OREM, Utah — Authorities unveiled grainy photos Thursday of a man clad in a black, long-sleeved T-shirt, dark sunglasses and a baseball cap who they said was “of interest” in the fatal shooting of influential right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah college campus.
The man, captured on security camera footage clenching his fists and walking up a stairway, appears to be wearing a T-shirt with an image of an American flag and an eagle.
“We are asking for the public’s help identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University,” the FBI said on X.
No suspects were in custody Thursday, more than 24 hours after the shooting. However, Robert Bohls, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Salt Lake City office, said investigators recovered the weapon they believe was used to kill Kirk — a high-powered bolt-action rifle they found in a wooded area near the campus — as well as the suspect’s footprints and palm prints.
“We are and will continue to work nonstop until we find the person that has committed this heinous crime, and find out why they did it,” Bohls said
Later, the FBI announced it was offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of gunman.
A close ally of President Trump who founded the conservative youth group Turning Point USA, Kirk was killed Wednesday by a single shot fired from the rooftop of a nearby building as he addressed questions about mass shootings and transgender people at the Orem campus.
The killing of a beloved figure in American conservatism, who relished debating leftwing orthodoxies on U.S. college campuses, has roiled the national political world. Over the last decade, the 31-year old forged connections with leading figures of the Trump administration.
On Thursday, Trump announced he would posthumously award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Kirk — praising him as “a champion of liberty and an inspiration to millions and millions of people.” The flag at the White House North Lawn was lowered to half-staff.
Hours later, Vice President J.D. Vance — who called Kirk a “true friend” — landed with his wife, Usha, at Salt Lake City International Airport on Air Force Two to meet Kirk’s wife, Erika, and their two children. They were scheduled to escort Kirk’s casket to Arizona.
Investigators are tracking a suspect who appeared to be college age and blended in on campus, Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, told reporters Thursday morning. They have scoured dozens of feeds from campus security cameras and collected footwear impressions, a palm print and forearm imprints for analysis.
Video of the crowd captured by an attendee shows a lone figure in black dashing across the rooftop of the Losee Center, a building about 150 yards from where Kirk was speaking.
Mason said investigators “are confident in our abilities to track” the shooter and had “good video footage” that they were not ready to release.
“We are working through some technologies and some ways to identify this individual,” he said.
After scrutinizing security camera footage, investigators believe the shooter arrived on campus at about 11:52 am and moved through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to the shooting location, Mason said.
“We were able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building and fled off of the campus and into a neighborhood,” Mason said. “Our investigators worked through those neighborhoods, contacting anybody they can, with doorbell cameras, witnesses, and have thoroughly worked through those communities trying to identify any leads.”
Bohls said investigators recovered a high-powered, bolt-action rifle in a wooded area where the shooter had fled. A law enforcement source told The Times the weapon was a Mauser 30-06. Investigators have not said whether the rifle had been traced to an owner.
A source familiar with the investigation told The Times Thursday that the ammunition recovered with the rifle had engravings, including alphanumeric characters, that the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are seeking to interpret.
Several media outlets have described a summary report circulated within the ATF that says the markings reference “transgender and anti fascist ideology.” However a law enforcement source told The Times that was just one interpretation, and cautioned that it could turn out to be wrong.
As investigators consider the significance of the markings, the speculation is certain to inflame national tensions at a time when the politics of transgender rights and healthcare is at the center of the culture wars.
Early Thursday, FBI agents and federal law enforcement in Utah appeared to focus on a modest residential neighborhood directly northeast of the university, canvassing neighbors for video or information. One under-construction home abutting a patch of trees had crime tape surrounding it as neighbors came out to greet the agents.
“It was hard to sleep last night,” said Truman Van Cott, who helped agents connect with his neighbors who had security camera footage.
Hope for a speedy capture of the suspect faded Wednesday night after the F.B.I. released the man its director, Kash Patel, had said was a subject of the investigation. After thanking local and state authorities for taking into custody “the subject for the horrific shooting,” Patel announced that the man had been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.
“Our investigation continues,” Patel said.
Another man who was taken into custody a few hours earlier was later released after being booked by Utah Valley University police on suspicion of obstruction of justice.
The shooter fired about 20 minutes after Kirk began speaking Wednesday on a grassy campus courtyard under a white canopy emblazoned with the slogan “PROVE ME WRONG.” The event, attended by about 3,000 people, was the first stop on Kirk’s American Comeback Tour of U.S. campuses.
Some experts who have seen videos believe that the assailant probably had experience with firearms, given the precision with which the single shot was fired from a considerable distance.
Multiple videos shared on social media show Kirk sitting on a chair, taking questions in front of a large crowd of people.
“So, do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an audience member asked.
“Too many,” Kirk said as some in the crowd cheered.
The audience member told him five, then asked a follow-up question: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”
“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responded.
Almost immediately, a shot rang out. Kirk fell back, blood spurting from his neck. Video show people screaming and fleeing from the event.
The killing — the latest incident in a spate of violent attacks targeting American politicians on the left and the right — led to swift condemnation of political violence from both sides of the ideological divide. But it also led to a blame game.
After celebrating Kirk as a “patriot who devoted his life to the cause of open debate” and a “martyr for truth and freedom,” Trump said in an evening video broadcast that “‘radical left” rhetoric was “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.”
Trump — who did not mention recent acts of political violence against Democratic lawmakers — called for a crackdown on leftwing groups.
Even as the House of Representatives observed a moment of silence for Kirk Wednesday when he was still in critical condition, the floor descended into chaos when some Democrats pushed back on a Republican legislator’s request that someone lead the group in prayer.
“You all caused this,” Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a close friend of Kirk, shouted at Democrats.
Most Democratic politicians issued statements rebuking Kirk’s killing. But as some left-wing progressives took to the internet to celebrate Kirk’s demise and condemn his political legacy, a slew of Republicans shared screenshots of their posts in an attempt to publicly shame them. Some called for extreme punishment.
On X, Louisiana Republican Rep. Clay Higgins announced he would use his Congressional authority and influence with big tech to push for business blacklistings, the revocation of drivers licenses and immediate social media bans for every commenter who “belittled the assassination.”
“I’m basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” Higgins said.
Over the last decade, Kirk emerged as one of the Republican Party’s most influential power brokers. After his death, key members of the Trump administration credited him with helping them secure the GOP’s 2024 electoral victory.
The founder of Turning Point USA, Kirk had a massive network of supporters: 7.3 million followers on TikTok, 3.8 million subscribers on YouTube and 5.2 million followers on X.
After Trump was elected President in November, Kirk was a frequent guest at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and a key adviser on who Trump should pick for his Cabinet.
“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance posted on X. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”
