00:00We start this edition with breaking news from the United States.
00:04Conservative U.S. commentator Charlie Kirk has died after being shot in the neck at an event in Utah.
00:10The 31-year-old's death was confirmed by Donald Trump himself, who has decried the incident on social media.
00:16Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University when a single shot reportedly rang out.
00:21One person was taken into custody, but later released. The suspect remains on the loose.
00:26Let's go straight away to France 24's Wasim Kournay.
00:29Wasim, this is a death that will no doubt be reverberating throughout the United States as we speak.
00:36Oh, absolutely. There's been reporting from inside the White House over the past couple of hours
00:40saying how much this has had an impact, a devastating impact on staffers.
00:44People crying, people anxiously trying to make calls to the Charlie Kirk entourage
00:49as he was speaking earlier this early afternoon in Utah.
00:54Trump as well, speaking off the record, saying that he was, or to reporters saying that he was very sad,
01:00saying, quote, that this was one of the most horrific things he'd ever seen, that this happened to a great guy.
01:05And we cannot emphasize how close Charlie Kirk and his entourage were close to the Trump family
01:11and to the administration, very close to one of Donald Trump's sons.
01:15He really was the beating heart of the MAGA movement for several years now as the founder of this conservative action group called Turning Point USA.
01:24He has been holding and organizing rallies, events at locations across the United States, primarily college campuses.
01:31I think it would be a fair analysis to say that the inroads made by the MAGA movement among young men,
01:37among young Gen Z men, is primarily thanks to people like Charlie Kirk, so a hugely influential figure,
01:46you know, a very, very incredible organizer in terms of, and galvanizer of the far-right and conservative movement.
01:54And so, clearly, this is a very difficult day for that part of the United States.
01:59What we're knowing, what we know right now, you know, just an hour ago, we were hearing from the university itself
02:04that a suspect had been in custody.
02:07Now there is a denial, saying we had seen footage of a man being arrested, an older white man being arrested,
02:13detained by police.
02:14Now officials are saying there is no longer a suspect in custody.
02:18That was the wrong person, and there might be a manhunt going on.
02:22And CNN reporting that that shot could have been fired by as much as 200 meters away.
02:28Finally, a word from local politicians, Utah Senator John Curtis, condemning political violence, saying,
02:34quote, this happened in my backyard and this makes it personal.
02:37You mentioned what the university has said, 200 meters away.
02:42It has been reported now by CNN as well.
02:45And I do believe that Charlie Kirk's own family was in attendance at that event.
02:50He does leave behind his wife and two children.
02:52He is only 31 years old.
02:55And this is someone who, as you say, has taken that MAGA movement and really uplifted them
03:02through those younger generations.
03:04Just in terms of the incident itself, what was happening at the time of the shooting
03:08and what was the reaction when it happened?
03:10Well, right.
03:13This event was part of his Great American Comeback Tour, where he was starting to host several
03:20events across college campuses across the United States.
03:23I believe this was the first event of that tour, where he was trying to engage once again,
03:28now that school is back in session here in the U.S., to try to engage with young voters.
03:33And Charlie Kirk, you know, has become very well known for his extremely, extremely controversial
03:40far-right stances, very critical of transgender Americans, critical of the Civil Rights Act
03:47of Martin Luther King, calling vaccine mandates, quote, medical apartheid, saying the famine
03:53in Gaza, for example, was Hamas' fault.
03:56But at the same time, he owned up to these very controversial stances, but was also very
04:01much open to debate.
04:03And part of these events that he would host on college campuses primarily was that he
04:08would engage with people who had opposing views to him.
04:12And that was, again, something that we saw on the event advertisement for this day, saying
04:18if you have different opinions or opposing opinions to Charlie Kirk, you get to jump the
04:24line, come and engage with Charlie Kirk to talk about these opinions.
04:27And that appears to what was happening right before he was shot in the neck.
04:33Somebody asked him about whether he thought there was a disproportionate number of transgender
04:37people among mass shooters.
04:39There was a brief tussle back and forth, as usually happens.
04:43And then that's where that shot rang out and hit Charlie Kirk in the neck and ultimately the
04:49shot that did kill him this Wednesday.
04:52Wasim Kornay there with the updates of the incident that has killed Charlie Kirk, a conservative
04:58commentator dead at the age of 31.
05:00Donald Trump expressing his absolute distress at the news.
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