Weapon Found, but Suspect in Charlie Kirk Shooting Still at Large

OREM, UT — Authorities are still searching for the suspect after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed during a speech at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, in what Gov. Spencer Cox described as a "political assassination."

Kirk, 31, was shot in the neck while addressing a crowd as part of Turning Point USA’s “American Comeback Tour.” The shooter fired from a rooftop overlooking the university amphitheater and fled the scene by jumping off the building and disappearing into a nearby neighborhood, officials said.

On Thursday, officials with the Utah Department of Public Safety and the FBI confirmed the suspected weapon—a high-powered bolt-action rifle—was recovered from nearby woods. Authorities described the suspect as a man in his late teens or early 20s, dressed in all black and “blending in well with a college institution.”

“We have good video footage of the suspect,” said Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason. “We are working methodically to identify and locate him.” 

Investigators also recovered palmprints, forearm prints, and footprints from multiple locations.

Despite two people being detained immediately after the shooting, no arrests have been made. Officials stressed that there is no evidence of a second shooter.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls called the killing “a targeted event,” adding that agents are “confident the shooter is no longer in the area.”

A spokesperson for Turning Point USA called Kirk’s killing a “murder,” and urged the public to keep his family in their prayers. On Thursday, Trump announced he will posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling him “a giant of his generation.”

Kirk was a prominent media personality and the founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization focused on promoting Republican values on high school and college campuses. 

At schools across the country, he welcomed students to step up to the microphone and engage in respectful political dialogue.