Utah Valley University is working VERY hard to hide the truth about Charlie Kirk's assassination

Utah Valley University has given excuse after excuse in response to public records requests for the UVU Police Department in the months since Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on the UVU campus on September 10, allegedly by Tyler Robinson.

'I got you covered.'

Like other concerned Americans, Blaze News wanted to better understand the security measures that were put in place in the lead-up to the TPUSA college tour event that fateful day. Our concerns were heightened after Kirk's former head of security, Brian Harpole, suggested to podcast host Shawn Ryan in November that UVU police, including Chief Jeff Long, had failed to implement certain security measures before Kirk's murder and then went dark after it.

RELATED: 'Horrific choice': Utah Valley University nailed with backlash for choosing Charlie Kirk critic as commencement speaker

- YouTube

Harpole claimed that the UVU amphitheater setting was too exposed and that UVUPD neglected to reach out to other local law enforcement agencies to ensure that they had enough officers on the ground and resources like drones to secure the area, especially considering the anticipated size of the crowd.

According to an alleged text exchange between Harpole and Chief Long — an image of which can be seen at the 56:19 mark of the podcast episode — Harpole had also identified specific concerns about "roof access" two days prior to the deadly shooting, but Long had assured him, "I got you covered."

After the shooting, Harpole claimed that he and his team reached out to Long, but "he's never called us back."

So long ago and so much effort: UVU can't be bothered

Harpole also suggested that individuals and/or the media submit public records requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act for all the messages Long sent and received on state-issued devices. Blaze News took that advice — but has been stonewalled at every turn.

On November 24, Blaze News first submitted a FOIA request — called GRAMA in Utah, for the Government Records Access and Management Act — for all of Long's messages on any messaging or social media platform between September 3 and September 11, 2025. That request was denied on December 4 because a "person's name; mailing address; email address; and daytime telephone number" from Blaze News was allegedly not included.

Of note, Blaze News has a GRAMA account for UVU with that information stored, though when it was stored cannot be verified.

'The time frame "September 3, 2025, to September 11, 2025" passed a considerable time ago.'

Blaze News then resubmitted the request on two occasions. The first was received on January 14. On February 5, UVU claimed it needed "additional time to fulfill" the request because of the "extraordinary circumstance" but that the request would be fulfilled within 10 business days.

On February 19, UVU said it needed an additional 10 business days.

On March 5, UVU said it needed yet another 10 business days.

Finally, on March 17, Blaze News received 14 heavily redacted Microsoft Teams messages, most of which were not useful. None of the speakers are identified by name, so it is unknown whether any of these statements can be attributed to Chief Long.

The most insightful exchange came at 9:15 a.m. on September 10, the day of the shooting.

A person identified as 63G-2-305(11) says: "Let the fun begin! The turning point group is wondering if they can have access to drive under the hall of flags to drop off their equipment? There is a gate there that needs to be unlocked."

Part of the response from person 63G-2-305(12) is redacted, but 63G-2-305(12) continues, "The two GOP guys whi [sic] visited yesterday really stirred the pot!"

63G-2-305(11) then says with unwitting foreboding: "Really?! Oh no! It was weird the way they came on campus. Let's hope nothing crazy happens." The person believed to be responder 63G-2-305(12) replies: "It's all good!"

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Screenshot of documents sent to Blaze News

Even though UVU had granted itself three extensions for this request, in its response, UVU refused to provide Blaze News with any text messages from Long's phone between September 3 and September 11 on the grounds that too much time had passed since the shooting and that finding the messages would involve too much work:

For the University to conduct a search for text messages, the employee would have to open and review each text message thread on their phone to see if that thread includes the date range you specified. Then the employee would have to determine if it was a personal text or public record. If the text was a public record, the employee would have to screenshot the entire thread for the period and compile those screenshots to a form that can be shared. In addition, seeing as the time frame “September 3, 2025, to September 11, 2025” passed a considerable time ago, this search process would be a time-consuming interference from the employee’s day-to-day operations and responsibilities to maintain the safety of the University.

UVU gave the same reason for denying the request for Long's texts Blaze News submitted on April 1. When Blaze News reminded UVU that all of Long's messages are presumed public unless a specific GRAMA exemption applies and that inconvenience and the personal nature of some messages were not exemptions under the statute, two weeks later, Blaze News received 19 screenshots — of almost no investigatory value.

Eight of the screenshots were of text alerts about the shooting that were presumably sent campus-wide.

One was a message from a reporter from a local Utah outlet requesting an interview with Chief Long.

Three screenshots contain expressions of concern about people, presumably Long or other members of UVUPD, who had to endure the stress of the event, both in the planning stages immediately before it and in the aftermath of the shooting.

Three others relate to a single conversation about U.S. Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and John Curtis (R-Utah) possibly attending the event.

Just two screenshots reveal interesting information. In one conversation that took place only a half-hour before Kirk was fatally shot, someone, presumably Long, estimated that the crowd had swelled to 3,000.

"Woah! That is pretty good! Is it okay?" the interlocutor replied.

"Do you think there are more in support or against," the interlocutor added, but to no reply.

Then 15 minutes after the shooting, someone asked what they should tell the "people calling." "She said shes even gotten the new York times [sic]," the person added.

"Don't give any statements," was the reply, presumably from Long.

The text messages Harpole claimed to have exchanged with Long were not included in any of the documents UVU sent to Blaze News. Efforts to reach Harpole for comment were unsuccessful.

RELATED: Elderly man who falsely confessed to shooting Charlie Kirk sentenced to prison

Screenshot of documents sent to Blaze News

In its response to Blaze News, UVU justified not disclosing other messages on Long's phone because doing so:

• "could reasonably be expected to jeopardize the life or safety of an individual";
• "would jeopardize the security of public property, buildings, or systems"; and
• "would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

Even the suspected murderer gets a say?

Blaze News is apparently not the only outlet frustrated by UVU's limited compliance with public records requests about Kirk's murder.

In an article titled "Utah Valley University continues to deny request for documents in Charlie Kirk shooting" dated February 17, KSTU reported not only the denials from UVU but that suspect Tyler Robinson and his attorneys had even weighed in on its GRAMA request. The outlet said it received "a letter from Tyler Robinson and his attorneys in support of the university's decision to deny the release of the security plan."

KSTU appeared unfazed by the denials for public records from UVU, claiming that they are "typical of the public records process." However, the outlet noted that this letter from the suspect and his legal team was "unusual."

Back in April, the Daily Caller News Foundation similarly reported that in response to its public records request, UVU had "heavily redacted files and withheld others entirely."

UVUPD did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News about this lack of transparency.

'These things ... unfortunately they happen'

Long joined the UVUPD as deputy chief in 2022 and was named chief in December 2024. Government disclosure documents show that Long earned more than $125,000 in wages and benefits from taxpayers in 2024 alone.

And the most popular conservative activist in America was shot and killed on his watch.

Just hours after the shooting, Long and other officials appeared at a press conference, where Long professed to be "devastated" and described the deadly shooting as "a police chief's nightmare."

"We train for these things, and you think you have things covered, and um, you know, these things, um, you know, unfortunately they happen," he continued. "You try to get, you try to get your bases covered, and unfortunately today we didn't. And because of that we had this tragic incident."

Long has not made any public comments about the shooting since.

Harpole indicated to Shawn Ryan that Long bears considerable responsibility for the ongoing questions and speculation about UVU security that day.

"Why he won't stand up like a man and admit this, I don't know," Harpole said of Long, "but he's watching a bunch of men lose their careers.

"And he's okay with it."

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