Justin Hickens says he was standing about 20 yards from Charlie Kirk as the influential conservative activist addressed a large crowd at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Then, in the middle of Kirk’s remarks, Hickens heard "a big loud shot.”
“I saw a bunch of blood come out of Charlie," Hickens told NBC News’ Tom Llamas. "I saw his body kind of kick back and go limp, and everybody dropped to the ground.”
When people realized Kirk had been shot, they started running from the outdoor pavilion area, some knocking over barricades as they fled, Hickens said.
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Hickens is one of scores of people who had gathered to see Kirk, a leading conservative voice and prominent ally of President Donald Trump and who regularly held events on high school and college campuses.
In videos and images posted on social media, attendees can be heard yelling and scrambling for safety. In interviews, students described hearing a booming “pop” noise and seeing a bloodied Kirk fall back in his chair.
Kirk later died at a hospital. He was 31. The shooter remained at large Wednesday night.
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During a news conference hours after the shooting, UVU Police Chief Jeff Long said six police officers were at the event, which had about 3,000 attendees. There were "some plainclothes police officers that were in the crowd as well," he said.
"We train for these things, and you think you have things covered, and these things, unfortunately, they happen," he said. "You try to get your bases covered, and unfortunately, today we didn't. Because of that, we had this tragic incident."
He confirmed that Kirk also had a security team, and Long said he coordinated with Kirk's lead security officer.
Tyler McGettigan, another attendee, told NBC News he was surprised that he wasn't asked to go through security to get in.
The event required a ticket with a scannable code, which McGettigan printed out and brought with him, he said in an interview. But he did not need the ticket to get into the amphitheater where Kirk spoke, McGettigan said.
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“No one checked the barcode or the QR code. There was no checkpoint to get in. It was literally, anyone could walk in if they wanted,” McGettigan said.
Hickens and a third attendee also said there were no metal detectors posted outside.
Jeb Jacobi, a student who volunteered at the event, recalled about two security guards standing near where Kirk would be speaking. Ahead of the event, police cleared protesters who set up on the roof above where Kirk was set to speak. A few other officers were ultimately scattered around the venue during the event as well, he said.
After the shooting, Jacobi said that it took only a few minutes for more officers, plus police with rifles, to respond and help evacuate attendees.
"Orem is a very safe town," he said, referring to the city where the university is located. "We do have officers, but as far as campus safety, there’s never really any sort of violence or anything that ever really happens here."
The city previously had "a very safe feeling to it."
"When you go to the campus, you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness. I feel like it’s almost like home, in a way.’ It feels like something special," Jacobi said.
After the shooting, Jacobi grappled with seeing Kirk collapse and be dragged away by security.
"I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I had just seen a man get shot and die today,'" He said. "It was shocking. It was terrifying. I didn’t know what to do."
A school policy document indicated that a committee in charge of evaluating events completes security assessments for events deemed to be "major." It is unclear if Wednesday's event was classified as a "major event."
Isaac, who did not provide his last name, told NBC News affiliate KSL that there were “no checkpoints, nothing, to get in here.”
He said the scene inside the amphitheater was “surreal.” He said he saw blood “shooting out” of Kirk’s neck as attendees “hit the floor.” He said he and his friends “bolted out of there,” believing a mass shooting may have been underway.
Afton Miller, a 25-year-old UVU student and member of Turning Point USA, Kirk’s conservative political organization, agreed that there didn’t seem to be “a whole lot of security.”
She said she and a friend “just walked in,” and a person who appeared to be a school official told them to “go find a seat, first-come, first-served basis.”
Miller said she was just five to ten feet away from the shooting and said she did not see many police officers when the event began. Kirk appeared to have a private security team, she said.
“We saw his neck get hit, and he immediately jolted his neck back and he fell. Oh, my goodness, it was crazy to see that,” she said.
She recalled law enforcement trying to evacuate the audience after the shot rang out, recalling, "They were like, 'Get out of here. Go, evacuate.'"
"That is sounds you should never hear when you're on campus, especially for school, and especially for a huge event where everyone is so united in such a cause and everything," she said.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Miller said she was trying to tell herself, "It's okay, we'll be fine. God has spared our lives for a reason."
