Police recover weapon, but manhunt continues for Charlie Kirk killer

OREM, Utah (KSL.com) — The manhunt continued Thursday for the gunman who shot and killed conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk while he was speaking to students at Utah Valley University Wednesday.

Overnight, the Utah Department of Public Safety, along with the FBI, says they were able to retrace the shooter’s movements onto campus, where he fled after the shooting, and they have recovered what investigators believe is the murder weapon.

“We have recovered what we believe is the weapon used in yesterday’s shooting. It is a high-powered, bolt-action rifle. That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled,” FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Salt Lake office Robert Bohls said during a Thursday press conference.

By midday Thursday, the FBI had announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person responsible.

At 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, Kirk, 31, was sitting under a tent of an outdoor amphitheater-courtyard area speaking in front of approximately 3,000 people when he was shot in the neck by a man on the roof of a nearby building from about 200 yards away.

Overnight, there were a “few breakthroughs” in the investigation, said Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason. Investigators collected video, images, security surveillance, doorbell camera footage and talked to witnesses.

Mason says the gunman arrived at an undisclosed area just off campus at 11:52 a.m.

“We have tracked his movements onto the campus, through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to a shooting location. After the shooting, we were able to track his movements to the other side of the building, jumped off the building and fled off of the campus and into a neighborhood,” the commissioner said.

The public safety department declined to say Thursday how far it believes the man jumped or whether investigators believe he may have been injured.

The neighborhood the man is believed to have run into was thoroughly searched overnight. Additional evidence collected during the investigation includes a “footwear impression,” a palm print and an “arm-wear impression,” Bohls said. As of Thursday morning, investigators had received at least 130 tips.

“We’re not sure how far he has gone yet,” he said.

Although Mason would not directly say whether investigators believe they have identified the gunman, he said he “appears to be of college age” and “blended in well with the college institution. We’re not releasing many details right now.”

Pictures taken from surveillance video were released Thursday morning. A man wearing a ballcap and sunglasses is seen walking up a staircase. He is wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt that appears to have a graphic with an American flag on it. He is also wearing jeans. Police say he is a person of interest.

The FBI has created a digital tip line for information regarding this shooting here. Anyone with video or pictures of the incident or the gunman is asked to submit them to the website. Or tipsters can call (800) CALL-FBI.

Two other people of interest were detained and questioned on Wednesday. One man was arrested for investigation of obstruction of justice. A second man, who the FBI director originally said was the suspected gunman, was also released. FBI Director Kash Patel had posted on X, “The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.” Yet that man was released about 90 minutes later.

On Thursday, Mason asked the public “to be patient with the investigative process. These people were not suspects; they were people of interest. We ask that you do not impose into those people and that investigative process. They don’t deserve that harassment for being subject to that.”

Kirk’s body was moved to the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner in Taylorsville overnight. Plans were being made Thursday to return his body home. Mason, who talked to Kirk’s wife Wednesday, said the family is “devastated.”

“As the commissioner of public safety, as a father, as a husband, I can only imagine what that family is going through. The heinous event that happened yesterday is not Utah; that’s not what we’re known for,” he said. “We will not stand for what happened yesterday. We are exhausting every lead. We have every officer invested in this, every investigator, every local agency.

“We will catch this individual.”

Mason, on Thursday, also took time to recognize the significance of the day, being Sept. 11.

“Historically, on 9/11, law enforcement has come together as a group to recognize and honor those that sacrificed to preserve the ideals of this country, the freedoms of this country. Instead, we find ourselves today hunting a murderer who chose to violate the rights of an individual in this country,” he said.

This story will be updated.