The Latest: Shooter eludes capture after assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk

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Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination. The shooter has not been found.

Authorities say Kirk was killed with a single shot from a rooftop on Wednesday. Whoever fired the gun then slipped away amid the chaos of screams and students fleeing the Utah Valley University campus.

The circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that, in the last several years, has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.

The Latest:

A batch of 911 traffic released Thursday from the Utah County Department of Public Safety via Broadcastify includes callers describing seeing a person on campus wearing “jeans, black shirt, black mask” and carrying a “long rifle.”

Another caller mentions a black vest.

During a news conference on Thursday, law enforcement officials said they had obtained video footage of a suspected shooter and had recovered a high-powered, bolt-action rifle from the wooded area where the suspect fled.

Authorities also said the shooter “appeared to be of college age” and “blended in” with students on the campus.

The Pentagon chief, who spoke before Trump at Thursday’s Pentagon ceremony, remembered the conservative activist as an “American patriot.”

“Charlie, we love you,” Hegseth said. “Know that you have heard the Lord’s words. Well done, good and faithful servant. Full heart, clear eyes, like those on 9/11, you will never be forgotten.”

At the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said “all Americans should come together and feel and mourn what happened.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said this was a moment for Americans to unite “not as Democrats or Republicans, as Blacks or Whites or Latinos or Asians but as Americans. We need to come together as Americans.”

The leaders spoke to reporters after a bicameral Democratic legislative meeting.

The Pentagon’s 9/11 observance ceremony, which has traditionally been held near the building’s memorial outside its walls, was moved into the internal courtyard late Wednesday night.

Defense officials acknowledged the move at the event featuring Trump, but deferred questions to the White House.

It came hours after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an outdoor event at a Utah university. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During remarks at the Pentagon, Trump said he would posthumously award Kirk with the honor at a later date.

The United States’ highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded by presidents to people who have made significant contributions in a variety of areas, including culture and public service.

In his first term, Trump bestowed the honor to a number of people, including conservative firebrand commentator Rush Limbaugh.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday that security is “a big concern” for members of Congress and is under “a very thorough review.”

But Johnson told reporters at the U.S. Capitol that he had seen security estimates into the billions of dollars for all 435 House members, which he said is “not a possibility.”

He did mention a pilot program through which members can be reimbursed for hiring private security when they’re on the road or in their districts.

“Somebody who’s arguing the other side of an issue is not your enemy, they’re your fellow American,” Johnson said, in a call for civility. “We’re all made in God’s image and so we need to see one another that way and not as enemies.”

The person who fatally shot Kirk is believed to have targeted him at an event on a Utah college campus, said Robert Bohls, the FBI Special Agent in Charge at the Salt Lake City field office.

The shooter is still on the run, and it isn’t clear how far the suspect may have gotten, but the nearby woods have been secured, authorities said.

Law enforcement officials said the suspect they are seeking “appears to be of college age” and “blended in” with students on the college campus.

Officials asked the public to share any video and images they may have to help identify the person. Authorities said they have video footage of the suspected shooter but did not confirm that includes images of the person’s face.

A high powered bolt-action rifle was found in a wooded area where the shooter fled, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls said.

Authorities say suspected Kirk shooter arrived on campus just before noon.

Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said authorities tracked the suspected shooter’s movements after he jumped from a building, moved through stairwells and ultimately fled from campus into a neighborhood.

“We do have good video of this individual,” Mason said.

The 31-year-old activist personified the pugnacious, populist conservatism that has taken over the Republican Party in the age of Trump.

An unabashed Christian conservative who often made provocative statements about gender, race and politics, Kirk launched his organization, Turning Point USA, in 2012, targeting younger people and venturing onto liberal-leaning college campuses where many GOP activists were nervous to tread.

Federal, state and local authorities are still searching for an unidentified shooter and working what they called “multiple active crime scenes.” Two people were detained Wednesday but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, Utah public safety officials said. Authorities did not immediately identify a motive.

The Utah Department of Public Safety says its commissioner, as well as the FBI special agent in charge, will speak to reporters at 9 a.m. ET on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem. The news conference will be streamed on the department’s Instagram page.

In a video message from the Oval Office late Wednesday, Trump called Kirk “a martyr for truth and freedom” and condemned the “demonizing” of political opponents in the U.S., even as he claimed the rhetoric of the “radical left” was “directly responsible” for the assassination of Kirk. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation.

The assassination has drawn bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.

Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, are set to visit with Kirk’s family on Thursday in Salt Lake City.

According to a person familiar with Vance’s plans, but not authorized to speak about them publicly, the Vances will visit Utah instead of New York, which had been their planned destination for an outdoor ceremony to commemorate Sept. 11.