Law enforcement officials said Thursday they have recovered the rifle they believe was used to kill conservative political activist Charlie Kirk and found other key evidence as the manhunt for the shooter expands.
The “high powered, bolt-action rifle” was found in a wooded area where the gunman fled after shooting Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, FBI agent Robert Bohls said at a press conference.
Investigators have also collected a “footwear impression, a palm print and forearm imprints for analysis,” Bohls, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Late City field office, said.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls speaks during a news conference at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 11, 2025.
Bastien Inzaurralde | Afp | Getty Images
He noted, “We’re not sure how far he has gone yet.”
Utah Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said, “We do have good video footage of this individual.”
But “we are not going to release that at this time,” unless authorities fail to identify the shooter on their own, he said.
While officers at the press conference declined to offer specific details about the suspect, Mason said the gunman “blended in well with the college” and “appears to be of college age.”
Mason said that the shooter arrived on campus shortly before noon local time, then climbed up to a rooftop overlooking the location of Kirk’s event. After the shooting, the suspect moved to the other side of the building, then jumped off and fled into an off-campus neighborhood, he said.
The presser at the university on Thursday morning came after officials released two people of interest several who had been detained shortly after the shooting.
“There are no current ties to the shooting with either of these individuals,” the Utah Department of Public Safety said in an update late Wednesday.
“There is an ongoing investigation and manhunt for the shooter,” the agency said.
The gunman fired at Kirk from a campus building 200 yards away from where the activist was speaking, hitting him once in the neck, according to UVU.
Kirk’s death was announced by President Donald Trump, who praised the influential activist as a “truly Great American Patriot.”
On Thursday morning, Trump, at an observance of the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, said he would posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
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