Man who debated Charlie Kirk right before assassination details ‘year of harassment’

The man who was debating conservative activist Charlie Kirk moments before he was assassinated exactly one year ago says he has spent the last year facing death threats and conspiracy theories accusing him of being involved in the killing.

Hunter Kozak, 30, told The Salt Lake Tribune that strangers have threatened him and his family, posted their personal information online and have even confronted him outside his home.

“It’s crazy when I look back over all the stuff over the last year,” Kozak told the outlet. “I don’t think people understand how bad it’s gotten.”

Kozak, a student at Utah Valley University, was the last person to ask Kirk a question during a debate before the Turning Point USA founder was fatally shot on Sept. 10, 2025.

Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s accused assassin, was arrested and charged with aggravated murder and six other counts in connection with Kirk’s killing. His murder case was sent to trial last month, where he could face the death penalty if convicted.

Kirk, 31, was at the university campus for the first stop of his “American Comeback Tour,” where he invited students who disagreed with him to challenge his views. Those campus debates had become a signature part of Kirk’s public profile and frequently went viral online.

Kozak runs a popular TikTok account where he shares his liberal political views to his audience, including occasionally debating some of Kirk’s opinions. He said he attended the event that day hoping to debate Kirk and was excited when event organizers selected him to ask a question.

The assassination, which was captured on video, quickly became one of the most prominent acts of political violence that year. Kirk, a prominent ally of President Trump and the Republican Party, had co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 with the goal of reaching the youth and becoming an influential force in conservative politics.

For Kozak, the shooting also marked the beginning of what he described as a year of harassment.

People online began combing through footage from the event and scrutinizing his behavior before and after the gunshot. Some claimed he was in on the shooting, while others alleged his reaction to the shot showed he knew it was coming.

Kozak denied those claims, saying ordinary movements were being interpreted as evidence of a conspiracy. He also cooperated with the FBI during its investigation.

“I felt really picked apart,” he said. “Any small, subtle movement I really noticed could just be blown out of proportion.”

Kozak said people found his family members on social media and posted their addresses online, while others routinely threatened to harm him. Some also discovered that his newborn daughter was in the neonatal intensive care unit at the time of the shooting and questioned why he and his wife had attended Kirk’s event.

Kozak said he still blocks people harassing him about the shooting to this day.

“Just today I blocked someone,” he said. “It happens daily. … The conspiracy theorists have only ramped up in their fervor.”

Throughout the harassment and national attention, Kozak chose to continue his studies at the university in the aftermath of the assassination.

Kozak is finishing a second bachelor’s degree in math education after completing his degree in philosophy this spring.

He hopes to one day become a math teacher.

“I do want to be back here,” he said. “I want to be here with my community.”