Law enforcement officers stated Thursday they’ve recovered the rifle they imagine was used to kill conservative political activist Charlie Kirk and located different key proof because the manhunt for the shooter expands.
The “high powered, bolt-action rifle” was present in a wooded space the place the gunman fled after taking pictures Kirk throughout an occasion at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, FBI agent Robert Bohls stated at a press convention.
Investigators have additionally collected a “footwear impression, a palm print and forearm imprints for analysis,” Bohls, the particular agent in command of the FBI’s Salt Late City discipline workplace, stated.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls speaks throughout a information convention at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 11, 2025.
Bastien Inzaurralde | Afp | Getty Images
He famous, “We’re not sure how far he has gone yet.”
Utah Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason stated, “We do have good video footage of this individual.”
But “we are not going to release that at this time,” until authorities fail to establish the shooter on their very own, he stated.
While officers on the press convention declined to supply particular particulars in regards to the suspect, Mason stated the gunman “blended in well with the college” and “appears to be of college age.”
Mason stated that the shooter arrived on campus shortly earlier than midday native time, then climbed as much as a rooftop overlooking the placement of Kirk’s occasion. After the taking pictures, the suspect moved to the opposite facet of the constructing, then jumped off and fled into an off-campus neighborhood, he stated.
The presser on the college on Thursday morning got here after officers launched two folks of curiosity a number of who had been detained shortly after the taking pictures.
“There are no current ties to the shooting with either of these individuals,” the Utah Department of Public Safety stated in an replace late Wednesday.
“There is an ongoing investigation and manhunt for the shooter,” the company stated.
The gunman fired at Kirk from a campus constructing 200 yards away from the place the activist was talking, hitting him as soon as within the neck, in line with UVU.
Kirk’s dying was introduced by President Donald Trump, who praised the influential activist as a “truly Great American Patriot.”
On Thursday morning, Trump, at an observance of the twenty fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror assaults, stated he would posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
This is creating information. Please examine again for updates.