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NEED TO KNOW
- Conservative pundit Charlie Kirk was shot at event in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, Sept. 10
- The right-wing political commentator was at Utah Valley University with his organization, Turning Point USA, which pushes for conservative politics on college campuses
- Kirk shared photos and video from the event on X shortly before the shooting began
Content warning: The following article contains disturbing descriptions.
Raydon Dechene was in the front row of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk’s presentation at Utah Valley University when gunfire rang out.
“He was in the middle of a sentence,” Dechene, 51, tells PEOPLE. “All of a sudden I heard a pop and I saw his head fall back and blood pouring out of his neck.”
“The shot felt like it was coming from behind me,” adds Dechene, who was on the left side of the platform where Kirk was speaking.
“Everybody ducked and then somebody said, ‘Run!’ ” she says.
“He still had blood running down his neck. I thought for sure it was a one and done shot.”
Kirk was making a presentation at Utah school for his political youth organization, Turning Point USA, when shots rang out.
The 31-year-old right-wing political commentator was speaking in front of a large crowd under a tent with the slogan “The American Comeback” printed on it at about 1 p.m. when gunfire rang out, Turning Point USA confirmed to PEOPLE.
Video circulating on social media appeared to show Kirk being shot, with blood coming out of his neck, as he spoke to the crowd from under a white pop-up tent.
After the shot rang out, the crowd dispersed in a panic, with onlookers shouting “Run, run, run!”
The shooter remains at large, according to authorities.
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Dechene was excited to see Kirk speak, she says.
“I’m sad,” she says. “I hope he pulls through. He has a wife and children.”
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Calling the shooter’s actions “disgusting,” she said, “I don’t care if you don’t agree with someone. You don’t shoot them. Nobody deserves that.”
Kirk shared photos and video from the event on X just moments before the shooting began.
“WE. ARE. SO. BACK. 
. Utah Valley University is FIRED UP and READY for the first stop back on the American Comeback Tour,” he wrote.
PEOPLE reached out to the Utah Valley University Police Department who confirmed “there were shots fired, yes.”
Kirk’s American Comeback Tour is sponsored by his Turning Point USA organization.
The Turning Point USA website states that its mission is “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.”
Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona Congresswoman who was severely wounded in a 2011 assassination attempt, said on social media that violence is never an option, “Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence.”
