Utah Valley University released a 158-page review of security failures around Charlie Kirk’s fatal campus shooting, a report his family’s attorney says confirms the school’s fatal shortcomings.
Utah Valley University made public an independent after-action review of the Sept. 10, 2025, shooting that killed Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk during a public speaking event on its Orem campus. The 158-page report, conducted by the Lake Forest Group and commissioned by the school, catalogs staffing gaps, delayed coordination, and inconsistent use of university policy in the weeks before the event.
Fox News reported that Kirk’s family has already filed a notice of claim against UVU, and family attorney Brett Parkinson said the review backs the core of that legal warning.
“This report reaffirms the facts we laid out in our Notice of Claim: that UVU security was woefully understaffed and unprepared to manage the obvious risks associated with an event of this nature,” Parkinson said.
Prosecutors allege accused shooter Tyler Robinson climbed atop the Losee Center, northeast of the Fountain Courtyard, and fired the shot that struck Kirk in the neck as he spoke on the American Comeback Tour. The report states Robinson had no connection to the school, so post-Virginia Tech internal-threat systems did not apply.
The review walks through major decision points from July 10 through Sept. 9, 2025, and key choices between Aug. 25 and the day of the shooting. On Aug. 25, the outdoor courtyard remained the venue even after UVU officials raised concerns about their ability to control it.
Two days later, on Aug. 27, the event was approved without a documented security assessment plan. Campus police and TPUSA security did not hold their first direct security coordination until Sept. 3, a full week before Kirk’s appearance.
That sequence sits at the center of the family’s case, which has already been tracked as the Kirk family moved to sue Utah Valley University over security failures that preceded the shooting. Parkinson put the duty squarely on the host.
“UVU hosted this event, and in doing so, assumed responsibility for the safety of all in attendance, including Charlie,” he said. “The buck stopped with UVU leadership and law enforcement.”
On Sept. 8, TPUSA organizers raised concerns about rooftop access above the speaking area. The family’s notice of claim identified the Sorensen Center rooftop as a worry. The fatal shot, prosecutors say, came from the Losee Center rooftop instead.
The report describes a series of texts that day and on Sept. 10 between UVU Police Chief Jeffrey Long and TPUSA security supervisor Dan Flood. Flood texted that TPUSA security personnel had arrived on campus. Long replied, “We got you covered.”
According to the review, that message referred to the Hall of Flags outdoor pedestrian walkway above the canopy where Kirk would speak, the primary focus of TPUSA’s security attention. The walkway was closed for the event. TPUSA security never met university police in person.
The report also found no one in the university police department was assigned to monitor campus security cameras. Security for a high-profile outdoor event, it concluded, was insufficient. UVU’s application of its own policies “was significantly inconsistent.”
Those findings land alongside separate court developments in the criminal case, including reporting on how DNA from Tyler Robinson and another individual appeared on key evidence, as prosecutors build their account of the shooting.
The Lake Forest Group identified 10 key findings aimed at improving security for future events. It recommended reevaluating staffing levels and training given the university’s size and risk profile. It did not stop at process notes. It described a campus unprepared for the obvious profile of the guest and the setting.
At the same time, the review concluded that no one at UVU acted “in bad faith or in willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others.” That line draws a sharp legal boundary. It does not erase the staffing holes, the missing camera assignment, the late coordination, or the approval of an outdoor courtyard event without a documented security assessment.
UVU President Jon Anderson, in a statement released on his behalf, struck a forward-looking tone. “September 10 will always be part of UVU’s history, but it will not define our future,” he said. “Our responsibility is to care for our community, 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.”
A university spokesperson said the school would offer no further comment beyond that statement.
Parkinson was not satisfied. “Justice for Charlie and his family requires true accountability for UVU’s fatal shortcomings that day,” he said. The notice of claim, filed the week before his Friday comments to Fox News Digital, frames the shooting as a failure of preparation by the institution that invited the crowd and controlled the grounds.
Strip away the institutional language and the calendar is plain. Outdoor venue kept despite control concerns. Event approved without a written security assessment. First real coordination with the visiting security team a week out. Rooftop access flagged two days before the event. No officer dedicated to the camera feeds. A reassurance text about a closed walkway while the fatal shot, prosecutors say, came from a different rooftop.
Kirk was not a low-profile visitor. He was the face of Turning Point USA, appearing in an open courtyard on a national tour. The report’s own findings say security did not match that reality. Taxpayers and students fund campus police departments precisely so high-risk public events do not run on hope and last-minute texts.
The family’s legal track has continued in parallel with public mourning and case milestones, including coverage of how the Kirk family moved to sue over security failures before the fatal shooting and later moments when Erika Kirk spoke out after a grueling stretch at the suspect’s preliminary hearing.
Robinson’s case has moved through the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, with hearing activity noted in December 2025 and a preliminary hearing marked in July 2026. The criminal process will test the state’s proof against the accused. The civil notice targets the university’s choices before a single shot was fired.
Turning Point USA has also kept the date on the calendar in its own way, including plans tied to a memorial at Utah Valley University marking time since the killing. Memory does not substitute for standards. A 158-page review that admits insufficient security and inconsistent policy still leaves the accountability question to courts, trustees, and the public that pays the bills.
When a university hosts a major political speaker outdoors, closes one walkway, skips camera monitoring, and green-lights the event without a documented security plan, “we got you covered” is not a plan, and families left behind are right to demand more than a report that scolds process while protecting the institution from the hardest judgment.
