Turning Point USA held its first event in Utah since the assassination of founder and CEO Charlie Kirk.
Tuesday’s event was held at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. The college is located approximately 121 miles north of where Kirk was murdered on Sept. 10, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. However, the event did not come without a security scare. A suspicious device was found before the event started. An evacuation at the college was ordered for precautionary measures, the university said. Local law enforcement officials investigated the device, and the bomb squad was dispatched to detonate it. An “all-clear” was given hours before the event began.
“A suspicious device was found near the exterior of Old Main,” the university said in a message to students and faculty. “University and Local law enforcement were dispatched to the scene. A device was located and deemed to be a non-explosive device. Out of an abundance of caution, the bomb squad detonated the suspicious device. Old Main building is now clear and safe. All scheduled events may resume as normal.”
“The situation is under investigation, and we expect to provide more information in the coming days,” Utah State University administrators noted. “At this time, we do not believe it was an intentional threat or related to the TPUSA event.”
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Utah State University announced it would increase security efforts for the Turning Point USA event before the suspicious device incident.
“With respect to the original events TPUSA had scheduled on our campus, USU Public Safety began planning immediately upon notification that one of our student clubs had extended the invitation to them,” said Amanda DeRito, associate vice president for strategic communications.
“USU works diligently to protect the safety of our community and has a robust plan that is evaluated routinely,” DeRito said. “Even during times without heightened safety concerns, Utah State’s Department of Public Safety collaborates with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to ensure security measures at campus events are planned and staffed according to industry best practices, including a thorough comprehensive threat assessment, detailed security planning, deployment of a diverse array of security assets, effective crowd management, close protection for the speaker, clear communication and coordination, and readiness for crisis response.”
Former Utah GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz stressed the importance of security for the event. Chaffetz was at Utah Valley University when Kirk was murdered. He spoke with a local ABC affiliate ahead of the event.
“Political violence, unfortunately, is real,” Chaffetz said. “I mean, we saw the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we saw a bombing of an LDS temple, although that may not have been political as much as religious, we saw the assassination attempt of President Trump twice.”
“We shouldn’t be like this, he added. “We expect more, but I’m glad to see law enforcement stepping up. I think everybody can take a deep breath and say, ‘Hey, they’re on top of it.’”
Alex Clark, a conservative podcast host connected to Turning Point USA, was the first speaker at the Utah State University event. She provided a motivational speech announcing that the organization would move forward and “pass the torch.”
“If you are expecting a funeral, if you came to mourn the death of America, the death of masculinity and femininity, of faith, of truth, then you are at the wrong event,” Clark said. “It’s not over. It is not even close.”
“I’m not here to eulogize Charlie Kirk” but to “pass the torch on to every single one of you,” Clark said.
It was the third overall event since Kirk’s death for Turning Point, with previous stops at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, on Sept. 22, and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, on Sept. 24. The organization will have its next event on Oct. 7 at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana.
