Officials Hunt For Suspect In Charlie Kirk’s Murder As U.S. Faces Rising Political Violence
The FBI publicly identified a person of interest in connection with the Wednesday murder of conservative commentator and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at a Q&A event in Utah. The FBI said it’s offering up to a $100,000 reward for any information leading to his arrest.
Authorities detained two people yesterday but released both of them after finding “no current ties to the shooting.”
The high-powered bolt action rifle used to kill Kirk was recovered, FBI Special Agent Robert Bohls said Thursday morning, along with shoe and palm prints near the scene.
Utah DPS Commissioner Beau Mason said the suspect entered Utah Valley University at 11:52 a.m., moved through stairwells and onto rooftops, and fired the fatal shot before jumping off the roof. He fled to a nearby neighborhood.
President Trump said late Thursday that he believes the investigation is making progress, adding that the assassin is “an animal and hopefully they will get him.”
🚨 We still don’t know the motive. The Wall Street Journal reported that ammunition used in the shooting was engraved with transgender and anti-fascist messages. But a senior law enforcement official told the New York Times the report didn’t match other evidence and may have been misread or misinterpreted.
Legacy: Kirk is widely credited with turning conservative student activism into a full-fledged, modern-day movement. President Trump announced Thursday that he will posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honor. Vice President JD Vance posted a moving tribute to Kirk on X hours after the incident, and will be using his Air Force Two plane to bring Kirk’s body to Arizona for burial.
“He exemplified a foundational virtue of our Republic: the willingness to speak openly and debate ideas. Charlie had an uncanny ability to know when to push the envelope and when to be more conventional. I've seen people attack him for years for being wrong on this or that issue publicly, never realizing that privately he was working to broaden the scope of acceptable debate,” wrote Vance, who considered Kirk a close friend.
THE DEBATE OVER FREE SPEECH
Thought leaders and government officials across the political spectrum have praised Kirk as someone who encouraged uninhibited and necessary debate in this country. Kirk’s right-wing rhetoric often pushed buttons, but he always made a point of engaging in open conversation and an exchange of ideas with people of opposing viewpoints.
He had firmly-held traditional Christian and Conservative beliefs and actively tried to bring more young Americans into the fold. That effort made him one of the right’s most effective figures — and one of America’s most controversial.
Guns: Kirk compared gun deaths to driving deaths in a viral 2023 clip. He argued that a certain number of gun deaths (like traffic deaths) were a price worth paying for “freedom.” He said the US should focus on reducing gun deaths, and proposed having more armed guards outside of schools and public places.
College: Kirk, who dropped out of college, called higher education a “scam,” saying most universities are about liberal indoctrination rather than education.
Abortion: He was pro-life. “It is a growing consensus in the pro-life world that abortion is never medically necessary,” Kirk told a student. In response to a question about his hypothetical 10-year-old daughter being raped and becoming pregnant, he said, “the baby would be delivered.”
LGBTQ: Kirk has said young transgender people have a “mental illness.” He opposed same-sex marriage — which he briefly spoke about on CA Gov. Gavin Newsom’s podcast this year.
Civil rights: "We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s,” Kirk said in 2023, arguing it created a “permanent DEI-type bureaucracy.”
Family/religion: Kirk's faith and his family were central to his politics. He leaves behind a wife and two young children. That’s what he said he wanted to be remembered for.
Bottom line: From his social media and podcast, to guest appearances on Fox News, Kirk often tackled controversial and politically sensitive issues, vowing a dedication to free speech — a fundamental American value.
NEW ERA OF VIOLENCE
Kirk’s murder comes amid a disturbing series of politically motivated acts of violence in recent years. From the two assassination attempts on Donald Trump last summer, to the recent murder of a Minnesota state legislator, to the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise in 2017 — political violence expert Robert Pape told The Washington Post, “It is a historically high era of assassination, assassination attempts, violent protests, and it is occurring on both the right and the left.”
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi: In 2022, her husband was brutally assaulted at their San Francisco home by a man seeking to harm her.
Governors: In April, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home was firebombed; in 2020, a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was foiled.
January 6, 2021: The attack on the Capitol left four rioters dead; five responding police officers later died.
Supreme Court: A California man pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his Maryland home in 2022.
Business leaders and scientists: From the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, to the shooting that targeted NFL headquarters and left bystanders dead, and the attack on the CDC campus that killed a police officer — political violence has spread beyond politicians, into politicized topics.
War of words: “My research suggests that to de-escalate the political environment and reduce the risk of violence, America’s political leaders need to cross their political divides and make joint statements (and ideally joint appearances) that denounce all political violence, welcome all peaceful protest and call for respecting the rules, process and results of free and fair elections in the country,” Pape recently wrote for The New York Times.
On Wednesday night, President Trump condemned the attack but escalated his rhetoric, blaming the “radical left” and highlighting political violence only against conservatives.