Charlie Kirk killing: FBI releases images of 'person of interest' and offers $100,000 reward for information

LAST UPDATE | 21 hrs ago

THE FBI HAS released images of a man described as a person of interest in the killing of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk. 

Kirk was shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University yesterday. He was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead.

The images, showing a man in a baseball cap, dark glasses and casual clothing, were posted by the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office account on X.

The post appealed “for the public’s help identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting.”

The FBI has also announced a reward of up to $100,000 (€85,000) for “information leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk”. 

Speaking to the media earlier today, Utah’s public safety chief said police had images of the suspect and were trying to identify the person themselves. Beau Mason said if they failed to do so, those images will be released to the media.

“We do have good video footage of this individual. We’re not going to release that at this time,” Mason said, adding that the police also have palm prints, forearm prints and a “footwear impression”.

Asked for more information from reporters, Mason said that the suspect looked to be “of college age”. 

Suspected weapon found

Robert Bohls, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office, told reporters earlier today that they had found what they believe to be the gun used to murder Kirk. 

Bohls said the high-powered, bolt-action rifle was now being examined by the agency. He said the gun had been found in a wooded area but added that the woods had been cleared by FBI agents. 

He also said that Kirk’s wife Erika was left “devastated” by her husband’s killing. 

Mason further requested that people stop harassing the two people of interest who were detained following the shooting yesterday as they have no connection to the murder.

Kirk was a highly influential conservative activist who founded the youth movement Turning Point USA. He was particularly well-known for his combative college campus appearances.  

In video footage posted online, Kirk can be seen speaking to an outdoor crowd when a single shot rings out, he flinches and blood begins gushing from his neck. 

Investigators said yesterday that they believe the bullet that killed him had come from a campus rooftop, fired by someone dressed in black, in what appeared to be a targeted killing.

Political reaction

The assassination drew condemnation from Democrats and Republicans alike. 

Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom called the killing “disgusting, vile, and reprehensible”.

US President Donald Trump ordered flags on government buildings, including the White House, to be lowered to half-staff until Sunday.

“No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us,” Trump wrote on social media.

During a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 11 September attacks of 2001 today, Trump announced he would be posthumously awarding Kirk the country’s highest civilian honour.

“I’m pleased to announce that I will soon be awarding Charlie Kirk posthumously, the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump said.

Vice President JD Vance paid tribute to his “true friend” in a lengthy account of their relationship posted on X.

“Charlie Kirk was a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him.”

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Vance and his wife Usha will travel to Salt Lake City in Utah today to pay their respects to Kirk and his family, The New York Times reported, citing officials familiar with the matter. 

Utah Governor Spencer Cox told reporters Kirk’s killing was “a political assassination.”

“This is a dark moment for America,” Donald Trump said on video posted to his Truth Social website, hailing Kirk as a “martyr for truth.”

“For years those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals.

“This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.

“My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence, including the organisations that fund it and support it.”

Politically motivated violence has become more and more a feature of American life in recent years.

Last year Trump escaped an assassination attempt in which a sniper’s bullet grazed his ear. In a separate incident, a would-be assassin was arrested at a Florida golf course as he lay in wait for Trump.

In April of this year there was an arson attack on the home of Pennsylvania’s governor Josh Shapiro.

More recently, in June, a gunman targeted two Democratic politicians in Minnesota, killing one of them and her husband and wounding another and his wife. 

International reaction 

Kirk’s death has prompted an international reaction as well.

Here in Ireland, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the “cold-blooded” killing of someone engaging in a debate at a university has “sent shockwaves through societies across the world”. 

Martin also expressed his sympathies to Kirk’s family.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign affairs Simon Harris has described the killing as “appalling and shocking”. 

“Young children have lost a father and a wife has lost her husband needlessly. Such despicable acts of violence are utterly abhorrent,” Harris wrote on X. 

Cork North-Central TD Ken O’Flynn has expressed his sympathies and paid tribute to Charlie Kirk. 

“America has lost one of the brightest stars of its conservative intellectual movement,” Flynn said.

“An international community of friends and supporters are broken in their disbelief and sadness that such an event could come to pass.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Kirk’s death was a “deep wound for democracy” while UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “We must all be free to debate openly and freely without fear.”

Hungarian President Viktor Orban said the killing was “the result of the international hate campaign waged by the progressive-liberal left”. The suspect is still at large and no motive has been established so far. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Charlie Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom”.

He called Kirk “a lion-hearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization”. 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also condemned the killing and said “there is no justification for political violence”. 

With reporting from AFP and Press Association

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