FBI releases photos of person of interest in killing of Trump ally Charlie Kirk

The FBI has released two photos of a person of interest in the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a close ally of Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters.

The attacker, who fired a single shot from a distant roof, remained at large and unidentified on Thursday nearly 24 hours into the investigation.

The release of photos of a person in a hat, sunglasses and a long-sleeved black shirt, as well as a 100,000-dollar (£74,000) reward for information leading to an arrest, reflected law enforcement’s urgent appeal for public help in locating the attacker, who vanished after jumping off the roof and fleeing through a wooded area near the Utah university where Mr Kirk was killed.

Investigators are sifting through potential clues, including a palm print and a shoe impression found near the scene, as well as a Mauser .30-calibre bolt-action rifle hidden in a towel in a wooded area near the university campus along what they suspect to be the path the attacker took while fleeing.

Besides the spent cartridge found in the chamber, three other rounds were in the rifle’s magazine, according to information circulated among law enforcement and described to the Associated Press.

The weapon and ammunition are being analysed by law enforcement at a federal lab for clues that could help identify the attacker or the motive.

The new information suggested at least modest progress in an investigation into a killing that law enforcement was treating as the latest instance of political violence to convulse the US across the ideological spectrum.

Authorities acknowledged at a news conference on Thursday that the suspect’s college-age appearance may have helped them blend in on the Utah Valley University campus.

The Wednesday afternoon attack, carried out in a broad daylight as Mr Kirk spoke about social issues, was captured on videos circulating on social media.

The footage shows him speaking into a handheld microphone when a shot rings out. Mr Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.

President Trump, who was joined by Democrats in condemning the violence, said he would award Mr Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the US, while vice president JD Vance and his wife Usha are set to visit Mr Kirk’s family in Salt Lake City.

Mr Vance wrote on X: “So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene. He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”

Mr Kirk’s coffin is to be flown aboard Air Force Two from Utah to Arizona, where his his non-profit political youth organisation, Turning Point USA, is based.

He was speaking at a debate hosted by Turning Point at the Sorensen Centre courtyard on campus.

The event, billed as the first stop on his American Comeback Tour, had generated a polarising campus reaction, and an online petition calling for university administrators to bar Mr Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures.

The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry and constructive dialogue”.

Immediately before the shooting, Mr Kirk took questions from an audience member about gun violence.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Mr Kirk responded: “Too many.”

The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Mr Kirk asked.

Then a shot rang out.

About 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Mr Kirk’s own security detail, authorities said.

The shooting appears poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties.

The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state legislator and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade in June to demand Hamas release hostages and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April.

The most notorious of these events was the shooting of Mr Trump during a Pennsylvania campaign rally last year.