FBI shares photos of 'person of interest' in Charlie Kirk killing; rifle recovered from where suspect fled
Picture: @FBISaltLakeCity/Twitter/X
The FBI have released pictures of a "person of interest" in the shooting of podcast-radio commentator and influential Trump ally, Charlie Kirk.
The bureau says they are asking for the public's help in identifying the person.
They are the first images law enforcement has released of an individual they believe may be involved in Mr Kirk's death.
The FBI said it is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for "information leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for Mr Kirkâs killing".
The FBI said it is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for "information leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for Kirkâs killing".
Earlier, authorities in Utah disclosed that they had recovered a high-powered, bolt-action rifle they believe was used in the attack and are reviewing video footage of the person they believe was responsible.
The sniper who killed Mr Kirk is believed to have jumped off a roof and fled into a neighbourhood after firing one shot and has not been identified.
The urgent manhunt continued on Thursday for the shooter who fired a single bullet that hit Mr Kirk as he hosted an open-air discussion event attended by around 3,000 people at a Utah Valley University event in Orem the day before.
Robert Bohls, the special agent in charge of the FBI Salt Lake field office, said early on Thursday at a press conference that officials had recovered the gun they think was used when Mr Kirk was shot from long range.
âA rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fledâ, and the FBI laboratory will be âanalysing this weaponâ, Mr Bohls said.
He added that investigators have also collected âfootwear, impression, a palm print and forearm imprints for analysisâ.
Mr Kirk, 31, was a provocateur and close ally of Donald Trump and a divisive figure who drove youth recruitment to the US presidentâs Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement as a co-founder of the Turning Point USA rightwing organisation.
His killing drew bipartisan condemnation of the rise in political violence in the US.Â
On Thursday morning, Mr Trump attended an event at the Pentagon commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US and announced that he will award the Medal of Freedom posthumously to Mr Kirk. Commemorations also took place in New York, where the first passenger jets hijacked by al-Qaida terrorists hit the World Trade Centre that morning in 2001.
On Wednesday, two suspects in the Kirk shooting were taken into custody but subsequently released.Â
The governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, called it a âpolitical assassinationâ, despite the motive and identity of the shooter remaining unclear.
Beau Mason, the commissioner of Utahâs department of public safety, said investigators were reviewing security camera images of the suspect, who wore dark clothing and, the authorities believe, fired from a roof.
Mr Mason, on Thursday, asked the public to be âpatientâ as law enforcement continues to search for the suspect.
On Wednesday evening, hours after Mr Kirk had been declared dead, Trump spoke in a video message from the Oval Office. He vowed that his administration would track down the suspect in a highly partisan and subjective address in which he said that there had never been anyone so respected by youth as Mr Kirk, even though Mr Kirk was a highly polarising political activist known for his outspoken bigotry.
âMy administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organisations that fund it and support it,â Trump said.
Video footage posted online showed Mr Kirk being questioned by an audience member about gun violence in the moments before he was shot, with footage showing attendees ducking and screaming, then running from the scene.
Mr Kirk was rushed by his security team to an SUV and was declared dead later at the nearby Timpanogos regional hospital.
Mr Kirk was a strong voice for the second amendment and opposed gun control in the US, saying at an event in 2023 that a few gun deaths every year were an acceptable price to pay for the right to own guns.
Roughly a dozen people were holding a vigil on Wednesday night at the entrance to the hospital where Mr Kirk died, among several other gatherings.
The mourners draped the hospital sign in American flags and surrounded its base with a thicket of candles and homemade signs, including âPeacemakers wantedâ and âwe love you, Charlie Kirkâ.
âOne of our greatest heroes is dead.â Greg Cronin, a faculty member at UVU, said he was working in the building next to where Mr Kirk was speaking, and he hoped the shooting could bring people together in dialogue instead of further political division.
âWe wonât minimize actions like this around the world, ever,â Mr Cronin said. âBut we can minimize the impact that they are allowed to have.â The US president ordered flags to be lowered to half mast to honour him.
Governor Cox, a Republican, appealed for an end to the political violence. âThis is a dark day for our state. Itâs a tragic day for our nation,â he said.
On Thursday morning, a swarm of law enforcement and media vehicles had filled up the roundabout marking the entrance to Utah Valley University, under clear skies and warm, sunny early fall weather. A bouquet of flowers lay strewn on the sidewalk beneath the universityâs large nameplate.
Mr Kirkâs appearances on podcasts and across social media brought him fame for many on the hard right and notoriety elsewhere for his bigotry, extremist, reactionary positions on the family and equality, and brash presentation of his views. Mr Kirk frequently attacked the mainstream media and engaged with culture-war issues around race, gender and immigration, often in a provocative style.
The event in Utah on Wednesday was the first in his âAmerican Comeback Tourâ at universities around the country. He often used such events, which typically drew large crowds of students, to invite attendees to debate him live.
Experts have warned that his death marks a watershed moment, with fears it could inflame an already fractured country and inspire more unrest.
Mr Kirk was an unabashed homophobe and Islamophobe. As recently as Tuesday of this week, he tweeted: âIslam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America.âÂ
His evangelical Christian beliefs were intertwined with his politics. He argued that there is no true separation of church and state, the official separation of which is a key principle on which the United States was founded, and warned of a âspiritual battleâ pitting the west against so-called wokeism from liberals, Marxism and Islam.
