The fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk puts the scrutiny of the security of the University of Utah Valley

The fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk has put in scrutiny of the University of Utah Valley (UVU), since security experts said that the scenario location for the outdoor event where the conservative commentator was attacked was particularly vulnerable, and questioned why metal detectors were not instead and that the bags were not apparently verified.

More than 3,000 people were present on Wednesday when Kirk, 31, CEO and co -founder of the Turning Point USA conservative organization, spoke in an outdoor patio on the OREM campus, Utah, which is located in the lower part of an area in the form of a bowl surrounded by buildings, law officials said.

A gunman shot the deadly shot to Kirk with a rifle of high power from the roof of a campus that built at a substantial distance where Kirk was talking, hitting him in the throat, the authorities said.

The suspect of the shooting, identified as Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested Friday night after his father recognized him for surveillance and video images published by researchers, authorities said.

“This is the nightmare of a police chief,” Chief Jeff Long of the Police Department of the Utah Valley University Campus said Wednesday at a press conference on Wednesday.

Witnesses told ABC News that the event was not only open to students on campus, but also the general public.

Long said he worked with Kirk’s private security team to establish security protocols for the event, which was the first stop on a national tour of the university campus that Kirk launched, called American Comeback Tour.

“We work together. He has his team and do this throughout the country. We all know it. It’s not uncommon for them. They are very comfortable on campus. And I was coordinating with their main security type,” Long said.

Turning Point USA did not respond to a request for ABC News comments.

Long said that six campus police officers were working on the event, including some in plains that were monitoring the crowd.

“We train for these things, and you think you have covered things, and these things, unfortunately, happen,” Long said. “You try to cover your bases and, unfortunately, today [Wednesday] We did not do it. Therefore, we have this tragic incident. “

But several witnesses who attended the event told ABC News that there seemed to be little or no security at all.

“We entered, it surprised us a little because there was no security check. They did not check us by identification. They did not pat.

Justin Hicken, who also attended the event, said he was also surprised by the apparent lack of security.

“I simply followed the crowd to some of the campus buildings and … Once you went through the campus buildings, it opens to a patio where the stage or the amphitheater falls like a well,” Hicken told ABC News, adding that he was not scrutinized by any security when he reached the free event.

He said that while the crowd was mainly composed of people of university age, “there were people of all ages there.”

“There were older people with walkers, there were children, there were families. It was a large group,” said Hicken. “I would say that it was probably about 97% or 98% Pro-Charlie. There were some people who could say that they were in opposition to being there, but for the most part, it was a very pro-chalie crowd.”

Before the event, an online petition was distributed asking school officials to prevent Kirk from talking on the UVU campus. The request declared in part that “Charlie Kirk is known for his divisive rhetoric that often supports policies and laws that are not inclusive and can marginalize several communities.” The petition gathered more than 900 signatures.

“We affirm our commitment to freedom of expression, intellectual research and constructive dialogue,” said the university in a statement of September 3 in response to the petition. “The university respects the rights of clubs and student organizations to invite several speakers to the campus. As a public institution, UVU defends the rights of the first amendment and encourages an environment where ideas, popular or controversial, can be freely exchanged, vigorously and civilly.”

However, Don Mihalek, a special senior agent for the United States Secret Service and ABC news collaborator, questioned the location of the stage with roofs of buildings that surround the area where Kirk was shot, since President Donald Trump was shot on July 13, 2024, a campaign concentration in an outdoor place in Butler, Pennsylvania, by a man who shot From Rooftop 400 feet from where I was talking about Rooftop from where I was talking at the outdoor campaign.

The researchers said the gun that shot Kirk fired a .30-06 oldest caliber rifle from the roof of a building and seemed to have a clear line of vision where Kirk was sitting under a shadow canopy to more than 100 yards away.

“The location of the event was in the middle of a quad of the university, it sounds like, which was surrounded by high buildings, which have line of vision,” Mihalek said.

Mihalek added: “In my opinion, at present, you cannot make adequate advanced planning for an event, especially an outdoor event, and take into account all standard security measures for an event.”

Mihalek said that previous planning for possible security problems, including the control of access to the event, line of vision and monitoring of the crowd, “everything has to bake in the event planning process.”

Robert Boyce, the remote head of the New York Police Department and ABC news collaborator, said that from the point of view of security, the outdoor place should never have been chosen for an event with such a controversial speaker.

Boyce also said that the place for the event should not have been outdoors.

“For a controversial person who speaks in any way, with any type of request, any external threat that we do not know at this time, it really cannot have it outside,” Boyce said. “You have to have a door to control and that is important, especially in these times. We are really at a different point of our history that is really difficult to believe. But you want to control that door. In this way, you know who is inside and you can walk and see and identify anyone who is acting out of place.”

Boyce also questioned why the event opened to the general public.

“It is inexplicable for me why a university would let external people enter and see this on their campus, and that has to be answered,” Boyce said.

In response to the questions raised about the security plan for the event, said a University spokesman for ABC News: “I can’t answer those details at this time.”

The University spokesman directed ABC News to a page on the school website Answering some frequent questions about the Charlie Kirk event. According to the question, “what security measures were taken?” The website establishes that “Kirk’s main security personnel coordinated with UVU police chief Jeff Long, regarding security measures,” echoing the Long Chief Declaration during the September 10 press conference.

The website page also said that Kirk had previously visited the school with Turning Point USA in 2019.

The UTAH Higher Education Board, the Governing Body of the Utah Higher Education System, which is composed of 16 public schools and universities, including UVU, issued a statement last week, saying that “it will continue working with state leaders to identify ways to keep our campus safe and welcoming for all.”

The statement added: “We firmly believe that Utah campuses must remain in places where people can share and discuss different points of view in an open and respectful way. Attempts to reduce that freedom do not take place here and we will continue working to ensure that our students, teachers and visitors feel safe to express themselves.”