Law enforcement officials say they have “good video footage” of the suspect who fatally shot Charlie Kirk as he was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, as the manhunt for the shooter enters its first full day.
At a press conference early Thursday, Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason described the suspect as “appears to be of college age” and “blended in well” with students on campus. Mason would not say whether the suspect was enrolled at the school.
Investigators were able to track the shooter’s movements using footage from security cameras in the area, he said.
Mason said the individual arrived on campus shortly before the event started and went to the roof of a nearby building, where he fired a single shot that struck Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative influencer, activist and ally of President Trump.
Charlie Kirk is seen speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday moments before he was fatally shot. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
The suspect then jumped off the roof and fled on foot into an off-campus neighborhood. Authorities scoured the area and collected footage from residents with doorbell cameras.
Mason said that investigators have “good video footage” of the suspect, but are “not going to release that at this time.”
“We are working through some technologies and ways to identify this individual,” Mason said. “If we are unsuccessful, we will reach out to you in the media to push out publicly to help us identify them.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls said that authorities recovered a high-powered bolt-action rifle in a wooded area near the university, which investigators believe is the weapon that was used to kill Kirk.
Law enforcement personnel arrive on the campus of Utah Valley University on Wednesday after the shooting. (Bethany Baker/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls speaks during a news conference at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Thursday. (Bastien Inzaurralde/AFP via Getty Images)
Bohls said that an FBI laboratory will be analyzing the weapon for any fingerprints or DNA.
“We are exhausting all of our resources to collect those,” Bohls said.
Meanwhile, the FBI has received more than 130 tips on its tip line, Bohls said, declining to offer any further details about the shooter.
“We’re doing everything we can to find him,” he added. “We are not sure how far he has gone yet.”