Turning Point USA Utah stop draws bomb‑squad response
Nearly three weeks after Charlie Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination, Turning Point USA held its first Utah event at Utah State University on Sept. 30, 2025; campus police and the bomb squad detonated a suspicious device (deemed non‑explosive), and security was sharply heightened — rooftop snipers, drones, K9 units, metal detectors and bag checks — as hundreds of attendees and political figures attended the rally.
Politics
Public Safety
Education
🔍 Key Facts
- A suspicious device was located on Utah State’s campus the afternoon of Sept. 30, 2025 and was detonated by the bomb squad; authorities later called it a non‑explosive device.
- The Turning Point USA 'This Is The Turning Point' campus stop marked the group’s first Utah event since Charlie Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination.
- Security measures for the USU event included officers stationed at every corner, snipers on multiple rooftops, drone surveillance, K9 units, metal detectors, bag checks and a strict no re‑entry policy; attendees included Gov. Spencer Cox, Rep. Andy Biggs, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Alex Clark.
📍 Contextual Background
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the investigation, described the incident as an act of targeted violence, and sent about 100 federal agents to Grand Blanc Township.
- As of 2025-09-29 at least four people were killed and eight were wounded in the attack on the Grand Blanc Township church.
- Officers were on scene within 30 seconds of a 911 call, and two officers pursued the attacker after he left the church and fatally shot him about eight minutes later in an exchange of gunfire.
- Law enforcement agencies respond to active shooter incidents and may engage and neutralize suspects at the scene.
- The church attack was the second mass shooting in the United States in less than 24 hours; a separate Saturday-night attack in Southport, North Carolina involved a shooter firing from a boat into a crowd, killing three and wounding five.