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--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): The governor of Utah addresses the person who fired the shot that killed Charlie Kirk. To whoever did this, we will find you and we will hold you accountable. Where does the investigation lead? I'm Michelle Martin with Steve Inskeep and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Coming up, how did Charlie Kirk build a right-wing youth movement? We hear the background of a social media figure who also had a real-world presence. He publicly debated critics and made polarizing statements. His group, Turning Point USA, had chapters on hundreds of campuses, including the one where he was shot.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Also, why did so many Russian drones fly into Poland's airspace? Fighter jets from a NATO ally scrambled to shoot down the intruding aircraft. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.
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--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): This message comes from Mattress Firm. Tossing, turning, and waking up drenched, sleeping hot can ruin your night and leave you feeling off the next day, too. Mattress Firm can help you finally cool things down. Their sleep experts will match you to the right cooling mattress like the Temper Breeze. This collection has advanced technology to deliver unmatched cooling comfort for deeper Z's. For the great sleep you deserve, visit Mattress Firm and upgrade to cooling comfort. They make sleep easy.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): This message comes from Schwab. Everyone has moments when they could have done better, like cutting their own hair or forgetting sunscreen so now you look like a tomato. Same goes for where you invest. Level up and invest smarter with Schwab. Get market insights, education, and human help when you need it. Learn more at schwab.com.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): This message comes from WTTW. Beginning September 26th, WTTW premieres a new season of Chicago stories, blizzards that brought the city to a standstill, a shocking murder case that remains unsolved, a governor's spectacular fall from power, classic city foods that became world famous, and the magic of Marshall Field's legendary holiday windows. Watch Fridays at 8 p.m. on WTTW and the PBS app. Visit WTTW.com slash Chicago Stories.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Federal and state authorities want help in finding the person who fired a shot that killed the activist Charlie Kirk. Kirk was speaking on a college campus in Utah. Several thousand people were on hand when the bullet struck his neck. The FBI is asking anyone with photos or videos of the event at Utah Valley University to share it on their online tip forum.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Kirk was an ally of President Trump and co-founder of Turning Point USA, a political youth organization. Utah's Governor Spencer Cox called his killing a political assassination. To whoever did this, we will find you. We will try you. And we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law. And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): NPR's Kirk Sigler is covering the story in Orem, Utah. Kirk, good morning.
--:-- Kirk Sigler: Good morning, Steve.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): I just want to note there have been a lot of conclusions jumped to and accusations on social media. But after every breaking story, we emphasize that a lot of what seems clear at the beginning turns out not to be true. And a lot is unknown. So bring us some facts. What is known about who did this?
--:-- Kirk Sigler: Well, to your point, very little right now. You know, I'm across the street from the campus of Utah Valley University. It's a fortress, as you can imagine, Steve. Police cars are barricading most all the entrances. It's hard to get in anywhere. And yesterday, police here took two different people into custody but released them both pretty quickly. And it seems like there's been confusion among law enforcement agencies.
--:-- Kirk Sigler: You know, last night FBI Director Kash Patel tweeted that a suspect was in custody. And then a short while later he tweeted again that that person of interest was released. This is a large campus, I'm across from. There are lots of cameras and lots of eyewitness video to go through. Police say the gunman fired from the roof of a building down onto the event. We do know that. And we also know, Steve, that these graphic videos from social media show it a very chaotic scene. And now we have a manhunt in Utah or possibly beyond.
--:-- Kirk Sigler: What's it like to be in the middle of that?
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Well, it's safe to say the entire Salt Lake City region here is waking up, I think, on edge with a suspect on the loose. You know, remember, this is Utah. Someone on the run could pretty quickly get out of this city and into very remote desert country. So the manhunt has everyone on edge.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): NPR's Kirk Sigler in Orem, Utah. Kirk, thanks so much.
--:-- Kirk Sigler: You're welcome.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Okay, we heard about Charlie Kirk as an ally of the president. He was an activist who drew both loyal followers and fierce critics through confrontational public events similar to the one he was hosting when he was killed.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Through his group Turning Point USA, Kirk amassed a large online following among young people. He turned that following into action that helped Trump's successful 2024 presidential campaign.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): NPR's Stephen Fowler covers the Republican Party, and he's next.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: It is impossible to overstate the importance of Kirk to an entire generation of young conservatives and to Republican politicians that benefited from those young conservatives showing up to vote. You could call him many things, an influencer, grassroots organizer, business executive, author, radio show host, and all-around avatar for politically active online and offline Gen Z Americans.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: When he was 18, just months before President Obama was re-elected, he co-founded the group Turning Point USA as this sort of college campus free speech nonprofit. Here's how he described it last year. I had the crazy and wild idea as I was driving home from Rockford, Illinois. A lot of things went into this. And I said, that's it. I want to try to start a youth organization to try and save Western civilization.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: In the years since, it's grown to be an integral part of the Republican Party, with annual summits, expanded outreach to faith leaders, voter registration initiatives, and a big seat at the table when it comes to shaping discussion about policy and its impact on young people.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: And then what brought him to the campus in Utah? This was the first stop of 15 planned American comeback tour events at college campuses around the country and one of the signature things he did were these big outdoor debates where Charlie Kirk would actually face off against people who were ideologically and in some cases morally opposed to his views that were sometimes provocative and inflammatory, and he would make content out of these dialogues.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Kirk and Turning Point were the smash mouth front line on the Republican Party's culture war. And at times he did weather controversy. He courted far-right figures on his podcast and made comments denigrating transgender people, vaccines, the 2020 election, and so much more.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: He also delivered a made-for-social-media rebuke of President Biden's economic vision at last year's Republican National Convention. The basic things our parents enjoy are increasingly out of reach for Gen Z and millennials. You see, the American dream has become a luxury item for the wealthy elite.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: He was close with President Trump and actually remained one of the president's advisors and figures who stayed by his side when Trump was out of power.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Well, what does the president say? We've already heard a little bit, but let's listen here. What did the president say about the news of Kirk's death?
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Well, Trump did announce Kirk's death on his social media site and quickly ordered flags to be flown at half-staff. That's something that's typically utilized for figures of national importance to signify a period of mourning.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Here's some more of that video message from last night. It's a long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: But the president went on to blame, quote, radical left political violence, though we don't know anything about the shooter or the motive. He also listed a number of attacks against Republicans, including the assassination attempt on his life last year, and didn't mention violence against Democrats like this summer's assassination of the Minnesota House Speaker.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Officials in Poland and with NATO say they're awaiting results of a military assessment before deciding on a response to more than a dozen Russian drones that flew into Polish airspace early Wednesday. Some of the drones were shot down, and it was the first time in the history of NATO that Alliance fighter jets engaged enemy targets in allied airspace.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): NPR Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz is on the line.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Hi there, Steve.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): What are you hearing?
--:-- Rob Schmitz: So Polish authorities say this morning that they've found the wreckage of at least nine drones. They were all Shahed-style attack drones that Russia uses in its attacks on Ukrainian cities. A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in Lublin, a city near Ukraine, says that all of the drones found so far were unarmed so-called dummy drones, which are used by Russia to fool Ukrainian air defenses.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Okay, so let's think this through now. We're talking about a NATO ally that was attacked. Poland's government invoked Article 4 of the NATO treaty, not the most famous one. This calls on all member states to hold an emergency meeting if one of them is threatened. This is not the more famous Article 5, which calls on a member state response as if they're all attacked. But this still represents an escalation.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: How is NATO responding? What does it mean to hold a meeting?
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Yeah. So NATO Secretary General Mark Rucha, after the meeting, came out and spoke to reporters yesterday. And he said that NATO's response was swift. It was decisive. NATO fighter jets were quickly scrambled. Rudolf said the response was exactly what NATO forces spend much of their time preparing for. He said this incident should remind European member states to invest more in their militaries.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: And he also had this message for Russian President Vladimir Putin. To Putin, I mean my message is clear. Stop the war in Ukraine. Stop the escalating war which he is now basically mounting on innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure. Stop violating allied airspace and know that we stand ready, that we are vigilant and that we will defend every inch of NATO territory.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Okay, he says to Putin, this is my message. Has Putin responded?
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Not directly. And Russia's response here has been a little confusing. Early on, a general from Russian ally Belarus, where Russian and Belarusian forces have been holding military exercises recently, called this whole episode an accident. And he said it was caused by errant drones that had encountered electronic interference.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: Later on, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the drones, but he used the opportunity to accuse European leaders of leveling accusations against Russia on what he called a daily basis. And then Russia's defense ministry finally weighed in, saying it had not planned to hit any targets in Poland and suggested that Poland was out of range of its drones, which is not true.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): If the drones got there and got shot down, clearly not true.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: So a variety of explanations or at least statements. How are people taking all of this in Poland?
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Yeah, I think the situation is pretty tense. You know, there's a lot of history between Poland and Russia and a fair amount of bad blood that continues to this day. In recent years, Russia has launched a variety of hybrid attacks on Poland, including weaponizing migrants and busing them to the Belarus-Polish border. Poland has spent billions on building a new fence, on putting up military barriers. It even pulled itself out of an international treaty that bans landmines. Poland is now spending nearly 5% of its GDP on its military. No other NATO member spends that much on its GDP on defense.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): So it's clear Poland is preparing to defend itself.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: NPR's Rob Schmitz, thanks so much.
--:-- Rob Schmitz: You're welcome.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): And that's a first for this Thursday, September 11th. I'm Steve Inske. And I'm Michelle Martin.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): There's an easy way to stay connected to news and podcasts from the NPR network. It's the NPR app. You can hear community coverage from your local station, stories from around the world, and podcast suggestions based on what you like. Download the NPR app in your app store.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): Today's Up First was edited by Eric Westervelt, Megan Pratz, Kate Bartlett, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Zoe Vangenhoven. And our technical director is Carly Strange.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Join us again tomorrow.
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--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): This message comes from Travel Nevada. Pop quiz. Where can you find 60 million acres to discover? The Silver State, a place like no other. The desert has a way with words. Ghost towns, saloons, and burrows and herds. No bluffs or limericks. Just wide open, wild, and terrific. It's time to get a little out there. To the heart of Nevada, to be more specific. Plan your trip at www.travelnevada.com.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): This message comes from Michelin. More than a tire company, Michelin is an innovation company. Now taking on space, developing an airless wheel for space exploration. Motion for life. More at michelinman.com slash y hyphen Michelin slash innovation.
--:-- Host (Steve Inskeep): This message comes from NPR sponsor 1Password. Protect your digital life with 1Password. If you're tired of family members constantly texting you for the passwords to streaming services, 1Password lets you securely share or remove access to logins. Access from any device, anytime. 1Password lets you securely switch between iPhone, Android, Mac, and PC with convenient features like Autofill for quick sign-ins.
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