AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

Tonight, federal agents are intensifying their search for the person who shot and killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The 31-year-old was killed yesterday as he was speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today, the FBI released photos of a person of interest and investigators say they have recovered the weapon used in the attack.

Meantime, Vice President J.D.

Vance and his wife are in Utah to meet with Kirk's family and friends.

Charlie Kirk's body will be flown on Air Force Two, the vice president's plane, from Utah to Arizona, where he lived with his family.

We begin our coverage tonight with this report.

Tonight, a manhunt is under way for the shooter who killed Charlie Kirk.

At Utah Valley University, investigators scoured the campus for clues.

ROBERT BOHLS, FBI Special Agent in Charge: Good morning.

GEOFF BENNETT: This morning, authorities say they're analyzing evidence found at the scene.

ROBERT BOHLS: We have recovered what we believe is the weapon that was used in yesterday's shooting.

It is a high-powered bolt-action rifle.

That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled.

The FBI laboratory will be analyzing this weapon.

Investigators have also collected footwear impression, a palm print and forearm imprints for analysis.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today, the FBI released photos of a person of interest, offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

BEAU MASON, Utah Public Safety Commissioner: The suspect blended in well with the college institution.

And we're not releasing many details right now, and we will soon, but right now we're not.

But that individual appears to be of college age.

We are confident in our abilities to track that individual.

GEOFF BENNETT: Kirk was shot yesterday in front of a crowd of thousands gathered for the kickoff of his so-called American Comeback Tour.

It happened in the heart of the Utah Valley University campus.

Authorities say the shooter appeared to have fired from the rooftop of this building over 200 yards away from where Kirk was speaking on the campus quad.

He was hit while answering a question about mass shootings.

MAN: Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?

CHARLIE KIRK, Founder, Turning Point USA: Counting or not counting gang violence?

Great.

(GUNSHOT) GEOFF BENNETT: Chaos and panic erupted as the scene unfolded, leaving witnesses unsure at first of what was happening.

EMMANUEL BIERER, Utah Resident: I hear this loud sound and I'm like, that wasn't what I thought it was, is it?

I was like, no, this can't be happening right now.

And we all ducked.

GEOFF BENNETT: Confusion quickly clouded the investigation.

Hours after the shooting, FBI Director Kash Patel posted that the shooter was in custody, only to later backtrack and say a suspect had been released and the probe was ongoing.

Officials then said a different individual had been detained and questioned, but was ultimately released.

President Trump announced today during a September 11 memorial event that he will posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We miss him greatly, yet I have no doubt that Charlie's voice and the courage he put into the hearts of countless people, especially young people, will live on.

GEOFF BENNETT: Kirk's influence, especially among young men, helped propel Mr. Trump back to the White House in 2024.

In a video message last night, the president blamed his political opponents for Kirk's killing.

DONALD TRUMP: Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.

GEOFF BENNETT: Officials have not yet announced a motive for Kirk's killing, and political violence is not relegated to one side of the aisle.

In Washington, D.C., today, some lawmakers blamed the media for rising political violence.

REP. DERRICK VAN ORDEN (R-WI): You are responsible for that assassination yesterday and you should be ashamed of yourself.

It's disgusting.

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): I'm not going to point the finger at either party.

Both party has guilt.

I think the media has some guilt.

GEOFF BENNETT: While others called on fellow elected officials to tone down the rhetoric.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): This is about the emergence and uncorking of violence that we're talking about, and it has absolutely gotten to a point that is where we need to really look towards our leaders to lower the temperature.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's as Vice President J.D.

Vance visited Kirk's family in Utah.

He is survived by his wife, Erika, and two young children.

At just 31, Kirk had become one of the most influential conservative voices in American politics.

An ally of President Trump since 2016 and a confidant to many in the White House, he wielded outsized influence for his age.

Kirk founded the conservative group Turning Point USA at 18 and quickly built it into a political powerhouse, known for its campus activism and widely followed podcast.

His views earned him a loyal following and frequent controversy.

CHARLIE KIRK: And the Civil Rights Act, though, let's be clear created a beast and that beast has now turned into an anti-white weapon.

Surgeon and flight are the top two.

You're going to remove my appendix and you're a Black lesbian.

And Leviticus 18 is that thou shall lay with another man shall be stoned to death.

Just saying.

Children of the West are being taught with primarily Jewish dollars subsidizing it to view everything through oppressor/oppressed dynamic.

GEOFF BENNETT: Kirk's death in the current political atmosphere prompted condolences from all four living presidents, who also condemned his killing.

And California Governor Gavin Newsom, who debated Kirk on his podcast, wrote on X: "The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile and reprehensible.

In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in every form," that alongside a wave of reaction from the right.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX News Anchor: It's happening.

You got trans shooters.

You got riots and L.A.

They are at war with us.

Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us.

BRET BAIER, FOX News Anchor: We all knew him well.

And he's going to be missed, truly.