BY: KATIE MCKELLAR AND ALIXEL CABRERA
SEPTEMBER 11, 2025 11:51 AM
The morning after conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Department of Public Safety and FBI officials said the manhunt for his killer continues while investigators recovered what they believe to be the killer’s weapon.
“It’s a high-powered, bolt-action rifle,” FBI Special Agent In Charge Robert Bohls said in an early morning news conference held at UVU. “That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled. The FBI laboratory will be analyzing this weapon.”
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Investigators are also analyzing “footwear impressions, a palm print and forearm imprints,” he said.
Bohls and Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said their investigation is ongoing, and they declined to release more detailed information about the suspected shooter — other than saying the person “appears to be of college age” and overnight investigators tracked his movement through video camera footage.
“We are confident in our abilities to track that individual,” Mason said. “If we are unsuccessful in identifying them immediately, we will reach out for the public’s help and the media’s help in pushing those photos.”
Less than three hours later, shortly before 10 a.m., Salt Lake City-based FBI officials posted on X asking the public’s help to identify a “person of interest in connection with” Kirk’s shooting, along with two photos of what appeared to be a man wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt with an American flag graphic, blue jeans, sunglasses and a ball cap. The Utah Department of Public Safety released additional imagesThursday evening.
In another X post, the FBI offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information “leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk.” Officials urged tipsters to call 1-800-CALL-FBI and submit photos and videos on an online portal. As of Thursday morning, Bohls said the FBI had received more than 130 tips and counting.
Video shows shooter’s escape
As of 7:45 p.m. the suspect remained at large, Mason said during a news conference alongside Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and FBI Director Kash Patel, who traveled to Utah on Thursday in the midst of the search.
The officials didn’t take questions from reporters and Patel didn’t speak during the news conference, but the FBI released a video of a person of interest climbing off the roof of a UVU building, leaving some palm impressions and shoe imprints at the site, Mason said.
The subject then walked around a parking lot, crossed the street and moved into a wooded area. Investigators are collecting DNA samples from the scene, and are still asking for tips from the public to identify the person based on his clothing and Converse tennis shoes.
“You’re going to see a very distinctive T-shirt with an American flag and it appears to have an eagle on it,” Mason said. “There’s also a baseball cap with a triangle on it, and a pair of sunglasses, all distinctive, all things that we would ask the public to look for and try to identify.”
Patel walked the crime scene and held several briefings during his visit to the state, Cox said.
So far, the FBI has received more than 7,000 leads and tips on the suspect, a number the agency hadn’t received from the public since the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, Cox added. There are also 20 federal, state and local law enforcement organizations collaborating to solve the case and law enforcement has conducted nearly 200 interviews.
“This is not just a local matter here in Utah. We have people all over the country that are helping to bring this perpetrator to justice for Charlie Kirk and his family,” Cox said, reiterating his message from the night before that attorneys are getting ready to pursue the death penalty in this case.
Cox also asked people on social media to follow Kirk’s advice and put their phones down during bad times, saying his team has tracked a lot of misinformation circulating online from adversaries.
“We have bots from Russia, China, all over the world, that are trying to instill disinformation and encourage violence,” Cox said. “I would encourage you to ignore those, to turn off those streams and to spend a little more time with our families. We desperately need some healing.”
Shooter ‘blended in’
Starting at 11:52 a.m. on Wednesday, the shooter was spotted heading toward UVU’s campus. Mason said Thursday morning that he “blended in well with the college institute,” appearing to be college aged.
“We have tracked his movements onto the campus, through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to a shooting location,” Mason said. “After the shooting 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.”
Investigators have contacted neighbors, “anybody they can with doorbell cameras, witnesses and have thoroughly worked through those communities trying to identify any leads,” Mason said.
“We do have good video footage of this individual,” he said, but “we’re not going to release that at this time. We are working through some technologies and some ways to identify this individual.”
If they’re unable to identify the suspect, then Mason said they’ll provide more information to the media to ask the public for help, “but we are confident in our abilities right now and would like to move forward in a manner that keeps everyone safe and moves this process appropriately.”
Bohls said FBI agents have been working “around the clock” in partnership with Utah law enforcement to find Kirk’s killer.
“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.
Kirk is a founder of Turning Point USA, an organization that advocates for conservative politics in educational institutions, and a close ally of President Donald Trump. He is a widely known and often polarizing internet personality who tours college campuses and engages students with his signature “prove me wrong” debates.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, called Kirk’s killing a “political assassination.” His killing widely prompted horror and condemnation from both Republicans and Democrats.
JD Vance travels to Utah
Vice President JD Vance, a close friend of Kirk, and his wife Usha traveled briefly to Utah Thursday to offer condolences to Kirk’s family and to accompany them and Kirk’s body back to their home in Arizona, according to multiple national news reports.
Air Force Two landed at Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City shortly before 2:30 p.m., with no media permitted on the base for the arrival. The vehicle carrying Kirk’s body did not enter the base through the main gate, to the disappointment of a few dozen onlookers who gathered across the street, some carrying American flags. The plane took off again before 4:30 p.m. without any public appearance by the vice president.
Originally scheduled to visit Ground Zero in New York City for a ceremony to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Vances changed plans after Kirk’s killing, Politico reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the vice president’s plans. He’s not expected to hold any public events, according to the outlet.
Vance, in a lengthy post on X late Wednesday, eulogized Kirk as a “true friend.”
“I am on more than a few group chats with Charlie and people he introduced me to over the years. We celebrate weddings and babies, bust each other’s chops, and mourn the loss of loved ones,” Vance said. “We talk about politics and policy and sports and life. These group chats include people at the very highest level of our government. They trusted him, loved him, and knew he’d always have their backs. And because he was a true friend, you could instinctively trust the people Charlie introduced you to. So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene. He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”
Sen. Mike Lee introduces resolution for Kirk
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced a resolution on Thursday “condemning the assassination of Charlie Kirk and honoring his life and legacy.”
“Charlie Kirk was an American patriot, an inspiration to countless young people to stand up and defend the timeless truths that make our country great,” Lee said in a prepared statement. “This murder was a cowardly act of violence, an attack on champions of freedom like Charlie, the students who gathered for civil debate, and all Americans who peacefully strive to save our nation. The terrorists will not win. Charlie will.”
Lee also urged Americans to “join me in praying” for Kirk’s wife, Erika, and their children.
“May justice be swift,” he said.
Utah News Dispatch editor McKenzie Romero contributed to this story.
This story was originally produced by Utah News Dispatch, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Ohio Capital Journal, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.