OREM, Utah (AP) 鈥 The sniper who assassinated Charlie Kirk is believed to have jumped off a roof and fled into a neighborhood after firing one shot and has not been identified, authorities said Thursday in disclosing they have 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 shooter appeared to be of college age and blended in on Wednesday, said Beau Mason, the commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety. It remained unclear how far the shooter has traveled, though law enforcement officials say nearby woods where the rifle was found have been secured.
Even as law enforcement officials revealed new details about an attack they called targeted, much remained unclear nearly 24 hours later, including the sniper’s identity, motive and whereabouts. Two people detained Wednesday were released after neither was determined to be connected to the shooting, but by Thursday officials expressed confidence they had tracked the shooter’s movements on campus in the run-up to it.
Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was killed in broad daylight while speaking about social issues at a Utah Valley University campus courtyard. The circumstances brought renewed attention to in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The killing drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.
The attack was captured on that show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone when suddenly a shot rings out. Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.
Trump said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., while Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, were set to visit with Kirk鈥檚 family in Salt Lake City. Vance posted a remembrance on X chronicling their friendship, dating back to initial messages in 2017, through Vance鈥檚 Senate run and ultimately praying after hearing of the shooting. Kirk played a pivotal role in setting up Trump’s second Republican administration, Vance wrote.
鈥淪o much of the success we鈥檝e had in this administration traces directly to Charlie鈥檚 ability to organize and convene,鈥 Vance wrote. 鈥淗e didn鈥檛 just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.鈥
Kirk was taking questions about gun violence
Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political youth organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, at the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus. Immediately before the shooting, he took questions from an audience member about gun violence.
鈥淒o you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?鈥 the person asked. Kirk responded, 鈥淭oo many.鈥
The questioner followed up: 鈥淒o you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?鈥
鈥淐ounting or not counting gang violence?鈥 Kirk asked.
Then a shot rang out.
The shooter, who Gov. Spencer Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away.
Madison Lattin was watching a few dozen feet from Kirk鈥檚 left when she heard the bullet hit him.
鈥淏lood is falling and dripping down, and you’re just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety,” she said.
She saw people drop to the ground in an eerie silence pierced immediately by cries. She and others ran. Some fell and were trampled in the stampede.
When Lattin later learned that Kirk had died, she wept, she said, describing him as a role model who had showed her how to fight for the truth.
Trump calls Kirk a 鈥榤artyr for truth鈥
About 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk’s own security detail, authorities said.
Trump announced Kirk’s death on social media and praised the 31-year-old co-founder and CEO of as 鈥淕reat, and even Legendary.鈥 Later, he released a video in which he called Kirk a 鈥渕artyr for truth and freedom.”
Utah Valley University said the campus was evacuated after the shooting and will be closed until Monday.
Meanwhile, armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for any information residents might have on the shooting. Helicopters buzzed overhead.
Wednesday’s event, billed as the first stop on Kirk’s 鈥淭he American Comeback Tour,鈥 had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its 鈥渃ommitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.鈥
Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 going on in Utah?鈥
Condemnation from across the political spectrum
The shooting drew as Democratic officials joined Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.
鈥淭he murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,鈥 said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was in her Arizona district.
In a joint statement, the Young Democrats of Connecticut and the Connecticut Young Republicans called the shooting 鈥渦nacceptable.鈥
鈥淭here is no place in our country for such acts regardless of political disagreements,鈥 they said.
The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties. The attacks include and her husband at their house in June, in June to demand Hamas release hostages and , who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is last year.
Kirk confronted liberals
Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.
But Kirk鈥檚 zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.
Despite early misgivings, enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as an aide to Donald Trump Jr. during the general election campaign.
Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.
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Richer and Sherman reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver; Michael Biesecker, Brian Slodysko, Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price in Washington; Jesse Bedayn in Orem, Utah; Hallie Golden in Seattle; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; and Meg Kinnard in Chapin, S.C., contributed to this report.
