Updated at 9:29 a.m.
OREM, Utah (Reuters) – U.S. investigators said on Thursday they had found the bolt-action rifle they believed was used to kill the influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he gave a talk at a university in Utah, but were still searching for the shooter.
Kirk, a 31-year-old podcast-radio commentator and a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, is credited with helping build the Republican Party’s support among younger voters. He was killed on Wednesday by a single gunshot in what Trump called a “heinous assassination.”
The killing, captured in graphic detail in videos that rapidly spread around the internet, occurred as Kirk spoke onstage at an outdoor event called “Prove Me Wrong” in front of about 3,000 people at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Salt Lake City.
The killer arrived on campus a few minutes before the event began, and could be seen on security-camera video ascending stairwells to get onto a nearby roof before firing at Kirk, according to the FBI and state officials. Kirk, a staunch defender of gun rights, was answering an audience question about mass shootings when the bullet struck his neck; screaming audience members fled in panic.
The shooter jumped off the roof and fled into an adjoining neighborhood, Robert Bohls, the FBI special agent in charge, told reporters. Investigators found a “high-powered, bolt-action” rifle in a nearby wooded area, and were examining that along with palm prints and footprints for clues.
The shooter appears to be of college age and “blended in well” on the campus, Utah Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason told reporters. The shooter has not been publicly identified, and while investigators said they had “good video footage,” they would not make that public for now.
Kirk, co-founder and president of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was pronounced dead at a local hospital hours later. His killing stirred immediate expressions of outrage and denunciations of political violence from Democrats, Republicans and foreign governments.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said Kirk’s events on college campuses were part of a tradition of open political debate that was “foundational to the formation of our country, to our most basic constitutional rights.”
“When someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened,” Cox said.
Trump said on Thursday he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Vice President JD Vance canceled his trip to New York to commemorate the attacks by al Qaeda on September 11, 2001, and instead will travel to Utah to visit Kirk’s family, a person familiar with the situation said.
Kirk began his career in conservative and right-wing politics as a teenager. A little more than a decade later, some of the friends he made along the way are now at the highest levels of U.S. government and media, with Vance recalling that he was in multiple group chats with Kirk.
“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote in a lengthy tribute posted on social media. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”
ERA OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE
The shooting punctuated the most sustained period of U.S. political violence since the 1970s. Reuters has documented more than 300 cases of politically motivated violent acts across the ideological spectrum since supporters of Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump himself has survived two attempts on his life, one that left him with a grazed ear during a campaign event in July 2024 and another two months later foiled by federal agents.
Two people were detained, questioned and released on Wednesday evening, but neither were suspects, the FBI said on Thursday.
One of the two detainees, an older man seen in photos that circulated online shortly after the killing, was familiar to locals as a political “gadfly,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Officials said he had been charged with obstruction by university police and released.
Kirk, who was married and the father of two young children, published his most recent book last year calling for a “Right Wing Revolution” and had just returned to the U.S. from an overseas speaking tour in South Korea and Japan.
His appearance on Wednesday was part of a planned 15-event “American Comeback Tour” of U.S. college campuses. Known for his often-provocative discourse on race, gender, immigration and gun regulation, Kirk often used such events to invite members of the crowd to debate him live, and was frequently challenged by both people on the left and the far right.
“He would go into these hostile crowds and answer their questions,” Vance wrote in his tribute. “If it was a friendly crowd, and a progressive asked a question to jeers from the audience, he’d encourage his fans to calm down and let everyone speak.”
In a video message taped in the Oval Office, Trump vowed that his administration would track down those responsible for Kirk’s killing, along with “each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.”
Trump, who routinely describes political rivals, judges and others who stand in his way as “radical left lunatics” and warns that they pose an existential threat to the nation, also decried violent political rhetoric, while casting it as a phenomenon of the political left.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said in the video. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Orem, and Brad Brooks in Logan, Colorado; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Jana Winter, Helen Coster, Jasper Ward, James Oliphant, Bo Erickson, Andrea Shalal, Kanishka Singh, Ismail Shakil; Julia Harte and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Nick Zieminski)
Updated at 7:59 a.m.
SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) – Police and U.S. federal agents mounted an intense manhunt on Thursday for the sniper who killed the influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he was fielding questions about gun violence during a university appearance in Utah.
Kirk, a 31-year-old podcast-radio commentator and a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, is credited with helping build the Republican Party’s support among younger voters. He was killed on Wednesday by a single gunshot in what Utah Governor Spencer Cox called a political assassination.
The killing, captured in graphic detail in videos that rapidly spread around the internet, occurred during a midday event attended by 3,000 people at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Salt Lake City.
In one clip, blood could be seen gushing from Kirk’s neck immediately after a shot rang out, and he slumped in his chair.
Kirk, co-founder and president of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was pronounced dead at a local hospital hours later. His killing stirred immediate expressions of outrage and denunciations of political violence from Democrats, Republicans and foreign governments.
Cox said Kirk’s events on college campuses were part of a tradition of open political debate that was “foundational to the formation of our country, to our most basic constitutional rights”.
“When someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened,” Cox said.
Vice President JD Vance canceled his trip to New York to commemorate the attacks by al Qaeda on September 11, 2001, and instead will travel to Utah to visit Kirk’s family, a person familiar with the situation said.
Kirk began his career in conservative politics as a teenager. A little more than a decade later, some of the friends he made along the way are now at the highest levels of U.S. government and media, with Vance recalling that he was in multiple group chats with Kirk.
“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote in a lengthy tribute posted on social media. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”
ERA OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE
The shooting punctuated the most sustained period of U.S. political violence since the 1970s. Reuters has documented more than 300 cases of politically motivated violent acts across the ideological spectrum since supporters of Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump himself has survived two attempts on his life, one that left him with a grazed ear during a campaign event in July 2024 and another two months later foiled by federal agents.
The lone perpetrator suspected of firing the single gunshot that struck Kirk in the neck, apparently from a rooftop sniper’s position on campus, remained “at large,” said Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, at a news conference four hours after the shooting.
Security camera footage showed a person believed to be the assailant dressed in all-dark clothing, Mason told reporters.
State police issued a statement on Wednesday night saying that two men had been detained, and one was interrogated by law enforcement, but both were released, and the manhunt continued.
NO SUSPECTS IN CUSTODY, MULTIPLE ‘CRIME SCENES’
One of the two detainees, an older man seen in photos that circulated online shortly after the killing, was familiar to locals as a political “gadfly,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Officials said he had been charged with obstruction by university police and released.
Kirk, who was married and the father of two young children, had just returned to the U.S. from an overseas speaking tour in South Korea and Japan.
His appearance on Wednesday was part of a planned 15-event “American Comeback Tour” of U.S. college campuses.
Known for his often-provocative discourse on race, gender, immigration and gun regulation, Kirk often used such events to invite members of the crowd to debate him live.
“He would go into these hostile crowds and answer their questions,” Vance wrote in his tribute. “If it was a friendly crowd, and a progressive asked a question to jeers from the audience, he’d encourage his fans to calm down and let everyone speak.”
At the moment he was shot, Kirk, a staunch advocate of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment right to bear arms, was being questioned by an audience member about gun violence, according to multiple videos of the event posted online.
In a video message taped in the Oval Office, Trump vowed that his administration would track down those responsible for Kirk’s killing.
Trump, who routinely describes political rivals, judges and others who stand in his way as “radical left lunatics” and warns that they pose an existential threat to the nation, also decried violent political rhetoric, while casting it as a phenomenon of the political left.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said in the video. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Salt Lake City, and Brad Brooks in Logan, Colorado; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Jana Winter, Helen Coster, Jasper Ward, James Oliphant, Bo Erickson, Andrea Shalal, Kanishka Singh, Ismail Shakil; Julia Harte and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Philippa Fletcher)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk, an influential ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot on Wednesday while speaking at a Utah university, sparking a manhunt for a lone sniper who the governor said had carried out a political assassination.
Authorities said they still had no suspect in custody as of Wednesday night, some eight hours after the midday shooting at Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah, during an event attended by 3,000 people.
The lone perpetrator suspected of firing the single gunshot that killed Kirk, 31, apparently from a distant rooftop sniper’s nest on campus, remained “at large,” said Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, at a news conference four hours later.
State police issued a statement on Wednesday night saying that two men had been detained and one was interrogated by law enforcement, but both were subsequently released.
“There are no current ties to the shooting with either of these individuals,” the statement said. “There is an ongoing investigation and manhunt for the shooter.”
In a video message taped in the Oval Office and posted to Trump’s Truth Social online platform, the president vowed that his administration would track down the suspect.
“My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it,” Trump said.
Cellphone video clips of the killing posted online showed Kirk addressing a large outdoor crowd on the campus, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Salt Lake City, around 12:20 p.m. MT (1820 GMT), when a gunshot rang out. Kirk moved his hand toward his neck as he fell off his chair, sending onlookers running.
In another clip, blood could be seen gushing from Kirk’s neck immediately after the shot.
Jeff Long, chief of the university police department, said he had six officers working the event and coordinated with the head of Kirk’s private security team, which was also on site.
Trump ordered all government U.S. flags flown at half-staff until Sunday in Kirk’s honor.
The killing was the latest in a series of attacks on U.S. political figures, including two assassination attempts on Trump last year, that have underscored a sharp rise in political violence.
“This is a dark day for our state, it’s a tragic day for our nation,” Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox said at the press conference. “I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.”
With the suspect still at large, there was no clear evidence of motive for the act of violence.
Trump, who routinely describes political rivals, judges and others who stand in his way as “radical left lunatics” and warns that they pose an existential threat to the nation, decried violent political rhetoric.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said in the video.
“This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
On Capitol Hill in Washington, an attempt to observe a moment of silence for Kirk on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives degenerated into shouting and finger-pointing.
Kirk’s appearance on Wednesday was the first in a planned 15-event “American Comeback Tour” at universities around the country. He often used such events, which typically drew large crowds of students, to invite attendees to debate him live.
ASKED ABOUT SHOOTINGS, THEN SHOT
Seconds before he was shot, the married father of two young children was being questioned by an audience member about gun violence, according to multiple videos of the event posted online.
“Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America in the last 10 years?” Kirk was asked.
He responded, “Counting or not counting gang violence?” He was shot moments later.
Kirk and the group he co-founded, Turning Point USA, the largest conservative youth organization in the country, played a key role in driving young voter support for Trump in November.
After winning his second presidential term, Trump credited Kirk for mobilizing younger voters and voters of color in support of his campaign.
“You had Turning Point’s grassroots armies,” Trump said at a rally in Phoenix in December. “It’s not my victory, it’s your victory.”
Kirk had 5.3 million followers on X and hosted a popular podcast and radio program, “The Charlie Kirk Show.” He had also recently appeared as a guest co-host on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
He was part of an ecosystem of pro-Trump conservative influencers – including Jack Posobiec, Laura Loomer, Candace Owens and others – who helped to amplify the president’s agenda. Kirk frequently attacked mainstream media and engaged in culture-war issues around race, gender and immigration, often in a provocative style.
At the White House, staff members, many of them young and admirers of Kirk, were ashen-faced as news of the shooting spread.
POLITICAL VIOLENCE ON THE RISE
Republican and Democratic politicians alike expressed dismay over the shooting.
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement: “Political violence of any kind and against any individual is unacceptable and completely incompatible with American values. We pray for his family during this tragedy.”
The U.S. is undergoing its most sustained period of political violence since the 1970s. Reuters has documented more than 300 cases of politically motivated violent acts since supporters of Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In July 2024, Republican Trump was grazed by a gunman’s bullet during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. A second assassination attempt two months later was foiled by federal agents, with opening arguments in that suspect’s trial set to begin on Thursday.
In April, an arsonist broke into Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence and set it on fire while the family was inside.
Earlier this year, a gunman posing as a police officer in Minnesota murdered Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and shot Democratic Senator John Hoffman and his wife. And in Boulder, Colorado, a man used a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to attack a solidarity event for Israeli hostages, killing one woman and injuring at least six more.
In 2022, a man broke into Democratic then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer, leaving him with skull fractures and other injuries. In 2020, a group of right-wing militia members plotted unsuccessfully to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks, David Morgan, Helen Coster, Jasper Ward, Bo Erickson, James Oliphant, Andrea Shalal, Andrew Hay, Jana Winter and Julia Harte; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Rosalba O’Brien and Stephen Coates)
Comments