A neuropsychologist has opened up about why Charlie Kirk was seen raising his arms after being fatally shot.
As previously reported, Kirk died at the age of 31 after he was shot in the left side of his neck while appearing at a university event in Utah.
Kirk, a prominent conservative figure and close ally of President Donald Trump, had been addressing a crowd at Utah Valley University (UVU).
While he was responding to a question at an open-air event under a white gazebo in UVU’s quad — a bowl-shaped courtyard — with an audience of about 3,000 people, he was struck by a single shot.
The gunshot occurred at approximately 12:20PM local time, with eyewitness footage capturing the horrifying moment the bullet struck him in the neck, causing blood to immediately erupt from his neck.
In the horrifying footage, which was widely shared on social media, Kirk's arms could be seen rising towards his neck moments before he slumped to the floor.
Now, neuropsychologist Derek Van Schaik has explained why that movement happened and whether Kirk would have known he had been shot before he died.
Taking to YouTube, Van Schaik explained: "Many have speculated his arms moving upward towards his chest is due to a phenomenon known in forensic science as decorticate posturing."
He added: "However, that's unlikely."
Van Schaik explained that decorticate posturing happens when "higher brain areas like the cerebral hemispheres are badly damaged, cutting off voluntary motor control."
As Kirk's cerebrum was seemingly unharmed, Van Schaik believes it is "unlikely" the movement was an involuntary motion known as decorticate posturing.
"An immediate loss of blood to the brain does not typically result in immediate decorticate posturing," he revealed.
"Instead, loss of blood to the brain would have led to rapid unconsciousness and flaccid collapse.
"Therefore, his arms instantly moving up like that after being hit was apparently due to an instant involuntary defensive reflex."
He likened it to the involuntary movement a person would make if someone scared them, where the person would likely jerk their arms up to defend their head and body.
As for whether Kirk would have known he was about to die, Van Schaik explained: "When someone suffers a catastrophic wound to the neck that destroys a carotid artery and jugular vein, the mind only has a fleeting window to possibly register what happened.
"However, in Charlie's case, and after analyzing the footage with a digital timer, he was conscious for no more than four tenths of a second after impact. Far too fast for his brain to even register what had happened to him."
He revealed: "For the brain to register an event, even briefly, it needs at least one to two seconds of continuous function after the injury. That would be just enough for a flash of shock or awareness of what just happened to them.
"If someone goes unconscious in less than about one second, the brain can not register the injury or even register that something is very wrong."
He revealed that Kirk would not have realized he was about to die, adding: "Psychologically, the experience for Charlie is as if it never happened. No panic, no dread, no realization that he was about to die, only an abrupt blackout.
"It was neurologically impossible for him to psychologically realize anything was wrong at all."
However, while Kirk would not have realized the gravity of the situation, that's not to say he would not have felt pain.
Van Schaik revealed that pain takes "just 100 milliseconds" to register pain in the neck, as it is close to the brain and spinal cord.
However, he revealed that Kirk blacked out so fast that his brain would not have had the chance to turn that "raw signal" into a perception of pain.
Van Schaik revealed that the arms moving up was nothing more than an "involuntary defensive reflex, not conscious awareness or a result of feeling any pain".
He confirmed: "He absolutely did not know he was shot" and his death was "essentially instant".
Just over a day after Kirk was assassinated, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was arrested on suspicion of being the shooter.
Robinson’s father reportedly drove him to a police station, where he was handed over to authorities, according to President Donald Trump.