 "FBI recovers rifle believed to have killed Charlie Kirk as search for suspect continues")
The FBI on Thursday said that it has recovered a weapon believed to have been used in the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk as the search for the suspect continues.
According to The Guardian report, Robert Coles, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office, told reporters that a “high-powered bolt-action rifle” was found in a wooded area where the suspected shooter had fled.
“The rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled,” Coles was quoted as saying, adding that the FBI laboratory is currently analysing the weapon.
In addition to the firearm, investigators have collected several pieces of physical evidence from the scene, including “footwear impressions, a palm print, and forearm imprints,” which are also being analysed, Coles said.
Meanwhile, earlier at a press conference, Utah officials called for public cooperation and patience as the search for the shooter continues.
Beau Mason, Commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, addressed the public directly: “We ask you to be patient.”
Mason clarified that two individuals who were briefly taken into custody were “not suspects” but “people of interest.”
He also urged the public to respect law enforcement efforts. “Federal and state officers do not deserve harassment” as they carry out the investigation.
Providing more detail on the suspect’s escape, Mason said, “He moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building, and fled off of the campus into a neighborhood.”
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More ShortsMason confirmed that authorities “do have good video footage of this individual,” but said it would not be released at this stage.
“We’re working through some technologies and some ways to identify this individual. If we are unsuccessful, we will reach out to you as the media, and we will push that publicly to help us identify them,” he added.
Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative commentator and close ally of former President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Wednesday in what Utah Governor Spencer Cox described as a “political assassination.”
Kirk, known for his role in mobilising young Republican voters and as the co-founder and president of Turning Point USA, was speaking onstage at an outdoor event titled ‘Prove Me Wrong at Utah Valley University in Orem, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. The event drew a crowd of approximately 3,000 people.
Graphic video footage of the incident quickly circulated online. According to FBI and state officials, the shooter arrived on campus just minutes before the event began and was captured on security cameras climbing stairwells to access a nearby rooftop, from where he fired a single fatal shot.
Kirk was taken to a local hospital but was pronounced dead hours later. His killing has sparked widespread condemnation and renewed warnings over escalating political violence — with expressions of outrage coming from both Democrats and Republicans, as well as several foreign governments.
With inputs from agencies
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