UVU's 'I got you covered' was a lie that killed Charlie Kirk
By Aoife Gallagher · Reporting from Dublin ·
When a state institution tells a citizen—regardless of how polarizing that citizen may be—that they are safe, and then fails to perform the most basic duties of security, it is…
# The High Ground: Institutional Failure at UVU
A state institution promised a citizen safety and then failed to provide it. When the government tells a person they are secure and then ignores the basic duties of protection, it breaks its promise. The assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University (UVU) did not have to happen; the university failed so fundamentally that it abandoned its basic duty to the public.
"I Got You Covered"
Reports from ABC News and Fox News show a security operation that collapsed before it began. Charlie Kirk, 31, spoke to a crowd the size of a small college campus when Tyler Robinson fired from the rooftop of the Losee Center for Student Success. The distance was roughly 140 yards—a clear line of sight that a competent security detail would have closed immediately.
The failure began with a text message. A Turning Point USA official warned UVU Police Chief Jeffrey Long that students could access the roof near Kirk’s podium. Long replied: "I got you covered."
When a state official gives that assurance, he assumes the risk. Yet UVU assigned only six campus police officers to the event. That is one in four of the university's total force. Chief Long later said "these things, unfortunately, they happen," but there is nothing unfortunate about ignoring a specific warning. Security monitors showed the assassin running across a roof to a concrete ledge—a "sniper's pad"—in real-time, yet the officers did not react.
Why did the university ignore the roof?
The Kirk family alleges the university placed him in an "exposed fishbowl" on the open quad. By approving an outdoor location without scouting the surrounding heights, UVU created the conditions for the murder.
Some argue that no security team can stop a determined lone wolf. They claim the state cannot pay for every freak occurrence in an era of political volatility. This argument fails because security does not require predicting the soul of an assassin; it requires denying that assassin a vantage point.
This pattern of ignoring the obvious repeats throughout history. In 2011, security failed to protect Gabriel Sanders, and in 2024, a gunman nearly killed Donald Trump from a nearby roof. The Trump attempt should have ended the "unpredictable" argument. A rooftop sniper is the most textbook threat in public security. To ignore that precedent while hosting a high-profile target like Kirk was reckless.
The Cost of Silence
The failure mirrors the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In Dallas, the failure to secure the Texas School Book Depository allowed Lee Harvey Oswald to fire from above. The lesson of 1963 was that the high ground is the primary vulnerability of any public figure. UVU ignored that lesson despite a direct warning.
A year later, the university holds a report from an independent review that cost nearly a quarter-million dollars. Former President Astrid Tuminez promised the review would provide insights, but the university has not released the document. When the state spends that much money to investigate its own failure and then hides the results, it is shielding itself from lawsuits rather than seeking accountability.
The legal path for Erika Kirk and her children is straightforward. The state of Utah lured a man into a kill zone by assuring his team that the rooftops were secure while the police ignored their own cameras.
Justice in these cases is not about the money, though the wrongful death claims will be large. It is about the record. If a state university can ignore security warnings and then bury the investigation, the rules only apply when they suit the powerful. The "I got you covered" text was a promise; the blood on the quad is the price of that lie. UVU and the State of Utah must pay for this failure, not because of who Charlie Kirk was, but because of what the state promised to be.
Sources
- ABC News: Charlie Kirk's family signals intent to sue, alleges 'stunning failures'
- Fox News: Charlie Kirk's family alleges UVU knew of rooftop security risk before his assassination: legal filing
- The Salt Lake Tribune: Charlie Kirk’s family says UVU put him in an exposed ‘fishbowl’ before he was shot. Now they want to sue.