Brian Harpole remembers hearing two distinct sounds when the Charlie Kirk was shot.
The crack of the gun itself was first and obvious to Harpole, who headed the private security team for the conservative commentator. He could immediately identify it.
The second was the noise of the bullet hitting the man he was there to protect.
Harpole choked up when he talked about the seconds after he realized Kirk had been shot. In what’s believed to be his first interview since Kirk’s death, Harpole spoke during a nearly three-hour episode of “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast posted Monday.
Kirk had been speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem when he was fatally shot just minutes into his Sept. 10 appearance.
Harpole said he and Dan Flood — who was directly assigned by Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, to protect him — both jumped on top of Kirk to shield him.
[Related: UVU police chief promised to secure rooftops, head of Charlie Kirk’s security team says]
Harpole said he held his hands over the spot where the bullet had hit Kirk, trying to stop the bleeding, but the blood just kept coming. He said he knew then it was dire. Because of the location of the shot, he couldn’t use a tourniquet. All he could do was apply pressure.
His first thought, he recalled, was: “These are wounds incompatible with life.”
Harpole said his security team was initially worried more gunfire was coming, so Harpole said he quickly ordered his staff to load Kirk into the car and drive to the hospital.
When preparing for any appearance, he said, his staff memorizes the routes to the nearest hospitals.
There was some medical staff at the event, he said, but they fled when they heard the shot. And with “the type of wound that we had,” Harpole said, waiting for an ambulance wasn’t an option.
Harpole recalled that Kirk was so tall — he was 6-foot-5 — that when he was lying in the backseat, they couldn’t close the car doors.
They drove anyway, with Harpole using 36 feet of dressing, he said, to try to stop the bleeding.
Harpole remembers dangling partway out of the car as another security officer held onto him so Harpole could try to provide care.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People gather outside Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem in support of Charlie Kirk after he was shot and killed at Utah Valley University, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025.
When they arrived at the Timpanogos Regional Hospital, Harpole remembered placing Kirk on a gurney and trying to help medical staff there. Then, he stood guard at the door.
When he finally stepped away, Harpole said, a nurse helped him wash the blood off his face and arms.
Shortly after, the doctor who had been in the operating room came out and said Kirk had died. Harpole said he remembers the doctor saying the wound was so bad that had Kirk been shot right there in the hospital, the doctor still “wouldn’t have been able to save him.”
Addressing the rumors
Tyler James Robinson, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder and other counts in Kirk’s death.
While Robinson’s prosecution moves through the court system and little information is shared publicly, Harpole said he’s been left dispelling ongoing rumors around Kirk’s death.
“There’s so much out there that’s not true,” he said on the podcast.
Referring to theories about Kirk’s injury, Harpole said an autopsy showed no exit wound from the bullet, and confirmed that it had fragmented when it hit Kirk’s spine.
Online commenters have said Harpole’s staff used hand signals to indicate a sniper on the roof. Harpole said his team doesn’t use hand signals to communicate.
Harpole recited to Ryan a list of other rumors that he said were false. There was no explosion. None of Kirk’s equipment was tampered with before the event. No one in the crowd handed Harpole anything before Kirk was shot. And there was no trap door or tunnel system near where Kirk was speaking in UVU’s courtyard.
Harpole said his staff have also been doxxed — or had their personal information, including home addresses, shared online — in the aftermath, with people accusing them of being involved in a cover-up.
It’s been incredibly difficult, Harpole said. And though he said he can push much of it out of his mind, it’s the sounds of that day that continue to echo in his head.
He repeated, “I heard that bullet.”