A shocking independent review reveals Utah Valley University originally planned to staff the outdoor event where Charlie Kirk was assassinated with just three police officers, despite thousands of attendees and obvious security risks.
The 157-page report from the Illinois-based Lake Forest Group, released Friday, exposes a cascade of security failures that the Kirk family says rendered the Turning Point USA founder “helpless to the rooftop shooter in an assassination that could have been avoided.”
Only after observing the massive crowd did UVU Police Chief Jeff Long request additional help, eventually bringing the total to six campus officers, or just a quarter of the full UVU police force. According to the Kirk family’s notice of impending legal action, Chief Long had sought approval for more officers from then-university President Astrid Tuminez, but the request was denied.
The consultants found no evidence that UVU employees acted in “bad faith or in willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others.” But the report documents serious security gaps and a failure by officials to follow their own policies.
Perhaps most alarming: on the day a rooftop assassin took aim at one of America’s most prominent young conservative voices, no one was assigned to monitor security camera feeds in real time. “No individual had been specifically assigned to monitor relevant camera feeds in real-time for event security purposes,” the report states.
The review also exposes failures in coordination with outside law enforcement. While UVU had access to local, state, and federal resources, “those resources were not fully integrated into pre-event planning.” Two plainclothes officers from Utah State University were present, but only in an observational capacity. They were there to prepare for Kirk’s scheduled appearance at their campus later that month.
The report recommends UVU conduct a formal staffing analysis and address “staffing limitations through advanced planning, mutual aid agreements, and coordination with nearby law enforcement partners or university police agencies.” Consultants urged the university to consider whether its staffing plans “provide sufficient fixed-post coverage and mobile response capacity.”
