,

but if I had to guess and give a police statement right here, right now, today, see where that water is? It looked to me like it was in great, in close proximity, straight ahead, right in that area. If I had to guess, again.

Of course. No, we are, have a huge caveat on everything at this point, but we're just putting together what we can. And there's a group of people right in front of the stage. Then there's a bit of a gap. I think people can see this on this aerial shot here.

I don't know if that was equipment or for some reason that area is cleared. But there's how many people would you say were in that crowd today, Jason?

So that kind of greenish spot you're looking at is water. There's just a water feature on what we call the quad. And it kind of graduates up so students can sit. And and it's a great little sort of an amphitheater type thing where you can sit on the grass and look at whatever's going on down there. So, again, I'm guessing 2000 plus people.

Charlie came out, kind of right at noon, local time, mountain time, throwing the hats, gearing up the crowd. They were having a little bit of a microphone problem. But everybody, they were chanting either USA or Charlie Kirk. And when they saw him backstage,

they started chanting Charlie Kirk. They were really genuinely excited to see him. There were a few people, there was one gay pride flag there, but they were not disruptive. They were very respectful in every sense of the way.

He came out and acknowledged them, said, hey, come down, be part of the discussion, which the crowd took really well. That's the idea of Charlie Kirk, is that he'd answer things from anybody and you can come stand. There's that little grassy area and there's security there,

but you can come walk up there. They hand you a microphone and you can ask and interact with Charlie. But the person that was asking the question, I don't think again, if I had to guess, I don't think was the shooter. I think it happened behind that person. But I just ask I'm still in shock that it happened.

Of course. We're all just processing this and you were there with your family, obviously you're shaken up, but you're doing a great job of, you know, keeping us informed on the lay of the land here

and what happened. He was tossing hats that said 47 on them, obviously in support of President Trump. What hospital would be the hospital that he would be taken to, or anyone who's injured in

that area would be taken to, Jason?

Well, fortunately, we have a really good hospital, Utah Valley Hospital. All the level 1 trauma situations, if I get the numbers right, the highest degree of trauma. We're not used to dealing with a lot of

shootings here in Utah, quite frankly. But if you had to extract somebody and get them there, it's a matter of minutes away. I don't know how quickly they were able to do that, but there is a very, very good medical situation right there. And then of course, you know, there are other options, but the closest one is right there in Provo. This happened in Utah in Orem right at the off of I-15

and like I said it's it's a commuter campus there's no on-campus living there's very little of that. Most of these students commute and they between BYU which is a few miles away and UVU, there's about 100,000 students. So we got a big student population and this was a great afternoon.

And very much a community, as you say, everybody lives close by. The Utah Valley Hospital, and I cannot confirm that this is where he was taken, we're just trying to figure out what would be logical, has a level two trauma center. It is in Provo, Utah, as you said, Jason. So we're

going to continue to get this information as it comes in and we're trying to be obviously as accurate as we possibly can as we wait for an update on trying to be obviously as accurate as we possibly can as we wait for an update on his condition. I know Jason's going to stay with us and we thank you for that.