Calling Charlie Kirk’s death at Utah Valley University “entirely preventable,” his family says he wouldn’t have been shot and killed last year had the university put in place tighter security protocols.

Attorneys representing Kirk’s family made the allegations in a notice of claim dated September 9, marking the first time they have publicly blamed the university in his death. And while it’s not a lawsuit, the notice is a required step in Utah to bring a viable suit against a “governmental entity” such as a public university.

“Through a series of stunning failures and reckless decisions, the UVU Parties created a foreseeable danger to Charlie. Those decisions ultimately rendered Mr. Kirk helpless to the rooftop shooter in an assassination that could have been avoided had the UVU Parties only taken reasonable steps to plan and oversee a safe event,” the notice reads.

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1 year after Charlie Kirk shooting, campus safety reviews are still in the works

Attorneys for the Kirk family publicly released the letter Wednesday, a little more than a year after Kirk’s assassination at the university in Orem. Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, podcaster and the founder of the student organization Turning Point USA, was answering a question just moments into the event from under a tent in a courtyard when he was shot, sending his audience running for cover.

The conservative activist had become known for debating students in public spaces, and the university has previously said Kirk wanted to speak in a central, outdoor space where students would be walking by and could take part in the event.

A 23-year-old Utah man, Tyler Robinson, is accused of using his grandfather’s hunting rifle to fatally shoot Kirk from a rooftop perch on the campus. A judge on September1 ordered Robinson to stand trial for aggravated murder in Kirk’s death, and prosecutors, who allege Robinson targeted Kirk for his political views and endangered his audience, have said they’ll seek the death penalty if he’s convicted. Robinson has pleaded not guilty.

Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk has succeeded him as head of the organization and attended a six-day hearing in Provo alongside her late husband’s parents this summer. Donald Trump Jr. sat in the same row in a show of support.

Attorneys for the Kirk family note that six UVU police officers staffed the event attended by some 3,000 people. They say in the notice that the university didn’t bring in any other police departments for help and didn’t use drones to secure rooftops or real-time surveillance video feeds to monitor them.

And they allege, without providing evidence in the notice, that UVU Police Chief Jeffrey Long sought approval from then-university President Astrid Tuminez to assign six more officers for the event, but the request was denied. The eight-page letter is addressed to the office of Utah Attorney General Brown, which defends state institutions in civil matters. It also names Tuminez, the university’s police department and the police chief.

Public access to a nearby roof had been a topic of discussion between a Turning Point USA representative and the police chief before the shooting, according to the notice.

When Turning Point received a message from a student concerned about roof access to the Sorensen Student Center near the stage location, a Turning Point representative told UVU’s police chief, Jeffrey Long, “if this is true, it would be nice to either have it controlled access or allow one of my guys to be there as well. If Possible,” the notice says. “Chief Long responded by saying, ‘I got you covered.’”

Authorities say the shot that killed Kirk was fired from a different, further rooftop of the Losee Center, but attorneys for his widow and parents say the conversation led the organization to believe UVU had a plan to address similar risks.

“His murder was entirely preventable and, in fact, would not have happened had the State of Utah and UVU followed through on their stated security promises, which included protecting the rooftops surrounding the quad where Charlie was speaking,” the family’s attorney, Brett Parkinson, said in a prepared statement. “Those failures not only robbed Charlie Kirk of his life, but also robbed his family of their husband, father, son, and brother, with impacts that will compound for the rest of their lives.”

He was a rising political star with a vast social media footprint, the notice says, and a spate of political violence before his death illustrated the risks. Those included an attempt on President Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania in 2024, the letter notes, as well as the attack on former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in 2022, and the killings of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband in 2025.