They witnessed Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Now students reckon with the trauma

OREM, Utah (AP) — One student holed up in his house for two days after witnessing Charlie Kirk’s assassination, nervous about going back to the Utah college campus where the conservative activist was shot. Another, unable to sleep or shake what she saw and heard, called her dad to come take her home.

As investigators spend the weekend digging deeper into suspect Tyler James Robinson ahead of his initial court appearance Tuesday, students who witnessed Wednesday's shooting at Utah Valley University are reckoning with trauma, grief and the pall the killing has cast on their community.

Robinson’s arrest late Thursday calmed some fears. Still, questions persist about the alleged shooter’s motive and planning, as well as security lapses that allowed a man with a rifle to shoot Kirk from a rooftop before fleeing.

The university has said there will be increased security when classes resume on Sept. 17.

In Robinson’s hometown, about 240 miles (390 kilometers) southwest of campus, a law enforcement presence was significantly diminished Saturday after the FBI executed a search warrant at his family’s home. A gray Dodge Challenger that authorities say Robinson drove to UVU appeared to have been hauled away.

No one answered the door Saturday at his family’s home in Washington, Utah, and the blinds were closed.

The killing has prompted pleas for civility in American political discourse, but those calls were not always heeded, and some people who have criticized Kirk in the wake of his death have been fired or suspended from their jobs.

On Friday, Office Depot said it fired a worker at a Michigan store who was seen on video refusing to print flyers for a Kirk vigil and calling them “propaganda.” On Thursday, a conservative internet personality filmed a video outside Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s home, urging viewers to “take action” after Kirk’s assassination. Pritzker’s security has been stepped up.

At a makeshift memorial near Utah Valley University's main entrance in Orem, people have been leaving flowers. Cars looped nearby streets Saturday, honking horns, flying American flags and displaying messages such as “We love you Charlie," “Charlie 4 Ever” and “RIP Charlie.”

In the area where the Turning Point USA co-founder was shot, a crew has begun taking down tents and banners and scrubbing away reminders of the killing.

Student Alec Vera stopped at the memorial after finally leaving his house Friday night for a drive to clear his head. Vera said he had been in a daze, unable to concentrate and avoiding people, since watching Kirk collapse about 30 or 40 feet (9 to 12 meters) in front of him.

“I just kind of felt the need to come here, to be with everyone, either to comfort or to be comforted, just to kind of surround myself with those that are also mourning,” Vera said.

One woman knelt, sobbing. Others stood quietly or spoke softly with friends. On the campus' perimeter, trees were wrapped in red ribbons.

A handful of cars remained stranded in parking lots by students who left behind keys while fleeing the shooting. One student pleaded with an officer to let him retrieve his bike from beyond the police tape and cracked a smile as the officer let him through. The university said people can pick up their belongings early next week.

Student Marjorie Holt started crying when she brought flowers to campus Thursday, prompting her to change her mind about returning to campus this weekend.

Hours after the shooting, the 18-year-old said she lay in bed, haunted by the horror she witnessed: the sound of a single gunshot as Kirk answered a question and then, “I saw him fall over, I saw the blood, but for some reason it couldn’t click to me what happened."

Unable to sleep because of a pounding headache, nausea and the day’s trauma, she called her dad, who brought her home to Salt Lake City, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) to the north.

Returning to campus, Holt said, is “going to feel like a terrible, like a burden on my heart.”

Vera said Kirk was shot in the campus' main gathering spot — where students take naps, meditate, do homework and hang out.

“Seeing it when I go back, I will be pretty uncomfortable at first, knowing I have to walk past it each time, knowing what had just occurred here,” Vera said.

Student Alexis Narciso said he has flashbacks when he hears a bang, a honking horn or other loud noise. He was about 10 feet (3 meters) away.

“I just feel numb. I don’t feel anything," Narciso said. “I want to cry but at the same time I don’t.”

Jessa Packard, a single mother of two who lives nearby, said even with a suspect in custody, her feeling of unease hasn’t lifted. Packard’s home security system captured video of the Dodge Challenger that police say Robinson drove to campus. After the shooting, she said, law enforcement officers descended on her neighborhood, searching yards and taking security footage.

“There’s this really weird heaviness and I think, honestly, a lot of fear for me personally that hasn’t gone away," Packard said. "The fact that there was like this murderer in my neighborhood, not knowing where he is but knowing he’s been through there, coursing things out, is a really eerie feeling.”

Halle Hanchett, 19, a student at nearby Brigham Young University, said she had just pulled her phone out to start filming Kirk when she heard the gunshot followed by a collective gasp. Hanchett said she saw blood, Kirk’s security team jump forward and horror on the faces around her. She dropped to the ground in the fetal position, wondering: “What is going on? Am I going to die?”

On Friday, she brought flowers and quietly gazed at the place where the kickoff to Kirk's “American Comeback Tour” ended in violence.

“The last few days I’ve just, haven’t really said much, I just kinda like zone out, stare off,” Hanchett said, standing with her fiancé as water fountains bubbled nearby. “The memory, it just replays.”

She’s praying for the strength to move forward, she said, “and take it as: ‘OK, I was here for this. How can I learn from this? And how can I help other people learn from this?’”

In Robinson’s hometown, neighbor Kris Schwiermann recalled him as a shy, studious and “very respectful” student who loved to read. Schwiermann, 66, was head custodian at the elementary school that Robinson and his siblings attended.

She said she was stunned by the news of his arrest, describing the Robinsons as a “very tight-knit family.”

Like the Robinsons, Schwiermann is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said they belonged to the same congregation, though she said the family hadn’t been active in the church in at least eight years.

“I want to make sure that people know that we don’t have any ill feelings towards their family or him,” Schwiermann said. “He made the wrong choice.”

Yamat reported from Washington, Utah, and St. George, Utah. Associated Press reporters Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix, Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Michael R. Sisak in New York also contributed to this report.

Women pray at a memorial outside Utah Valley University after Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A person sits near crime scene tape near a memorial after Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Crime scene tape surrounds Utah Valley University after Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed , Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A memorial for Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk is seen at Utah Valley University, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A truck drives by with "Justice for Charlie" written on a window as a brigade of vehicles drives by in tribute to Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Women place flowers at a memorial outside Utah Valley University after Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Wendy Lucas, a Utah Valley University student, looks at a memorial set up for Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Alicia Daley sits at a memorial for Charlie Kirk on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A memorial for Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk is seen at Utah Valley University, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Utah Valley University student Alec Vera stands near a memorial for Charlie Kirk on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.

Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.

“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.

But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)