Charlie Kirk’s family said Utah leaders are to blame for “a series of stunning failures and reckless decisions” that left Kirk exposed to a gunman on a nearby rooftop, according to a new notice of claim.
The eight-page document accuses university leaders of failing to act on a tip that a rooftop near Kirk’s event posed a security risk.
“His murder was entirely preventable and, in fact, would not have happened had the State of Utah and UVU followed through on their stated security promises,” Brett Parkinson, counsel for the Kirk Family, said Sept. 16 in a written statement.
A year after Phoenix-based Turning Point USA's co-founder was killed by an assassin’s bullet during an outdoor Turning Point event in Utah, the Kirk family took the first step
toward filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the state and university campus where he died.
The Kirk family filed the notice of claim against the state of Utah, Utah Valley University and the Utah Valley University Police Department.
Utah Valley University Police Chief Jeffrey Long and former Utah Valley University President Astrid Tuminez also were named in the notice of claim. Tuminez stepped down from the role in May 2026.
“Through a series of stunning failures and reckless decisions, the UVU Parties created a foreseeable danger to Charlie. Those decisions ultimately rendered Mr. Kirk helpless to the rooftop shooter in an assassination that could have been avoided had the UVU Parties only taken reasonable steps to plan and oversee a safe event,” the filing read.
Kirk was killed while debating college students during a Turning Point event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. The 31-year-old conservative activist was sitting under an outdoor tent when a bullet struck his neck.
Prosecutors allege that Utah man Tyler Robinson fired the fatal shot from a nearby rooftop. Robinson has pleaded not guilty in the case and is awaiting trial.
The notice of claim is not a lawsuit. Instead, it is a precursor to filing a lawsuit against a government. People named as part of the claim include Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, their two young children and Kirk’s parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk.
“This claim preserves the right of Charlie Kirk’s family to pursue accountability for Charlie’s death,” Parkinson said.
A spokesperson for UVU acknowledged the notice, which was addressed to the Utah Attorney General’s Office on Sept. 9.
“We are aware of the notice of claim. UVU addresses legal matters consistent with our established processes. Our focus remains on supporting our campus community,” Utah Valley University spokesperson Sharon Turner said in an email.
Family accuses UVU chief of disregarding tip
The notice of claim lays out several areas where Kirk’s family believes university leaders failed to protect him.
Most crucially, the family accused the school of dismissing a warning that Kirk could be vulnerable to an attack from rooftops on campus. They tied the risk to an assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in 2024.
“The risk of a rooftop shooter should have been especially top-of-mind given the attempted assassination of President Trump, Charlie Kirk’s close friend and political ally, by a rooftop shooter the previous year,” the notice read.
Kirk’s family said a representative from Turning Point texted Long, the police chief, that a student group had warned that a rooftop close to Kirk’s event was easily accessible. Turning Point had asked that Long either control access to the roof or allow one of Kirk’s security guards there.
Long told Turning Point, “I got you covered,” according to the notice. Kirk’s security team took that to mean that UVU had a plan to address the risk and that “Long took responsibility to secure that risk,” the notice of claim said.
The Kirk family pointed to other failures in the leadup to Kirk’s assassination. The university police department did not have a written security plan for the Turning Point event on campus, Kirk’s family said, and did not hold a security briefing before the event.
Long acknowledged the security shortcomings in remarks to reporters after Kirk was killed.
“This is a police chief’s nightmare,” Long said in September 2025. “You try to get your bases covered, and unfortunately today we didn’t, and because of that we had this tragic incident.”
The family also criticized the university for allowing Kirk, a political figure known for his inflammatory views, to appear at an outdoor venue without sufficient security resources.
University police assigned six police officers to the 3,000-person event, according to the claim. The family accused Tuminez of denying Long’s request for more officers.“Placing a politically controversial figure like Charlie Kirk in an outdoor event in the quad surrounded by tall buildings and other elevated observation platforms is accurately described as walking him into a fishbowl,” the claim read.
Utah Valley University police did not request backup from local police in Orem until after Kirk was killed, the claim said.
“Planning was so deficient that when Mr. Kirk was shot first responders were not available and Mr. Kirk was transported to Timpanogos Regional Hospital in a private vehicle, not an ambulance,” the notice of claim said.
Though Kirk traveled with his own security team, Turning Point “lacked power” to take certain measures that the university should have handled, the notice said.
The school did not limit the number of attendees, create a secure perimeter around the event with physical barriers or use metal detectors and other “common sense safety measures.”
Additionally, Kirk’s family said the university did not monitor CCTV security footage during the event and missed crucial moments that have since been replayed in court, such as the alleged shooter “running across the roof” of a building to a “sniper’s nest.”
“If such footage had been monitored in real-time, Kirk’s tragic death could have been avoided,” the notice said. “Tragically, the UVU Parties took none of these safety measures — steps only they had the authority to take — resulting in a situation that rendered Mr. Kirk helpless before his assassin.”
Taken together, Kirk’s family said that UVU left him exposed to danger that ultimately led to his death.
“Those failures not only robbed Charlie Kirk of his life, but also robbed his family of their husband, father, son, and brother, with impacts that will compound for the rest of their lives,” Parkinson said.
Stephanie Murray covers national politics and the Trump administration for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She co-hosts “The Gaggle,” The Republic’s weekly politics podcast. Reach her at stephanie.murray@usatodayco.com, on X and TikTok @stephanie_murr and on Instagram @stephaniemurray.news.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Stunning failures' left Charlie Kirk exposed to gunman, family says
