The participants of the campus event where American conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally killed on Wednesday, described mass panic after a shot was heard.
Kirk, 31, was killed after being struck on the neck by a single ball, which, according to the police, came from a shooter on the roof of a neighboring building.
Influencer and Close Donald Trump Ally spoke about 3,000 people during his American tour at Utah Valley University.
Videos on the Kirk social media show spoke of armed violence for a few moments before being shot.
An eyewitness said to BBC News: “Me and my friends have been passing a good time just to listen to what was going on and we saw it just, heard a big cry, a strong blow, then I saw his body in fact slowdow”.
Porter Laferber, a student at the University of Utah Valley, who described himself as a “big fan” of Kirk’s and was at the Rally, told BBC Radio 4’s TODAY, that he was about 50 feet (15m) from Kirk.
“I was sitting there filming it, I cut my video and at that time, I heard this shot,” he said.
“You don’t really realize what happened before it happens. Charlie falls from his stool, everyone is starting to panic.”
Laferber said that he was hidden behind a “cement terrace”, then after about a minute of “don’t hear another shot, I got up and reserved for the nearest building I could see”.
An eyewitness called Danielle told the Reuters agency that it was closer to Kirk – about 15 feet (5m).
“It was horrible,” she said. “All I hear is shouting and I see people running and I say to myself:” It’s not sure to run. It is not sure to get up “… and all that I say is” please, God, please, God, please, God “because I don’t want to die.”
Jason Chaffetz, a former member of the American Congress, told Fox News that he was at the event with his daughter when it happened.
“The blow came directly to him,” he said, adding that “everyone hit the bridge” and “dispersed”.
Adam Bartholomew, who was at the event, interviewed counter-protectors who spoke against the presence of Kirk on the campus, also said that people had initially dropped.
“There was confusion and people began to rush for outings,” he told the BBC.
“Several people are in tears,” he said about the atmosphere after filming.
The videos taken by witnesses show the precipitation to flee the premises after the shooting occurred. According to officials, the shot seems to have been taken from a roof at around 100 to 200 meters.
Phil Lyman, a former representative of the State of Utah, said that he had been “involved politically” with Kirk and had distributed baseball caps on stage with him before the start of the event.
“I went to find other people, so I was not next to him when he was shot down, and I don’t know if I am happy with that or that I would have liked to be there,” he told the Today program.
He added that: “3,000 children watched someone watched someone shooting right in front of them, it’s really traumatic. Really, really harsh.”
Emma Pitts, a journalist from Deeret News, based at Utah, who attended the event, also described when he saw the moment when Kirk was shot.
“I will never remove the image of my head,” said Pitts.
Pitts added that it was surprised that “nobody scanned our equipment, no one scanned our bags, there was no security like that.”
Bartholomew also said that he was “surprised” that there was no security during the event. “No one stopped or searched my bag.”
The BBC asked for comments from the University of Utah Valley in response to security measures during the event.
The university had provided six security agents for the conference, in addition to Kirk’s private security details.
