Report: TPUSA ‘said it would control ticketing’ but never gave UVU attendance figure

An independent 158-page report released Friday and commissioned by Utah Valley University concluded that no university employee acted in bad faith before Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at the Orem, Utah campus on September 10, 2025, the Guardian reported. But Kirk family attorney Brett Parkinson rejected that conclusion on Friday, saying UVU “assumed responsibility” for the safety of those in attendance and citing “fatal shortcomings” in the university’s response.

Kirk’s family is preparing a wrongful-death lawsuit against UVU.

The report examined security procedures in the weeks before Kirk, 31, was killed by a sniper in the early afternoon of September 10, 2025, during a talk at UVU’s campus in Orem, Utah. According to the report, UVU staff recommended TPUSA move the event to a more secure location weeks before the shooting. TPUSA “insisted upon” an outdoor location that “created significant protective operations considerations,” the report said.

The report described a missed pre-event coordination opportunity. A face-to-face briefing and walkthrough with UVU police chief Jeff Long and the TPUSA protection detail — including the organization’s security supervisor Dan Flood — “should also have occurred” on UVU’s campus hours before the event, the report said. “Chief Long texted Dan Flood to meet on the Hall of Flags outdoor pedestrian walkway at 11 a.m., however, this face-to-face meeting did not occur,” the report added.

UVU also asked TPUSA for an estimated attendance figure. The organization never provided one, despite saying it would control ticketing for the event, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The report said “several key event security decisions were deferred to the TPUSA field representative even though UVU staff members raised concerns, including concerns related to holding the event in the outdoor fountain courtyard area and using TPUSA’s ticketing process.” Those decisions “placed the event in an area that was more difficult to control and limited UVU’s ability to obtain reliable, real-time information regarding anticipated attendance and crowd size,” the report added.

The report recommended that “UVU should have retained decision-making authority over key security-related issues, including venue selection, ticketing, access control and other conditions necessary to support campus safety.”

The report’s bad-faith conclusion read: “Based on our review of all available information, that at no time during the events leading up to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, or in its aftermath, did any employee or agent of UVU act in bad faith or in willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others.”

Parkinson responded: “UVU hosted this event, and in doing so, assumed responsibility for the safety of all in attendance, including Charlie. The buck stopped with UVU leadership and law enforcement. Justice for Charlie and his family requires true accountability for UVU’s fatal shortcomings that day.”

UVU President Jon Anderson, who became the university’s president in August, said the university had a responsibility to “learn from the findings of this review, and follow through on its recommendations.” “This requires humility, an honest examination of our policies and practices, and a commitment to act on what we learn,” Anderson’s statement also said. Anderson added that UVU had made “meaningful progress in strengthening campus safety over the past year.”

The family’s planned lawsuit was foreshadowed in a September 16 legal notice, which alleged that UVU had placed “a politically controversial figure like Charlie Kirk in an outdoor event … surrounded by tall buildings and other elevated observation platforms” — a setup the family compared to “walking him into a fishbowl.” UVU said it was aware of the notice and that it “addresses legal matters consistent with our established processes,” according to the Tribune.

Utah resident Tyler Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder in connection with Kirk’s killing. He has pleaded not guilty, and no trial date had been set as of Friday.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.