In a podcast interview with retired Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan, Brian Harpole described the moments following the shot that killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Harpole was head of Kirk’s security for the American Comeback Tour on Utah Valley University campus on Sept. 10.
While responding to the second question of the outdoor event, which was on transgender-led mass shootings, a shot rang out, and Kirk fell out of his chair.
“I jumped down on top of Charlie to cover him,” Harpole said, adding that they were face-to-face, and he could see the wound. At that point, he was worried about being exposed to more shots.
Within five seconds, Harpole began applying pressure to stop the bleeding.
“When I jumped down on him, he had doll’s eyes,” Harpole said. “And so I was like, man, these are wounds incompatible with life.” At this point in the interview, Harpole had trouble speaking, and Ryan gave him time to recompose.
“We’re doing pressure control there, and it’s a carotid artery so you can’t put a tourniquet on it, obviously, and in my head I’m like, ‘Pack, pressure, pray,’” he said to the podcast host.
Though he said he doesn’t remember this, Harpole said he told his team to prep the car, and within 15 seconds of the shot, they began moving Kirk to the car.
The drive to Timpanogos Hospital
Several members of Harpole’s team, Dan Flood, Turning Point USA’s security director, and Frank Turek, a Christian author and apologist close to Kirk, jumped in the van.
“Charlie was a big man. Long. We kind of laugh about it now, but we get him in, and the door’s not going to close. ... We didn’t even attempt to close it. I just told Justin, ‘Go, go, go.’ Dan’s already got the route done,” Harpole said.
When they got out to the main road, Harpole’s trained emergency driver Justin Davis began cutting traffic and breaking intersections.
In the back, another private security operator, Rick Cutler, held onto Harpole’s shirt to keep him from falling out of the van, while Harpole used both hands to administer first aid to Kirk, he said.
Meanwhile, Turek prayed out loud.
Harpole said he packed 36 feet of gauze into Kirk, along with four 4×4s and two hemostatic 4×4s, and maintained constant pressure the entire time.
The scene at the hospital
When they got to Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, the team carried Kirk inside, put him on a gurney and took him into a room. Then Harpole said he cut Kirk’s Freedom T-shirt off to prep him for a defibrillator.
“You know, when you get that shirt cut off and moved out of the way, there were enough medical professionals in there, so I just wanted to get out of the way,” Harpole said. So he left the room and stood guard, so nobody else could go in.
At that point, Harpole had Kirk’s blood on his face, arms, shirt, pants and shoes.
A nurse approached him, took him to a room and physically washed the blood off his face and hands.
Harpole fought back tears and said, “She showed me humanity.”
Harpole said he didn’t cry for three weeks after the shooting.
Harpole worried there were other fatalities at UVU
When Harpole jumped to cover Kirk right after the shot rang out, his phone slid out of his pocket.
He didn’t realize it was missing until doctors took over at Timpanogos Hospital. Without his phone, he said he told Davis to call and check in on the other security guards and to call his (Davis’) kids.
“When we left (for the hospital), our guys went back into the crowd, because they didn’t know ... everyone was just laying there frozen. So once we got out of there, they went back in there and started searching for other victims and people who had been shot,” Harpole said.
“I get to the hospital, and I don’t have the ability to call my children and tell them I’m OK,” Harpole said. ”I couldn’t call them, so they’re just at home suffering."
Harpole told Ryan he eventually reached his ex-wife through Facebook Messenger and contacted his kids.