Posted: September 10, 2025

Description

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot at a Utah university event on Wednesday, Turning Point USA told The Associated Press. Raydon DeChene, an eyewitness to the event, joins CBS News to describe what she saw.

Transcript

Sam, thank you. I want to bring in Ray Don Derrick Henry. She was at the event right now. She saw the attack. She is on the phone right now. I hope I’m pronouncing your name right. If you could tell us where you were, what you saw, what happened.

So I was clear up at the front. So they had, like the tent set up for where Charlie was going to be. And then they had, like, the cattle grades set up. It a walkway for the, for the people that were going to debate him. And then I was the great right behind it. So I was right by the walkway. So I was right up front.

And then what happened when when the actual shot was fired, where were you? What did you see or hear?

So I was he was just talking to the second. The second debater. And ironically, it was about the transgender shooter. And, you know, they’re talking about, you know, not allowing them to purchase firearms. And he was talking back and forth with the guy. And then all of a sudden I hear a pop, I see Charlie, I think it’s got his carotid. I just saw him grab it looked like his neck, and there’s just blood pouring out everywhere. And his eyes kind of rolled back. And at that point, I kind of looked up because it sounded like it came up from behind me up the hill, and it was just one pop. And then we all dropped to the ground, and then they told us all to run. So we all ran out.

Yeah, I’m imagining pandemonium at that point. Did you see medical personnel attend to him? And what what happened after that time I looked, yeah, by time I looked up, he was already off.

He was already out. He was already out of the tent. There were some police officers up there. There was a security. There was no metal detectors or anything for us to go through. They didn’t even check our tickets.

Yeah. What about the gunman? Any any sense of what became of the person? I don’t know if it’s a man or woman. The person who fired the shot.

Nope. I didn’t see anything. I just dropped when everybody else dropped. And then I ran when they told everybody to run.

So you described it as a debate that was going on. So it was debating debate between Charlie and someone else, or just to sort of.

Yeah. So he does prove me wrong. And basically, you know, because he’s a right winger and, you know, very he’s very, very, very good at his debates. And he invites mostly college kids to go up and debate him. And, you know, a lot of them were, you know, had a lot of same views, but there was something that maybe a little bit off that they don’t quite agree with. So they’re just trying to, you know, debate him back and forth on on their views versus his.

So it sounds like people from all points on the political spectrum. What about the atmosphere, the mood? What was it like leading up to that?

Oh man, we were all having fun. We were shouting, you know, USA and Charlie Kirk and listening to some, you know, 80s music like Queen and that and just stuff to pump you up. We’re just all having a good time.

Yeah, like a festival kind of atmosphere. I want to ask you about security. What was that like as you entered this area, and what kind of area is this?

There was none. It was like, so when you walked in there, it was like a kind of in the crevice of buildings with a bridge across it. And then behind it was like a grassy open area with a little bit of seating that’s kind of in a stadium seating, but it was like a little hill.

And this is on the campus of Utah Valley University. Yeah. Are you a student there or do you have an affiliation with the university?

No, I’m old. I’m in my 50s. So a lot of these people were college aged students. But there was there was quite a few, actually, I would say that were around my age too.

And where did you get out? You ran out of there. Where did you go and what did everybody else do? Who was with you?

We all just ran to our vehicles and I don’t know where everybody scattered. I don’t know if, you know, some of them were students that, you know, had to catch a bus or whatever, but the ones that we all ran to our cars, I mean, it was I parked a little ways away. So it was a little bit of a trek, but it was fine.

But again, interesting, as you point out, no security open area right there at Utah Valley University. Right on. I really appreciate your insight and your telling us your story, we thank you for that.