Authorities search for Charlie Kirk’s killer but provide little about motive

OREM Utah AP Administration searched on Thursday for a sniper who assassinated Charlie Kirk a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump with one bullet and then slipped away amid the mayhem resulting from the latest act of political violence to befall America Kirk was killed with a gunshot from a distant rooftop at the Utah Valley University campus where he was speaking on Wednesday officials mentioned Federal state and local government were working what they called multiple functioning crime scenes As the search stretched into a second day they provided little information about the shooter s identity motive location or evidence and were reviewing grainy precaution videos of a mysterious person in dark clothing This is a dark day for our state It s a tragic day for our nation Utah Gov Spencer Cox mentioned I want to be very clear this is a political assassination Two people were detained Wednesday but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were disclosed residents safety functionaries noted The circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation but a national reckoning over options to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans The American Comeback and Prove Me Wrong A shot rings out and 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 Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha were set to visit with Kirk s family on Thursday in Salt Lake City According to a person familiar with Vance s plans but not authorized to speak about them publicly the Vances will visit Utah instead of New York which had been their planned destination for an outdoor ceremony to commemorate Sept Vance posted a lengthy remembrance on X chronicling the origins of their friendship dating back to initial messages in through Vance s run for the Senate and ultimately praying after hearing of the shooting Through the years Vance wrote Kirk checked in and played a pivotal role in setting up the second Trump administration So much of the success we ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie s ability to organize and convene Vance wrote He didn t just help us win in he helped us staff the entire regime 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 Promptly before the shooting he was taking questions from an audience member about gun violence Do you know how plenty of transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last years the person appealed Kirk responded Too numerous The questioner followed up Do you know how multiple mass shooters there have been in America over the last years Counting or not counting gang violence Kirk appealed Then a shot rang out The shooter who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof selected distance away Madison Lattin was watching only a sparse dozen feet from Kirk s left when she heard the bullet hit him Blood is falling and dripping down and you re just like so scared not just for him but your own safety she reported She announced she saw people drop to the ground in an eerie silence pierced directly by cries She ran while others splashed through decorative pools to get away Several fell and were trampled in the stampede When Lattin later learned that Kirk had died she wept she noted describing him as a role model who had presented her how to be determined and fight for the truth Trump calls Kirk a martyr for truth About people were in attendance according to a message from the Utah Department of Society Safety The university police department had six officers working the event along with Kirk s own prevention detail leadership revealed Trump disclosed Kirk s death on social media and praised the -year-old co-founder and CEO of Turning Point as Great and even Legendary Later he distributed a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a martyr for truth and freedom Utah Valley University revealed the campus was this instant evacuated after the shooting with officers escorting people to safety The campus 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 The American Comeback Tour had generated a polarizing campus reaction An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly signatures The university issued a announcement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its commitment to free speech intellectual inquiry and constructive dialogue Last week Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking debate He wrote What s going on in Utah Condemnation from across the political spectrum The shooting drew swift bipartisan condemnation as Democratic functionaries joined Trump who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart My deepest sympathies are with his wife two young children and friends disclosed Gabrielle Giffords the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a shooting in her Arizona district 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 the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June the firebombing of a Colorado parade in June to demand Hamas release hostages and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania s governor who is Jewish in April The preponderance notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a Pennsylvania campaign rally last year Kirk confronted liberals Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in by Kirk then and William Montgomery a tea party activist to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited governing body It was not an immediate success But Kirk s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers Despite early misgivings Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in Kirk served as an aide to Donald Trump Jr during the general electoral process campaign Soon Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV where he leaned into the civilization wars and heaped praise on the then-president Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences