High-powered rifle recovered from Utah campus where Kirk’s killer was able to blend in

LIVE UPDATES: Authorities search for Charlie Kirk’s shooter

OREM, Utah (AP) — The shooter who assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk and then vanished off a roof and into the woods remained at large more than 24 hours later Thursday as federal investigators appealed for the public’s help by releasing a pair of photos of the person believed responsible.

Investigators obtained clues including a palm print, a shoe impression and a high-powered hunting rifle found in a wooded area along the path the shooter fled. But they had yet to name a suspect or cite a motive in the killing they were treating as the latest act of political violence to convulse the United States across the ideological spectrum.

WATCH: Prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk killed at event in Utah

The photos of a person in a hat, sunglasses and a long-sleeve black shirt, as well as a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, suggested that law enforcement thought tips from the public might be needed to crack the case. Two people who were taken into custody shortly after Wednesday’s shooting at Utah Valley University were later released, forcing officials to chase new leads on a separate person of interest they pursued Thursday.

One clue was 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.

The attack, carried out in a broad daylight as Kirk spoke about social issues from a university courtyard, was captured on grisly videos that spread on social media.

The videos show Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, speaking into a handheld microphone when suddenly a shot rings out. 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.

The shooter, who investigators believe blended into the campus crowd because of a “college-age” appearance, fired a single shot from the rooftop where they were perched before jumping off.

“I can tell you this was a targeted event,” said Robert Bohls, the top FBI agent in Salt Lake City.

Trump, who was joined by Democrats in condemning the violence, said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., while Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, were set to visit with Kirk’s family in Salt Lake City. Vance posted a remembrance on X chronicling their friendship, dating back to initial messages in 2017, through Vance’s Senate run and ultimately praying after hearing of the shooting.

“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 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”

Kirk’s casket was to be flown aboard Air Force Two from Utah to Arizona, where his his nonprofit political youth organization, Turning Point USA, is based.

Kirk was taking questions about gun violence

Police and first responders’ vehicles appear at the scene where Charlie Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025. Photo by Jim Urquhart/ Reuters

Kirk was a conservative firebrand and provocateur who became a powerful political force among young Republicans and was a fixture on college campuses, where he invited sometimes-vehement debate on social issues.

He was shot while attending one such event Wednesday, a debate hosted by Turning Point at the Sorensen Center on campus in what was billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour.”

The event generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement 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 controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

One such provocative exchange played out immediately before the shooting, as he was taking questions from an audience member about gun violence when the shot was heard.

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Some attendees who bolted after the gunshot rushed into two classrooms full of students. They used tables to barricade the door and to shield themselves in the corners. Someone grabbed an electric pencil sharpener and wrapped the cord tightly around the door handle, then tied the sharpener to a chair leg.

Madison Lattin was watching a few 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 said.

On campus Thursday, the canopy stamped with the slogan Kirk commonly used at his events “PROVE ME WRONG” stood disheveled.

Kathleen Murphy, a longtime resident who lives near the campus, said she has been staying inside with her door locked.

“With the shooter not being caught yet, it was a worry,” Murphy said.

Trump calls Kirk a ‘martyr for truth’

Mourners outside Turning Point in Phoenix, Arizona, bring flowers to a memorial for Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed in Utah on Sept. 10, 2025. Photo by Caitlin O’Hara/ Reuters

About 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk’s own security detail, authorities said.

WATCH: Trump says he will award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Trump announced Kirk’s death on social media and praised the 31-year-old co-founder and CEO of Turning Point as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later, he released a video in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom.”

Utah Valley University said the campus was evacuated after the shooting and 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 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement 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 controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

Condemnation from across the political spectrum

The shooting drew swift bipartisan condemnation as Democratic officials 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,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.

WATCH: Kirk killing is a moment for Americans to unite in mourning, Schumer says

In a joint statement, the Young Democrats of Connecticut and the Connecticut Young Republicans called the shooting “unacceptable.”

“There is no place in our country for such acts regardless of political disagreements,” they said.

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 most 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 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.

But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.

READ MORE: Charlie Kirk, who helped build support for Trump among young people, killed at age 31

Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as an aide to Donald Trump Jr. during the general election campaign.

Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.

Tucker and Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver; Michael Biesecker, Brian Slodysko, Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price in Washington; Ty O’Neil in Orem, Utah; Hallie Golden in Seattle; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; and Meg Kinnard in Chapin, S.C., contributed to this report.