This year has seen a surge of stories that sparked nationwide discussions on topics like race, bail reform, political influence, and domestic terrorism. Many of these narratives quickly gained traction online, as Americans found themselves dealing with a mix of tragedy, intrigue, and often, outrage.

As 2025 wraps up, let’s revisit some of the most viral and controversial events that dominated headlines and captivated the nation.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk 

On September 10, conservative activist Charlie Kirk took the stage at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, to kick off the fall segment of Turning Point USA’s “American Comeback Tour.”

Charlie Kirk addresses the crowd before his tragic assassination during the Turning Point event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)

While addressing an audience of over 3,000 students, Kirk was fatally shot by a lone gunman who was stationed on the roof of a nearby campus building, about 200 feet away. He was immediately transported to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Video of Kirk’s killing quickly went viral, as countless spectators realized their cameras were rolling as the fatal gunshot was fired – with many capturing the frantic aftermath as students ran for their lives.

Less than two days later, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson walked into a police station in St. George – roughly 265 miles from Orem – to turn himself in as the alleged killer. According to authorities, Robinson was confronted by family members after they noticed he resembled the suspect in photos released by police. 

The case largely continues to play out online, with various angles of Kirk’s assassination captured on social media. Clips of a suspect donned in black on the roof of a campus building just moments before the shooting offered some of the first looks at Kirk’s alleged assassin. 

Tyler Robinson, accused of the murder of Charlie Kirk, appears during a hearing in Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, Thursday, December, 11, 2025. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via Pool)

“There’s clearly really no concern about whether anybody was going to see him leaving the scene, as he just jumped off the roof,” Peter Valentin, chair of the Forensic Science Department at the University of New Haven and a former Connecticut State Police detective, told Fox News Digital.

“If you take a look at what’s going on at the time of the video being captured, everyone is running from the amphitheater area. So you can imagine people’s ability to take note of things like this is probably somewhat diminished.” 

Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder, with prosecutors vowing to seek the death penalty in his case. 

Karen Read acquitted on murder charge

Karen Read’s Massachusetts murder trial captivated the nation, with a jury ultimately finding her not guilty in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe. 

Karen Read outside of Norfolk County Superior Court, Friday, June 13, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Richard Beetham for Fox New Digital)

Read was accused of fatally striking O’Keefe with her vehicle, leaving him to freeze to death face-down in the front yard of fellow officer Brian Albert’s home in the early-morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022. 

Prosecutors ultimately charged Read, 45, with second-degree murder, manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident causing death. 

For several years, Read maintained her innocence by asserting she dropped O’Keefe off at the home after a night of drinking with friends. 

However, her initial case ended in a mistrial in 2024 after a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. 

Karen Read and John O’Keefe together in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Karen Read)

On June 18, 2025, a jury found Read not guilty of second-degree murder, drunken driving manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident – clearing her name after three years of legal battles. She was found guilty of the lesser offense of driving under the influence, with a Norfolk County judge sentencing her to a year of probation. 

Despite her acquittal, Read still faces a wrongful death lawsuit brought by O’Keefe’s family, which is expected to play out well into 2026. 

Bourbon Street terror attack rocks New Orleans  

New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street was marred by tragedy within hours of ringing in the new year, marking the first major mass casualty event of 2025. 

Terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas killed 14 civilians and injured 57 others as he plowed through crowds of New Year’s Eve revelers shortly after midnight on Jan. 1. Jabbar was subsequently killed in a shootout with police. 

Terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas killed 14 civilians and injured 57 others as he plowed through crowds of New Year’s Eve revelers shortly after midnight in New Orleans, Louisiana on Jan. 1, 2025. (Fox News Digital)

In the immediate aftermath, the FBI released haunting surveillance images showing Jabbar calmly walking throughout the area within an hour of the horrific attack. 

The images captured Jabbar wearing a light brown coat, dark button-down shirt, blue jeans and dress shoes as he strolled along Dauphine Street near Governor Nicholls Street at 2:03 a.m. CST – about an hour before the attack. 

Additionally, investigators said Jabbar planted a pair of improvised explosive devices inside coolers that he placed in separate areas throughout Bourbon Street. Authorities also uncovered an ISIS flag in the bed of the pickup truck used in the attack. 

According to the FBI, Jabbar, a U.S. citizen, posted five videos to his Facebook account proclaiming his allegiance to ISIS just hours before the attack, while also laying out his plans to carry out mass murder within the famed French Quarter.

Authorities patrol Bourbon Street as it is reopened in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

Jabbar was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and damage that he did,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said.

“It was very intentional behavior,” she added. “This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could.”

Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty

In a stunning about-face, Bryan Kohberger, 28, pleaded guilty on July 2 in the brutal 2022 murders of four University of Idaho college students. 

Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University, was taken into custody on Dec. 30, 2022, following a monthlong manhunt after Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found stabbed to death inside their home in Moscow, Idaho. 

Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho, for brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool)

In a case that both captivated and horrified the nation, details surrounding the brutality of Kohberger’s crimes quickly spread throughout social media as the Idaho community braced for a headline-grabbing trial, set for the fall of 2025. At the time, authorities alleged Kohberger drove from his apartment in Pullman, Washington, to Moscow, Idaho, in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, and entered the students’ home through an unlocked door to carry out the murders of Mogen, Goncalves, Kernodle and Chapin as they slept.  

However, in an effort to escape the death penalty, Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murder charges and was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus additional time for a burglary charge.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Kohberger was not required to provide a motive for the killings – a controversial move that led some of the victims’ families to publicly denounce the prosecution’s decision. 

During Kohberger’s sentencing, several family members and friends of the slain students took the stand to offer emotional statements in the presence of their loved ones’ killer – with Goncalves’ older sister, Alivea Stevenson, offering fiery remarks to the now-convicted murderer. 

Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)

“The truth is you’re as dumb as they come,” Stevenson said as she faced Kohberger. 

“Stupid, clumsy, slow, sloppy, weak, dirty. Let me be very clear. Don’t ever try to convince yourself you mattered just because someone finally said your name out loud. I see through you. You want the truth? Here’s the one you’ll hate the most. If you hadn’t attacked them in their sleep in the middle of the night, like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your f—ing a–.”

Kohberger remains behind bars in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, Idaho.

Viral Cincinnati beatdown sparks racial tensions 

A violent beating in downtown Cincinnati rocked the nation after video of a group of Black suspects were filmed pummeling at least two White victims in images that quickly went viral online. 

(Top L-R) Dominique Kittle, DeKyra Vernon, Patrick Rosemond, Jermaine Mathews, (Bottom L-R) Aisha Devaughn, Gregory Wright and Montianez Merriweather are facing various charges for their alleged roles in the viral beatdown in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 26, 2025. (Hamilton County Jail; Fulton County Sheriff’s Office)

The confrontation broke out just after 3 a.m. on July 26 outside the LoVe nightclub, located on the corner of Fourth and Elm Street in the city’s downtown business district, with bystander video capturing the moment the group of suspects violently slammed two individuals to the ground. 

In a video obtained by Fox News Digital, an unidentified man can be heard yelling racial slurs while being beaten in the street, with some claiming the male victim slapped the perpetrator prior to the fight breaking out. 

Another angle shows a woman, later identified as “Holly,” attempting to break up the fight before she is also slammed to the ground and knocked unconscious. 

WATCH: Viral Cincinnati attack victim speaks out amid recovery from violent beating

“I heard a man crying on the street, [and] he looked at me and held out his hand,” Holly told Fox News Digital. “And [he] literally said, ‘Please, God, help me. Help me please, God.’ You can’t hear it in any of the videos because all you can hear is everybody on the street cheering each other on to curb-stomp these people, and to kick them and punch them and attack them while they were down.”

In the days following the attack, authorities arrested multiple individuals for their alleged role in the beating. Jermaine Mathews, 39; Montianez Merriweather, 34; Patrick Rosemond, 38; Gregory Wright, 32; Dominique Kittle, 37; DeKyra Vernon, 24; and Aisha Devaughn, 26, were all taken into custody on various charges stemming from the viral assault, with authorities also slapping 45-year-old Alex Tchervinski, a victim in the attack, with a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. 

“What this has done, it has made Alex a victim now for the second time by bringing criminal charges against him,” Douglas Brannon, Tchervinski’s lawyer, told Fox News Digital shortly after his arrest. “What actually occurred is Alex was hit multiple times, before he slapped back in an attempt to try and defend himself and back off this group of thugs.”  

Tchervinski’s trial is set to begin in January 2026. 

The video prompted national outrage and forced local leaders to respond, with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine weighing in on the violence, calling it “shocking.” 

Cincinnati residents also turned their attention to Mayor Aftab Pureval over his administration’s handling of the case and the city’s bail policies for repeat offenders, with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) unanimously voting no-confidence in him.

“For those who want to racialize it, then a Black man stepped in between the combatants, separated them and said, ‘This is about stop fighting, everybody needs to chill,’” community leader Reverend Damon Lynch said at a news conference. “And then, for those who want to racialize it, the White man being steps back in the ring and slaps not the Black man that he had just squared up with, but slaps another Black man. So after that he was met with disproportionate force.” 

“But when I see the mugshots, I only see people who look like me,” he said. “I don’t see the person who reengaged. And so until we see all the mugshots, this is still a racial issue.”