A Beverly Hills security specialist told the Daily Mail he warned conservative activist Charlie Kirk six months before the Turning Point USA founder was fatally shot while speaking at a Utah college rally.
Kris Herzog, owner of The Bodyguard Group of Beverly Hills, said he spoke with Kirk at a March 6 event at California State University and urged him to adopt more stringent security measures for future university appearances. Kirk was shot in the neck Wednesday afternoon while addressing an audience about mass shootings at Utah Valley University and died at a local hospital less than five hours later, authorities said.
Herzog said officers who work with his firm had been concerned about Kirk’s frequent campus appearances and growing public profile and advised him to reach out. "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," Herzog told the Daily Mail. He said he recommended portable B7-level ballistic glass panels to protect against potential sniper attacks, hiring off-duty police officers to secure likely vantage points, and screening attendees with metal detectors and handheld wands within 700 feet of speaking areas.
A colleague of Herzog’s, Mark Wilson, said he also spoke directly with Kirk at the March rally. "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 bullet proof vest," Wilson told the Daily Mail. Herzog said Kirk promised to consider the recommendations and follow up; Herzog said he never heard back.
Video released after the shooting showed a figure on a rooftop moments before the attack and then running as people fled the area, according to local reports. Witnesses and attendees described minimal security at the Utah Valley University event, which officials said drew about 3,000 people. "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," attendee Tyler McGettigan told NBC News. He said his scannable ticket was not checked on entry.
Another attendee, Justin Hickens, said there were no metal detectors at the entrance and that only a small group of personnel was stationed near Kirk. Raydon Dechene told CNN there were no bag checks and that the overall security presence "felt off." University Police Chief Jeff Long described the venue as "in kind of a bowl area here on the central campus," with Kirk positioned in a lower section surrounded by buildings. In addition to Kirk’s personal security team, plainclothes officers were reportedly present inside the crowd. Long confirmed that just six uniformed officers were assigned to the campus event.
Authorities have detained and questioned more than one person in the hours after the shooting. Officials later said 71-year-old George Zinn, who was taken into custody immediately after the attack, was not the shooter. Another man, Zachariah Qureshi, was also detained and later released. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are assisting local police in the search for the gunman.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox called the slaying a "political assassination" and said the individual responsible could face the death penalty. Local and federal investigators have not announced a confirmed motive or identified the shooter publicly.
Herzog’s firm has worked with high-profile clients, and he told the Daily Mail that the lack of follow-up from Kirk now "haunts" him. The exchange underscores the security challenges posed by high-profile speaking events on college campuses, where open settings and dense crowds can complicate threat assessment and protective planning.
University officials said they had trained for various scenarios and were reviewing what happened at the event. Chief Long acknowledged that, despite preparations, the response had been insufficient. Investigators continue to comb video and witness accounts as they seek to locate the person who fired the shots and determine the sequence of events leading up to the attack.