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The manhunt for the person who killed Charlie Kirk, the influential founder of the right-wing youth activist group Turning Point USA, has entered its second day.
No suspects were in custody as of midday Thursday, more than 20 hours after Kirk was shot during an appearance at Utah Valley University.
The FBI released an image of a person they said is a “person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting” around noon ET on Thursday and asked the public to help authorities identify them. The photo released shows what appears to be a man wearing a largely black outfit with an American flag on his shirt, a black cap, and black sunglasses.
A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered “for information leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk,” the FBI posted shortly after releasing images of the person of interest.
Beau Mason, Commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, gave a timeline of the investigation at a press conference earlier on Thursday.
Mason stated that the shooter arrived near campus just before noon on Wednesday and was tracked taking stairwells onto a campus roof, from which they fled into a nearby neighborhood. Law enforcement has “good video footage” of the suspect but they will “not release it at this time,” Mason said. They are working with residents in neighborhoods near the campus to access doorbell camera footage and track their suspect.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls went on to say that authorities have recovered what they believe is the weapon that was used to kill Kirk, a high-powered rifle that was found in a “wooded area” near where the shooter fled. Bohls also stated they are analyzing a footprint and forearm imprint for analysis. A motive for the crime has not been identified.
An internal law enforcement report stated that ammunition recovered with the rifle was engraved with statements “expressing transgender and anti-fascist ideology,” The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported. But officials expressed caution due to the preliminary nature of the investigation. A senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told the Times that the report, which the outlet reported was circulated in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), had not been verified by the ATF and that it might turn out to include misreadings or misinterpretations, noting that it differed from other summaries of evidence in the case.
The Times noted that status reports in fast moving investigations like the one into Kirk’s shooting are typically not made public because some of the information they contain often turns out to be inaccurate.
One hundred and thirty tips have been sent to the FBI so far since the shooting.
“We will not stand for what happened yesterday. We are exhausting every lead we have, every officer invested in this. Every investigator, every local agency,” Mason said in the press conference.
Read more: The Killing of Charlie Kirk and the Political Violence Haunting America
Law enforcement officials said Wednesday evening that authorities had detained two people in the case but later released them.
“There are no current ties to the shooting with either of these individuals,” the Utah Department of Public Safety said in a statement.
FBI Director Kash Patel said around 8 p.m. ET that a person who had been taken into custody hours earlier “has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.”
“Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency,” Patel wrote on X.
Earlier on Wednesday, Utah Valley University said in a statement that a suspect was in custody, but a spokesperson for the university later told the New York Times that authorities had determined the person was not the shooter.
The FBI said in a post Wednesday night that it was “working alongside our local and state law enforcement partners in Utah to fully investigate and seek justice” and that “anyone with information, photos, and video from the incident can help the FBI identity more answers.”
Kirk’s shooting, which occurred roughly 20 minutes after he began speaking to a crowd of around 3,000 people at the university in Orem, Utah, has stoked fears about the rise of political violence in the U.S. It has drawn condemnations from figures across the political aisle. Some on the right—including President Donald Trump, a friend and ally of Kirk’s—have sought to pin blame on the political left, despite no suspect having yet been identified.
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