A suspect in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah university has been taken into custody, US President Donald Trump said yesterday, ending an intense manhunt that followed what Trump described as a “heinous assassination.”
Kirk’s killer had eluded police and federal agents for more than 24 hours after Wednesday’s shooting, in which a sniper fired a single gunshot that killed Kirk, 31, during an appearance at Utah Valley University in Orem.
“I think we have him,” Trump told Fox News in an interview, adding that a person who knows the suspect had turned him in. “I think with a high degree of certainty we have him in custody.”
Photo: EPA
Trump did not share the suspect’s identity.
After Trump’s interview, the New York Post reported that the suspect is a 22-year-old man from Utah.
More than 7,000 leads and tips have poured in, officials said.
“We cannot do our job without the public’s help,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox said during a Thursday news conference with FBI Director Kash Patel.
The direct appeals for public support, including new and enhanced photos of a person wearing a black top, black sunglasses and a dark baseball cap, appeared to signal law enforcement’s continued struggles. The long-sleeved top appears to have been emblazoned with an image of a bald eagle flying across a US flag.
Two people who were taken into custody shortly after the shooting were determined not to be connected.
Other clues included a Mauser .30 caliber, bolt-action rifle found in a towel in the woods. A spent cartridge was recovered from the chamber, and three other rounds were loaded in the magazine, according to information circulated among law enforcement and described to The Associated Press. The weapon and ammunition were being analyzed by law enforcement at a federal lab.
Officials are offering a US$100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Cox, a Republican, said he is prepared to seek the death penalty.
The FBI had circulated grainy images apparently taken from security cameras showing a person
Kirk, an author, podcast host and close ally of Trump, helped build the Republican Party’s support among younger voters.
Trump said the suspect was recognized by people close to him, and suggested the suspect’s father drove him to a police station and handed him over.
Reflecting the highly political nature of the killing, Kirk’s coffin yesterday was transported to his home city of Phoenix, Arizona, on Vice President J.D. Vance’s official plane.
Footage showed Vance with his hands on the casket as it was carried to Air Force 2.
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