Information moves fast, but the internet moves faster. Sometimes, it moves so fast that reality gets tangled up in a web of viral clips, misleading headlines, and genuine tragedy. If you’ve been searching for the video of the Charlie Kirk shot, you’re likely seeing two very different worlds.
One world is a weirdly persistent meme from late 2024 involving a basketball. The other is a grim, heavy piece of American history from September 2025.
Sorting through the noise is exhausting. You’ve probably seen the grainy footage or the heated Twitter threads. Honestly, it’s a lot to take in. Here is the breakdown of what those videos actually show and why they’re still circulating today.
The Utah Event: What the Shooting Video Actually Shows
On September 10, 2025, the political landscape in America shifted. Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem. He was doing what he always did—holding a handheld mic, taking questions from a crowd of students, and debating policy.
Then a single shot rang out.
If you’ve seen the footage, it’s jarring. Unlike many "viral" videos that turn out to be staged or edited, this was captured from multiple angles by students holding their phones. One specific video, which circulated on X (formerly Twitter) almost immediately, shows Kirk mid-sentence. He reaches for his neck as a shot from a nearby rooftop strikes him.
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The crowd doesn't react instantly. There’s a half-second of stunned silence before the screaming starts.
Law enforcement later confirmed the shot was fired from a building about 200 yards away. It wasn't a "basketball shot" or a prank. It was an assassination. The FBI and local Utah authorities eventually released their own "video of the Charlie Kirk shot" suspect—a grainy clip of a person of interest jumping from a roof and fleeing the scene.
The Basketball Clip: Why People Are Confused
There is a lighter, much more "internet-brained" reason why people search for this keyword. Before the tragic events in Utah, a video went viral in December 2024 showing a man who looked remarkably like Charlie Kirk playing basketball.
In the clip, the man misses a shot, the ball bounces off the rim, and then it rebounds directly into his face. It’s a classic slapstick fail.
Social media went wild. People were convinced it was Kirk. "I can see why he's so miserable," one user joked. But here’s the thing: it wasn't him.
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The video actually belonged to a man named Zach Hand. It was originally posted on TikTok by an account called @Toritoritori years prior, but it got recycled by political accounts to mock Kirk. Because that "shot" (the basketball kind) was so famous in early 2025, it created a massive amount of search confusion when the actual, violent "shot" happened later that year.
Content Moderation and the "Grisly" Loop
When the September 2025 video hit the web, social media platforms didn't know how to handle it. Meta (Facebook and Instagram) applied warning labels but didn't initially take it down, citing "newsworthiness."
TikTok tried to be more proactive, but the video of the Charlie Kirk shot kept reappearing in "Live" feeds.
Many people saw the footage without wanting to. It was autoplaying. It was being sent in group chats. The CBC and Associated Press noted that while traditional news outlets were careful not to show the moment of impact, the raw, unedited footage was viewed by millions within hours.
Behind the Legacy: More Than Just a Clip
To understand why these videos caused such a firestorm, you have to look at Kirk’s role in the 2024 election. He wasn't just a talking head. He was a massive force in ground-game organizing.
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Vice President JD Vance actually helped transfer Kirk’s casket to Air Force Two, and Donald Trump eventually awarded him a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.
For his supporters, the video is a martyrdom. For his critics, it’s a flashpoint for discussing the volatility of modern political discourse. Even the NBA got involved when a league employee was suspended for mocking the shooting on social media. It was—and is—a mess of high emotions and digital fingerprints.
What You Should Know Now
If you are looking for the video today, be aware that many links claiming to show "new angles" are actually malware or "screamers" designed to shock you.
- The Basketball Fail: That’s Zach Hand, not Charlie Kirk.
- The Utah Footage: This is graphic, real, and subject to intense moderation.
- The Suspect Video: The FBI released specific footage of a "college-age" person fleeing the rooftop.
It’s rare that a single search term covers both a slapstick sports fail and a national tragedy. Basically, the internet has a very long memory and a very short attention span, leading to these two events being forever linked in Google's search results.
If you're following the legal aftermath, the most reliable updates come from the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office rather than social media accounts promising "leaked" footage. Stick to verified news sources to avoid the misinformation that still surrounds the shooting.
Check the FBI's official portal for any updated "person of interest" videos if you believe you have information regarding the events in Orem.