Charlie Kirk's Family Files Legal Notice Alleging Utah Valley University Ignored Rooftop Warning Before His Killing

Charlie Kirk's family has filed a notice of claim against Utah Valley University, the state of Utah, then-university president Astrid Tuminez, campus police chief Jeffrey Long, and the UVU Police Department, alleging their failures led to Kirk's assassination on campus a year ago. The document, dated September 9, 2026, was obtained by ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, the Daily Wire and the Times of India.

Under Utah law, a notice of claim is a mandatory precursor before a formal wrongful-death lawsuit can be filed against public entities. It is not a lawsuit. No court has ruled on any of these allegations, and UVU has not admitted wrongdoing.

Kirk, 31, was shot and killed on September 10, 2025, while addressing a crowd of roughly 3,000 people at an outdoor debate event in Orem, Utah. Authorities say the fatal shot came from a rooftop more than 400 feet away, fired by 23-year-old Tyler Robinson, who was charged and has pleaded not guilty. A judge has kept the death penalty on the table in the case, according to Fox News.

The Rooftop Warning

The central allegation in the filing centers on a specific exchange. According to the notice, a UVU student warned Turning Point USA organizers about "student roof access pretty close" to where Kirk would be speaking, near the Sorenson Student Center. A TPUSA official relayed that warning to Chief Long and asked whether the area could be secured or whether Kirk's own security team could cover it instead.

Long's alleged reply, cited in the notice and reported by both Fox News and the Daily Wire: "I got you covered."

The gunman ultimately fired from the roof of the Losee Center, a separate building west of the Sorenson Center, according to the filing. The FBI has released video showing the shooter climbing onto a rooftop before the shooting and fleeing across it afterward.

What the Filing Alleges Beyond the Warning

Attorneys D. Loren Washburn, Brett Parkinson and Clifford Parkinson, representing the Kirk family, list a broader set of alleged failures in the notice: no meaningful risk assessment before approving an outdoor venue surrounded by tall buildings, only six campus police officers assigned to an event of that size, no drone deployed to monitor rooftops, no coordination with local law enforcement, and no bag checks or metal detectors at entry points.

An Associated Press review cited by CBS News found that campus police staffing fell below recommended levels for a university of UVU's size, and confirmed the absence of drone surveillance and metal detectors. The notice also says Kirk was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle rather than an ambulance because no first responders were immediately on site.

"Tragically, the UVU Parties took none of these safety measures, steps only they had the authority to take, resulting in a situation that rendered Mr. Kirk helpless before his assassin," Washburn wrote, according to CBS News and ABC News.

The filing also draws a comparison to the political climate at the time, invoking the 2024 rooftop assassination attempt on President Trump, the attack on Paul Pelosi, and the 2025 killing of a Minnesota state legislator and her husband, according to the Daily Wire.

UVU's Response

Utah Valley University gave CBS News a brief statement: "We are aware of the notice of claim. UVU addresses legal matters consistent with our established processes. Our focus remains on supporting our campus community." The university did not dispute or confirm any specific allegation in the filing.

The Utah Attorney General's Office told CBS News it does not comment on potential litigation.

Long has previously said, in comments cited by CBS News, that six of his officers staffed the event and coordinated with Kirk's own eight-person private security team, and that UVU has since moved to expand its police force.

A single line, "I got you covered," reported secondhand in a legal filing written by the family's own attorneys, is being presented as evidence of a specific promise to secure a specific rooftop. UVU has not confirmed the exchange happened as described, nor has any court tested whether that statement constituted a security guarantee or simply an offhand assurance from an officer who believed existing coverage was adequate. Running a security plan for an outdoor event with 3,000 attendees involves judgment calls that look very different in hindsight than they did in advance, and no independent investigation report has yet been released establishing that the rooftop access was in fact left unsecured through negligence rather than an assessment that turned out to be wrong.

Brett Parkinson, counsel for the Kirk family, called Kirk's death "entirely preventable," saying it "would not have happened had the State of Utah and UVU followed through on their stated security promises." That is the family's legal position. Whether Utah courts agree will depend on discovery, records the notice of claim has not yet forced into public view, and litigation that has not been filed as of September 16, 2026.