Utah student who had last conversation with Charlie Kirk speaks out

The student who was in the midst of questioning Charlie Kirkwhen he was shot has recalled the moment of horror when the bullets struck.

Charlie Kirk was fatally shot as he was debating with studentsat Utah Valley University about gun violence. At the time of the shooting he was speaking to Hunter Kozak, a 29-year-old philosophy and mathematics education student.

Mr Kozak said that he didn't immediately think the sound he heard was a gunshot, but the horrifying reality of the situation became clear when he saw Kirk bleeding from his neck. He said: "My brain immediately went: drop to the floor. Then I thought: That is an assassination. He was the target. It was right on point. Charlie is dead."

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Speaking to the Washington Post, Mr Kozak said he had been moved to the front of the queue when organisers realised he had left-wing views. He was surrounded by students who had queued for over an hour for the chance to debate Kirk, saying that students reassured one another before crouching and trying to get away from the tent.

The 29-year-old is part of a group called the “Unf**k America Tour” that brings Democratic content creators to Turning Point events to debate, make viral videos and encourage voter registration. Kozak said he was cautious at first, avoiding calls and texts from people who recognised him from videos of the event, he said. He worried that once people realised that he was a liberal activist, he and his family would become a target for conspiracy theorists.

The activist and content creator made a video on Thursday to counter online speculation that he had in some way been involved in a conspiracy to hurt Kirk. In a video posted on TikTok he opens by saying “I don’t know how to make this video. It’s been a rough 24 hours.”

He goes on to explain the context in which he was at the event, to challenge Charlie Kirk in a debate on his claims around transgender people’s role in mass shootings in the US. In a chilling final exchange, the student had asked Kirk: "Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?"

"Too many", Kirk responded. Mr Kozak replied saying there had been five before asking: "Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?"

"Counting or not counting gang violence?" Kirk responded in what ended up being his final words. Just second later, he was hit in the neck by a bullet and dropped to the floor.

Mr Kozak blasted those praising shooter, saying: “You sick f**kin' psychos that think this is the answer, its not.” In his video, Mr Kozak said: "Charlie had two kids and a wife, and not to make this about me, but I have two kids and a wife. It's a tragedy and it's hard to grapple with."

"His one-year-old boy will grow up without memories of his dad," he added. He went on to say: “I’m on the record for how much I disagree with Charlie Kirk but he’s still a human being."

“One of the things that he stood by was conversation,” he said this was one of the few points they could agree on. “Charlie clearly believed in strong debate and argumentation with people who disagreed with him,” he told the Washington Post.

“I wanted to meet him because I think a lot of people don’t engage in conversation — especially with people that I see or interact with. Their version of changing people’s minds is just protesting or shouting platitudes and sometimes violence. And I think I went there because I don’t see that as the path forward. I’m devastated, and my heart goes so much out to his family. I found out he had kids right after the fact,” he said.