OREM, Utah — Authorities started a 3rd day trying to find the sniper who killed conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk throughout a talking engagement at a Utah faculty.
The suspected gunman was captured on surveillance video operating throughout the roof of a Utah Valley College constructing and leaping to the bottom. Kirk was killed after being struck within the neck with a single shot.
Legislation enforcement is circulating the video in addition to images of the suspect — who was final seen carrying blue denims, a baseball cap, Converse sneakers and a long-sleeved black T-shirt that appeared to point out an American flag and an eagle. Anybody with data is inspired to come back ahead.
Greater than 7,000 suggestions have been submitted to the FBI, in response to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. However on Thursday night Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Division of Public Security, advised MSNBC that authorities nonetheless “have no idea” the place Kirk’s killer is.
The suspected homicide weapon, a high-powered bolt-action rifle, was recovered in a wooded space close to a car parking zone, mentioned Robert Bohls, the particular agent in control of the FBI’s Salt Lake Metropolis workplace. Mason mentioned the suspect was seen operating to that space after getting down from the roof.
Kirk was a fierce conservative and an enormously influential determine in American politics, with a mixed 25.6 million followers throughout TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. He was recognized for difficult left-wing orthodoxies in energetic debates on faculty campuses and clung strongly to his Christian religion, arguing that there ought to be no division between church and state in America.
Kirk’s assassination sparked fierce backlash from conservative leaders, together with President Trump, who blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for his dying. On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance traveled from Utah to Phoenix aboard Air Pressure Two with Kirk’s household to convey the activist’s casket house.
On Thursday night, tons of gathered in a park in Orem, Utah, to recollect and honor Kirk.
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The multi-generational crowd held American flags, pushed youngsters in strollers and donned “Make America Great Again” hats whereas they prayed and sang collectively.
“Come together in light,” Mayor David Younger mentioned to the group. “Violence has no place here.”
The mourners sang alongside to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and took part in a gaggle prayer.
“This is the healing that we needed,” mentioned Klea Harris, whose youngsters helped manage the occasion.
Greater than 100 individuals lined up with flowers, candles and flags, ready for his or her flip to put them earlier than a memorial that centered on a larger-than-life picture of Kirk.
“It’s important that we don’t turn on each other in this moment,” mentioned Jason Preston, a conservative podcast host. He acquired rousing applause when he advised the group: “This is not a battle of right versus left, this is a battle of good versus evil.”
Earlier within the day, younger conservatives gathered on campus, hanging purple banners in honor of Kirk’s Republican ideology and carrying posters with phrases reminiscent of “We are not afraid” and “Charlie Kirk, American hero.”
“I think this kind of woke a sleeping giant,” mentioned UVU pupil Jillian Inexperienced, 20. “People are outraged and very upset that he [was killed] when he was advocating for so many of us.”
Koby Herrera, a fellow pupil on the college, additionally felt that the dying may mark a shift in political historical past, noting that it may additional elevate Kirk’s affect.
“He had a voice, and I feel like his voice is bigger now that he’s in the grave,” mentioned Herrera, 22.
Kirk held enormous sway over younger Republicans, and key members of the Trump administration credited him with serving to them safe the GOP’s 2024 electoral victory.
